Some comments/thoughts on Red's defense

[Orangezoo]

I think the active hands and help piece of the m2m vs. everyone focused on their own man is going to be the key. It looked more often like 5 guys playing defense as opposed to a team playing a cohesive defense with five guys. That was my primary concern. Think we actually have quite a few guys who can contribute something defensively.

Yeah - I liked seeing that mirage of a zone at the top and a twist on the pack line for exactly those reasons. You can build out from that and it's inherently more team based vs individual based.

Switch and passing off guys cutting off ball resulted in some misses but it was better overall than the more gambling style of mtm in game 1.

 

[oTTo113445]

Outside of rebounding the main thing I'm watching for tonight is if we body up on the drivers. We can't let people drive all the way to the rim without bouncing off us first.

 

[007]

Yeah - I liked seeing that mirage of a zone at the top and a twist on the pack line for exactly those reasons. You can build out from that and it's inherently more team based vs individual based.

Switch and passing off guys cutting off ball resulted in some misses but it was better overall than the more gambling style of mtm in game 1.

There will be a gradual build up to hard trapping with on ball screens above the foul line. The rotations from the other 3 defenders is key as they expand the team concept defense involved in all that. I hope we begin to see that tonight, but it is a process as you build the defense. The extension of the double teaming ball screens is to hard hedge - especially when the offense is trying to pick and roll out of those screens. Your 5s have to be really good at rotating out of that hedge and finding a man/spot to cover. Again, the other 3 guys must all rotate correctly while that hedge is happening. Total team concept.

Unless you've lived it, it's not always obvious to see what is really happening including what all 5 guys need to do every time out of those traps and hedges. And...those rotations will vary depending on where the remaining guys on offense are positioned. It's not rocket science, but there is a lot of learning, repetition, and practice needed to be able to do that instinctually at speed.

 

[Orangezoo]

There will be a gradual build up to hard trapping with on ball screens above the foul line. The rotations from the other 3 defenders is key as they expand the team concept defense involved in all that. I hope we begin to see that tonight, but it is a process as you build the defense. The extension of the double teaming ball screens is to hard hedge - especially when the offense is trying to pick and roll out of those screens. Your 5s have to be really good at rotating out of that hedge and finding a man/spot to cover. Again, the other 3 guys must all rotate correctly while that hedge is happening. Total team concept.

Unless you've lived it, it's not always obvious to see what is really happening including what all 5 guys need to do every time out of those traps and hedges. And...those rotations will vary depending on where the remaining guys on offense are positioned. It's not rocket science, but there is a lot of learning, repetition, and practice needed to be able to do that instinctually at speed.

It takes a year to figure it out completely for most. You can learn and improve on the fly, and individual abilities help a lot but still it's a process.

 

[FrancoPizza]

It's not rocket science, but there is a lot of learning, repetition, and practice needed to be able to do that instinctually at speed.

igor used to say that the really good m2m teams would get better as the season progressed because of the practice reps required.