Last week’s post Using 3 on 3 to Develop Your Team’s Offense, discussed the many ways to use three on three basketball to develop and work on different variables of your basketball team’s offense. Three on three basketball can be altered in many ways to fit the offense that you are running while giving the basketball players more opportunities to work on those concepts. Since there are fewer players on the team, each player will get more touches of the ball and will also have more confidence to work on their offensive skills because there is more space on the floor to do so. For my team we focused on our dribble drive game, moving without the basketball, and playing the pick and roll (for more on how, read Using 3 on 3 to Develop Your Team’s Offense). However, the purpose of our three on three drills was not solely to work on our offense, it was also to work on our individual and team defense.
Team defense is a very difficult concept for a young player to understand let alone execute. Young players are often so determined to stop their own man, that they forget to play defense as a team. Simplifying team defense and breaking it down into three on three drills can facilitate the process of developing a solid team defense. At the same time, it will also still allow you to work on all of the facets of individual and team defense that you need to.
One of the primary aspects of defense (aside from the stance) is the ability to close out properly and to the correct spot. Each player should sprint to the their close out, not slide or shuffle or anything else that will get them to the correct spot slower than a sprint. As they approach their player, or spot on the floor, they should breakdown into choppy steps and maintain their balance and posture so that they can move or change directions instantly. Finally, the player should have their hands active when closing out, no matter where they are on the court. Having your hands down at your side could be the difference in deflecting the ball or not deflecting the ball. In order to work on your team’s closeouts using three on three games, start off each game with the defensive players in the lane and have a coach or a manager pass the basketball to one of the offensive players on the perimeter. Once the ball is passed, the defensive players must close out to their proper spot. The coach or manager should vary the spots to which he throws the basketball so that the players are closing out to different positions every time. The game is live once the ball is caught by the offensive player and at this point, the team can now work on defending the different offensive concepts that the team is working on in that given segment.
The first offensive concept that we worked on was moving without the basketball. To do so, the players were not allowed to dribble and had to rely solely on their cutting and screening to get an open shot. Defensively, this allowed us to practicing defending cuts and off the ball screens. In order to defend these concepts properly, defensive positioning is key. The defensive player must react on the pivot and not the pass (the pass is too late) and once the ball is thrown from one player to the next, they must sprint to their new closeout and defensive position immediately. By doing so, they will be in good defensive position to help on any off the ball screen and bump any cutter as they moved towards the basketball. Our team has a rule that no player should come from the weak side through the lane untouched. We were also forced to show on all off the ball screens in order to prevent a curl cut for a layup or an open jumper. By bumping cutters and showing on screens, we force the defensive player to catch the basketball going away from the basket which forces the offensive player to have to regroup and pivot thereby making them less efficient.
In the next two segments, when the offense was working on their dribble attack, the defense was able to take the defensive concepts from first segement and add them to defending the dribble drive on and off the ball. As a team, we work on early help and early recovery. To accomplish this, our defenders that are guarding wing players would not contact deny their offensive player. We want ot be able to help early on any middle drive so our defender would play up the line a little to help on the guard’s penetration. In doing so, it allows are players not only to work on sliding their feet into a good help position but also to close back out on their player after the recovery has taken place.
Defending the dribble drive also allows us to work on our weak side help on baseline drives from the wing. Our team knows that their weakside help on any baseline drive from the wing should come outside the lane and not inside the lane because that is too late. To accomplish this, our players position themselves in the center of the lane or, “split the rim” position. This allows them to get to the help position outside the lane on any baseline drive much quicker. It also allows the man guarding the guy at the top of the key to work on dropping into the lane on the drive to provide secondary help, if necessary. This type of positioning does leave the skip pass open, but if the man guarding the ball is pressuring the basketball properly it will eliminate any straight line pass and allow us to recover quite easily.
The final defensive concept that was worked on was defending the pick and roll. This seems to be something of a lost art as not too many teams work on defending the pick and roll properly if at all. By utilizing the pick and roll in a three on three setting, it teaches all of the defensive concepts necessary in defending the pick and roll. It forces the man guarding the guy setting the pick how to properly show on the pick and force the ball handler back in the direction of his teammate who is guarding him. It also teaches the defensive player off the ball to be in proper help position if the ball handler gets past the original show on the pick. Finally, it teaches how to recover properly back to your man after the offensive action has taken place.
Ultimately, three on three basketball is such a valuable tool in teaching individual and team defense. Because there are fewer players on the court, the defensive concepts being taught or worked on become simpler and easier to identify. However, simpler does not mean less effective. Working on the concepts in this fashion is just as effective as working on them in a regular five on five game. Not to mention, that by playing three on three, the games are still and competitive thereby making it realistic to the game itself.
