Shane Battier, a Hard Charge Taker

Following on the TNT Fundamentals series, we take a look at Shane Battier of the Houston Rockets showing us how to be a "hard charge taker" person. When you think of the better defensive players in the NBA, Ben Wallace, Raja Bell, Manu Ginobili, you see a pattern. Most are very good at taking charges. Watch the video and then you can read my thoughts below.



This is one of the defensive plays that can change the momentum of the game. You can change a team that is playing aggressive and attacking the hoop into jump shooters. By taking charges, you force the opposing team to think twice about barreling into the lane. It's not easy, but it's effective in making overly aggressive teams soften up.

Here are the key points from the video:

1. Footwork, now most of us don't coach in the NBA so we don't have to worry about the restricted area, but you must make sure your players have 2 feet firmly planted and that they don't shuffle their feet before or after contact. This will result in a blocking foul instead, exactly the opposite of what we want to accomplish.

2. No fear, you must not be afraid of contact. Yes, it will hurt, and it's not a glamorous thing, to be knocked down. But someone on your team must be willing to take one to the body.

3. Fall straight back onto your butt, again it's not a charge if you squirm or fall sideways or hit shoulder to shoulder. You must take a solid hit into the chest and fall straight down onto your butt.

4. Anticipate, like basic M2M principles, if you are taking a charge from the weakside, you must be watching the ball and anticipate the dribblers move. If you are taking a charge on your defender, you must anticipate when they make their move to the basket and get there before the dribbler.

This is not an easy thing to teach. You'll find that some kids know how to do it, others will never really grasp the concept. Find out who those players are that can do it and when you see the opposing team being overly-aggressive, tell your player to step up and take a charge.

There aren't any videos that specialize but Kelvin Sampson's DVD on Competitive Defensive Drills has some good stuff including taking charges. Also, head over the X's and O's Basketball Forum to take a look and see what I have on defensive drills.