Pick & Roll defense = Achilles Heel

by b3tts32 on Apr 22, 2008 12:30 PM CDT Comment 1 comment

After watching most of the games the past few months I have noticed that our pick & roll defense is absolutely horrible! Our first big win since the Jason Kidd trade came because we made a simple adjustment... insert Devean George to better defend the pick & roll. Now I’m not saying that George is the answer but something does need to be corrected. To break it down...

Why we can’t stop the pick & roll? That’s very simple. The guy guarding the screener does not come out far enough to stop the ball... most people refer to this as “hedging” the pick. In most cases Eric Dampier is the culprit behind this. What ends up happening is the screen is set at the top of the key and Dampier is usually at the free throw line on his heels waiting for something to happen. From here that leaves a free lane for the point guard or whoever to do whatever needs to be done. Usually this consists of going right to the rim or if Dampier does decide to step up (which is usually late) then the lob pass at the rim to the guy who is rolling. The next scenario is pretty much the same because if one of the other 3 guys decides to help on the point guard driving then this leaves someone wide open for a shot. With the point guard driving down the middle of the lane he has the whole court open to do whatever he needs to do.

Solution? Hedge the damn pick!! This will stop the easy scores on the defensive end and therefore lead to more fast break points. Well I think that is all for now, I apologize for any grammatical errors I’ve made as I didn’t get a chance to proof read while I’m at work.

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Good post, but If it were only that simple....

I feel pretty confident that most players and all coaches who have reached the NBA have at least a grasp of basic pick-and-roll defense. There’s probably a good reason we don’t see them be consistently effective hedging the pick on defense, it’s just that you probably won’t see Avery come out and say ‘we can’t have Damp hedging the pick because he has dumb hands and can’t keep from fouling on the perimeter.’

The problem with relying on simply changing the position of the picker’s defender is that good point guards (really any two players who can run the pick and roll well) can adjust, especially if the defender is not-so-nimble. That’s why it’s such an effective play, is that it’s hard to defend two guys who ‘know what the other one is going to do’.

‘Course, In my opinion it doesn’t always matter how well you position yourself defensively…..I think the rules (and the wildly inconsistent officiating – this is not a conspiracy theory, I’m just saying…) the way they are now pretty much prevent you from playing any real defense and most defenders have to rely on double-teams too much. If your rotations are slow, you’re dead in the water….pick-and-roll or otherwise.

Chris Paul is freaking awesome and they’re going to have to just try and limit him. Making him work on the defensive end and earning 5 fouls doesn’t hurt either. He’s not so good running the pick-and-roll from the bench.

by DitchThePlaybook on Apr 22, 2008 6:05 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs