3 Defense Drills To Make Your Basketball Team Better - Closeouts, Defensive Slides, Deflections

Hello guys, welcome back to another video. I wanted to show you our star closing drill and if you stick around, we'll show you two more

defensive

drills

that you can add to

your

practices or

your

training regiment. I think closure is especially important. You know in

basketball

you're in a lot of situations where you're getting close to a shooter, so it's very important to teach the emphasis of proper technique while you're doing these things, so in this drill the players are going to close down. at five different points in that last place we have a coach there who is going to give a good strong blow either from right to left or from right and again the player has to close with a strong step in that last close, so here you see that We have a hard closing, they have to return to the middle and when they return, the next player will go.

I think there are two mistakes players can

make

when closing. I think the first mistake is not closing hard enough or being too low. their closing, where a good shooter will just

make

that shot, won't affect them, but on the other hand, a player can close too hard or too high, where a good offensive player will just attack you and pass you. Again, if you are out of control and take off your clothes, it will not be a good thing and often you can even foul the shooter. You see that many young players close too hard and don't let the shooter. land and we will show you here the adjustment that we make in the drill, we add it to the next step where we simulate a shot and the player has to let the coach land or let the player land and block and go get the ball, so here we turn it the other way, now that they close on this last point, the coach will act as if he is shooting the shot.

Now it's important for the player to let it land, still make contact on the block and then go and you know, pretend that they're getting a rebound again, this is a very important thing because for us you never want to commit a foul like that against a shooter and our

defensive

scheme is seen as a cardinal sin, you know, fouling the shooter is simply giving him the opportunity.

team

free points is something you can control so again something to work on and practice is your closing technique and doing it the right way and without following the shooter you still want to affect the shot obviously you want to challenge the shot but you have than leave it.

When they land, you have to block them and then get back into the paint and get the rebound. Now on this side, you see that it can get a little bit crowded, so you probably want to get a little bit more space or a little bit

better

. time when you do this side and the close because it takes a little bit longer to do the block and get back to the paint so again you can time this a little

better

than us but that's okay we're still getting the technique down and really working on closing simulating a shot, continue making contact on the block and then return to the rebound.

Now I know a lot of colleges and NBA

team

s are doing flyovers in their

closeouts

and I think a lot of that is due to the shot clock, so if you can force that player to take a few extra seconds, you're actually saving your

defense

now at the high school or youth level there is no shot clock, so to me the flyover is actually probably something that you know is not going to teach right now, but you know that if there is eventually a shot clock, it's something we could turn to now. The next part is going to be our line of clinches, so again, this is another good clinching drill that you can use at the beginning of practice to work on defensive

slides

getting to a clinch really getting to that first strong jab step where you have to cut off the driver and then you come back we have our players yelling basket basket basket on that you know how they They are backing up or backing up and then they slide defensively across the baseline to the other side.

What I like about these

drills

is that it again gets the players moving, activates them, forces them to communicate and talk so early in practice which we like. Do these drills because, again, it's something that's going to get their bodies going, get them moving, but you're also working on technique and individual things that they can do to improve as a defender, so again. We like these exercises, it's something that brings a lot of energy to the practice and it's really good to start practicing with these exercises now. If there are aspects of this drill that you don't like, I again encourage you to make adjustments based on how you play

defense

. or how you run your program.

I think it's important to make sure that your drills really reflect how you play defense or how you teach defense, so again it could be adjusted based on the level or type of kid you have, the type of talent you have or I know you may have a group that is very athletic, you may have a group that is not quite athletic and you may have to make that adjustment accordingly. Now the next exercise is called man in the middle. This is a great exercise for the defense that closes by reflecting the ball, but. It's also a really good offensive drill and we really teach our players to get around the defense, so I think you need three guys in a group one

basketball

group.

We make our players really work on their steps passing around the defense. The rule is that they can't throw it over the top. I think that's cheating on the drill, so again they can't just throw a lob pass over the defender. That's too easy, it has to be a step or you know, a bounce pass. or even just a short pass, you know, with the chest, but again it's a good defensive drill, they will close, they really need to reflect the ball, try to deflect it and then the pass goes through the passer, now they become the defender, they will follow their pass and now you become the defender, you can add some kind of, you know, I guess punishment or you know, consequences if the ball deflects, so again we do push-ups, if your pass is deflected, then you have five push-ups, so just.

During the course of the exercise, if you keep deflecting your passes, you may be doing a lot of push-ups, but it is a very good defensive exercise to work on again reflecting the ball and trying to deflect, but also work on your offense because many times you will You face pressure, you have to be able to pass, be strong on the ball and still make a good pass, so I hope these three drills can help you or your team again. I really like that they are efficient and short. and they can be done early in practice, but make no mistake, they can be difficult, they take a lot of effort, but it's good that it gets the players' bodies moving, keeps them really focused and locked in on the defensive end, so it gives them I appreciate you tuning in. in thanks again