“The best defense is to be on offense. The opponent cannot score when our team has the ball, unless we’re called for a technical foul. Therefore the team that goes after every rebound and loose ball is a better defensive team because they do the best denial defense of all – they get the ball more.”
Key Takeaways:
- True Deny Defense is Rebounding
- Team Rebounding Plan
This chapter described rebounding in an aspect I had never considered. We use the line a lot that we can’t start our transition offense until we finish a possession with a rebound. And yet, I love the quote used:
“True denial is when our team puts its bodies on people and gets the ball when a shot is coming off the glass or is rolling on the floor.”
From an earlier blog post – Defense Drives Coach Yaklich – one of the most significant statistics evaluated for defensive efficiency for Assistant Coach Luke Yaklich (U. of Texas) came from rebounding the ball. If the best defense is to be on offense, then 2nd chance opportunities and defensive rebounds are the two most important statistics related to point production and prevention.
Team Rebounding Plan
“When a coach decides to put a play into the offense, he has to decide several things: who will shoot and where he’ll shoot it from; who sets the pick; where the main rebounders will be when the shot goes up; and how switching will affect the play. Two of the most important considerations are providing defensive balance and a team rebounding plan.”
On the offensive side of things, our program refers to transition defense with a “2-Deep” or “3-Deep” approach. Coach Del Harris discusses the 2-2-1 rebounding shown from the image below:
The premise is to have the point-guard back protecting early offense that is to be advanced up the sideline. Presuming a miss (because following a make it is coaches discretion to play on a full- or half-court) the frontcourt player furthest from the rebound is the “long sprinter” to the center of the rim. Therefore, the frontcourt player on the block closest to the rebounder is expected to apply ball pressure without the foul right away to slow down the outlet and break giving time for the rest of the defense to get into transition defensive position. The defense stays within their 2-2-1 alignment loading to the ball looking something similar to this:
“Since the offense’s first objective should be to score easy baskets, the first objective of the defense must be to prevent easy scores.”
Coach's Climb 