• Since some form of the pick and roll is used by most offenses it is a good idea to incorporate this basketball defensive drill to your practice schedule
• The most important aspect of good defense is body position and footwork

Ask any coach and they’ll always tell you defense wins championships. A quick look at the great teams of today and you’ll see one thing in common: great defense. But, players don’t exactly love running defensive basketball drills during practice. The importance of these drills can’t be understated since they build the basic fundamentals for playing great individual and team defense.

When falling behind, coaches will often look to employ a press defense as part of their basketball defensive strategies during the course of the game. A great defensive drill to practice this can be run with just a few players and in a half court set. One player is positioned at the top of the key and two more players are positioned at each foul line extended. The ball handler brings up the ball and the defensive player at the top of the key will force him either left or right. The idea is for the defensive player on the foul line extended to step up to the ball handler. Then he can force the ball handler to the sideline in conjunction with the man at the top of the key. The closer the ball handler is driven to the sideline, the less offensive options he has.

The previous drill is ideally suited for team defense but there are other great defensive drills to improve individual defense as well. The fundamental rule in playing successful defense is to move your feet as players have a tendency to reach for the basketball. Proper body position is crucial to playing defense and drawing charges. One such drill to teach players the basics of drawing a charge is very simple to set up. Basically a ball handler will drive the lane from the top of the key and the defender, located at the bottom of the key will slide over to take the charge. It’s important to stress that a player set his feet and remain still when drawing the charge.

The most basic offensive play in basketball is the pick and roll so teaching players the proper way to defend against this is imperative to playing successful defense. To practice this drill you will need four players; two on offense and two on defense. The key to this drill is to teach effective communication between the two defensive players. Depending on how the offensive player sets the pick, the defender will either fight through the pick or switch with the other defender. It’s crucial that the two defensive players rotate efficiently in order to keep pressure on the offensive ball handler thereby preventing him from getting a shot off.

Regardless of what you think is the best, there’s no denying that when these drills are put into action they’re incredible. There’s nothing like watching a good play on an electronic basketball scoreboards, where you get to see the players up close and personal while watching them light it up!

A look at the past NCAA and NBA championship teams from the last few years will reveal one common factor. When the chips were down, each of these teams were capable of playing solid defense to bring home the championship. So the next time your players complain about running defensive drills you can just say one thing: “Defense wins championships”