Chauncey Billups Shreds Bulls Weak Man Defense

I'm sticking with the defensive theme today as I've been on a mission to break down good and bad defenses. I watched Detroit play Chicago earlier tonight and the Pistons really had their way with the Bulls all night, and this play I thought kind of summed up the defensive issues of the Bulls,



Helpside 'I':

I happen to disagree with the Comcast commentator who says that Luol Deng needed to drop down for help side. In my opinion, the biggest offender here is Joakim Noah (and I'm not just picking on him because he is a rookie). Joakim is the bottom defender of the helpside 'I' and needs to drop down to that spot so that he can help on penetration, part of the on the line up the line helpside defense. It should look more like this,


There should always be someone on the lowside and highside of the 'I'. You can teach your players to say 1 foot inside the line if that helps them learn it. The shell drill is the best way to teach this concept. So once Billups makes his move, Noah can step up and stop the drive. X5 needs to split the 2 far defenders, closing out on the one who gets the pass if it comes, the other players also must rotate to cover until Noah can recover to his man.

A great video that emphasizes these key M2M defensive concepts is Geno Auriemma's new DVD on his four cornerstones for half-court offense. Don't forget to check out the X's and O's of Basketball Forum to talk about this and your favorite basketball topics.