Man to Man Defensive Principles-Keeping Your man in Front of You (onBall Defense)

So now that we have talked about the philosophy of defense along with how important communication and teamwork are to coaching successful team defense it is now time to start getting into the details of defense.  We start by covering how to successfully play on the ball defense.

The key to being a successful on ball defender is to keep your man in front of you at all costs.  By teaching a few simple points that need to be practiced over and over again you can get your team to improve their on ball defense.

Keys to being a good on ball defender are:

1. Heart-Players who take pride in defense usually are willing to put in the work to be a great defender.
2. Balance - The key to beating a defensive player is throwing them off balance.  As a defender you will be much quicker if you follow the rules below and maintain your balance while guarding.
3. Anticipation - Knowing your opponents strengths and weaknesses are vital.  At the start of the game a defender should always look for tendencies.  Things to look for include: 

1. Which spots on the floor does the opponent prefer to go to?
2. Which hand does he prefer to dribble with?
3. Which side of the floor does he prefer to pass to?
4. Which teammate does he like to look for?
5. Does he like to shoot off the dribble or is he a spot up shooter?
6. If he likes to shoot off the dribble does he feel more comfortable when he dribbles to the right or left.  
7. Any keys you pick up will help you gain an edge on the player you are covering.

Stance - A proper defensive stance involves the following:

1. Feet should be wider than shoulder width apart.  What you want is a solid but comfortable base that will keep you from losing your balance.
2. Feet should be facing forward with most of the weight of your body towards the front of the feet.  It should be noted that heels need to remain on the ground but the weight of your body should be mostly on the balls of your feet.
3. Knees should be bent to about 70 degrees and over your ankles.
4. Butt should be low.
5. Shoulders should be centered and over knees.
6. Head should be over shoulders.  With this stance it is important that you do not lean too far forward.  This can be controlled by head position.  If your head is leaning ahead of your shoulders then you are not properly centered and will lose balance easily when reacting to an offensive move.
7. Hands up.  Hands should be out to each side ready to react.  This also makes you wider and more difficult to get around.
8. Eyes on waist.  Players with the ball will try all kinds of fakes, pivots or jab steps to throw the defenders that are covering them off balance.  The only part of the body that can't fake is the waist.

Movement - Remember that the goal when playing on ball  defense is to keep the man you are covering in front of you.  The offensive player will try to do anything they can to throw you off balance and gain an advantage.  You as a defender can neutralize this by doing the following:

1. Slide - When kids start playing basketball and are first introduced to sliding they do a few things wrong.  The most common mistakes they make are they cross their legs when moving laterally, and they jump and/or over stride when they slide.  The key to proper sliding is to keep your steps comfortable and not over-extended and to avoid crossing your legs.  The key is to keep your feet close to the ground.  The reasons to keep your feet close to the ground are it minimizes the risk of losing your balance on a fake or move in the opposite direction and you are much more likely to react to change of directions quickly.
2.  Hands - When you are guarding a player keep your hands active.  Your lead hand should always be up and ready to deflect a pass while the back hand should be tracking the player you're guarding and be prepared to steal the ball on an errant dribble or a crossover.

When the dribble is picked up - Once the dribble is picked up by the offensive player it is very important that the defender puts as much ball pressure on that player as possible.  To do this you should keep the following in mind.

1. Attack the pivot foot of the player who has picked up his dribble.
2. Keep the hands up and very active.  Make the pass as difficult as possible for the opposition.
3. Keep your eyes on your player's eyes.  Often timed the eyes will tell you what he is going to do.
4. Don't lean over and on top of the opposing player and risk fouling and letting the player off the hook.

Recovery -  No matter how hard you work as a defender there will be times that you will get beat.   It is important that defenders realize that just because a player went around them that their responsibility is not over.  The quicker a defender can turn the corner, recover and get in front of the player the better your team will be and the greater the chances are that your team defense doesn't break down.  In order to do this there are a couple of things to keep in mind.

1. The best way to recover if you get beat is to pivot and recover.  The less steps you take to turn around the better.  So if an offensive player is dribbling right and you as a defensive player are tracking him but then get fooled by a wicked crossover to the left, the best way to recover is to pivot in the other direction before you run to catch up to that player.
2.  When recovering, pick a spot ahead of the player you are tracking and beat him to that spot.

Communicate - It is very important to let your teammates know what's happening on defense.  When a player goes by you, you need to call for help and if you are looking for help you need to look for the man you need to cover now that you have started the defensive rotation.

Follow the above guidelines and you will be on your way to teaching your team how to play good on ball defense.