Post Defense: After entry pass

We already talked about how to defend the post before the post man has the ball. Now we are going to look at how to defend the post once the post man has the ball and is ready to go to work. We talked earlier in the post about DeMarcus Cousins (see here) about some of the post moves that an offensive player can have. Now we have to talk about some methods to defend formidable offensive post players.

Post defense starts with scouting and knowing the tendencies of the offensive player: What is their dominant hand? Are they good passers out of the post? What are their go to moves? Knowing some tendencies of a post player will give the defense the upper hand in stopping the offensive moves.

Defending the post: Pre-entry pass

This is the first in a two part post looking at how to effectively defend the post. It’s not always easy, especially going up against an opponent with good footwork. It’s a team effort and everyone can do a part to help defend the post.

The most crucial aspect of help D is positioning

We have talked at length about defense and there is one more general topic (at least) I want to touch on in the offseason. While last week we talked about seeing ball-you- man, this week we will touch on positioning and how it is important in help defense (ball-you-man means little if you don’t have proper positioning, as you will see). Like I said in an earlier post, too many college players (freshmen especially) don’t have the basketball knowledge they need since they relied on their athleticism to get them through high school and in college.

Many players in college have the same athleticism, so playing smart be more powerful than just being athletic. Playing proper help defense is one of those times. It’s inevitable that at some point, a defender will get beat off the dribble and the wing defenders (or baseline defenders) need to be in proper position to cut off the drive.