Man to Man Defensive Principles: Defending the Ball Screen

The higher up the basketball ladder one climbs the more exposure they will get to the ball screen.  We already covered the basics of the ball screen offensively in a prior post.  Today we cover the very important topic of how to defend the ball screen.

The reason the ball screen is used so often especially as you get to the upper levels is because it forces the defense to make decisions.  The defense has to figure out how to defend the ball handler, the screener, and the rest of the team as the ball screen is being used.  Specifically, a good ball screen will force the defense into help rotations which should provide the offense with good opportunities for shots.

There are different ways to defend against the ball screen and in this post we will discuss all of them and identify their strengths and weaknesses.

The 5 ways to defend the ball screen are:
  1. Jump Switch
  2. Hedge
  3. Jam
  4. Blitz
  5. Ice
Jump Switch
Strengths:
  • Good defense if you have a team which has players who are the same size. 
  • Assures that players will be covered even after the screen.
Weaknesses:
  • Poor defense to use if you have small guards or players who can't defend in the post.
  • Produces mismatches.






Hedge
Strengths:
  • Helps negate the ball handlers ability to drive to the basket.
  • Can help throw off the timing of the pick and roll
Weaknesses:
  • Very susceptible to the roll to the basket.
  • Will force rotation of defense especially if defender guarding the screen is late in recovering.  This is why it is important for the man guarding the ball handler to bump the screener a bit as he fights through the screen to occupy him a bit and delay his roll to the basket.
  • If the hedge is too wide the ball handler can split the defense.











Jam
Strengths:
  • Prevents the ball handler from driving to basket.
  • Helps defend the screener when he rolls to basket.
Weaknesses:
  • Allows the ball handler the opportunity to shoot off  the dribble.
  • Allows the ball handler to turn the corner for the drive.




Blitz
Strengths:
  • Forces very aggressive pressure on ball handler taking him out of his comfort zone.
  • Can be very effective if used as close to the half court line as possible.
  • Can be very effective against a short ball handler.
Weaknesses:
  • Leaves screener completely open.
  • Tall ball handler will cause issues throwing over the top.
  • Forces defense to rotate.


Ice
Strengths:
  • Keeps ball handler away from the screen and forces him to improvise.
  • Keeps the screener covered.
Weaknesses:
  • Ball handler has a path to the basket if his defender can't recover after denying the pth to the screen.
  • Screener can slip to the basket.







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