Just wanted to poll some basketball minds on some general strategy for my youth team. I usually prefer to be an up-tempo team with lots of pressure defense and fast break points.

But my team this year is very tall and long, but don't have the quickest of feet. Any ideas on capitalizing on a team where my 1-3 are as tall as posts and good scorers but not exceptionally quick. My posts are good rebounders but not scorers.

Looking for ideas on offensive and defensive philosophies that fits this team. As of now the 4 keys I have them working on are great half court D (running a 32 to take advantage of the length up top. The lack of speed allows teams to attack from the corner, though it hasn't been exploited bad yet.), keeping turnovers low by improved spacing/passing, team effort for rebounds (they are great at this), and good spacing/movement on offense.


Thanks for your thoughts and hoops talk! I don't come to this board much and see it's mostly NBA talk. Hope I'm in the right place.

How old is your group?

10-12. So some younger 7th graders along with 5th and 6th grade.

As expected my lengthy players are late birthday 7th graders that have grown. My point guard is 5'10 and can almost touch the rim. He's very athletic but not quick in a box. My two wings are 5'9" and are similar but less athletic. Slow feet, slight clumsiness at times but are very good players for this age group and classification (3A and smaller towns). They'll be solid 2A-3A varsity role players in a couple years when they get used to their bodies.

Whats the competition like? Are there typically more than 2 kids that can dribble or shoot?

My middle school team (charter school 6-8th, low level of competition until you hit the George Gervin academy): We do a lot of triangle and 2 taking the ball out of the hands of the two best ball handlers/shooters (typically the same kids). We also press a lot. We did very well this year. Most teams only had 1 kid that you had to worry about skill wise. They would typically have 2 or 3 athletes that could hurt you on offensive rebounds, steals and fast breaks and then 1 or 2 kids that they just rotated for playing time.

On our 6th grade AAU team we run the same defense Syracuse (Baylor) runs. Obviously we don't run it at that level and it has taken these kids more than a year to get some of the easy steals but it works very well. If we play a team with a high post who can pass, shoot and drive: we have problems. That's pretty rare. Other than that the defense is extremely aggressive and fun to watch. We do not press in 6th grade AAU.. most teams that are solid beat the press and get easy points unless you are dealing with elite athletes.

I would say the better 6th grade team can shoot 3's at over 25% with certain kids hitting 40% over any 5-6 game stretch. Over a 20 game stretch they are probably closer to 35%.

1-3-1 defenses were always very difficult for me against a really tall team.

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1-3-1 defenses were always very difficult for me against a really tall team.

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This is what my HS ran when I played. Three kids are too unfamiliar. This is just regular small town little dribblers. Have two warmup tournaments (4 games total) and about 6 practices before the "state" tournament.

"State" consists of only the small schools from about a 4 parish area.

Typically play a few teams that are small, fundamentally sound, and shoot well.

Then about one or two teams with a plus athlete that is as tall as my kids but more athletic. That's the team we have lost out to the last few years.

I'm a firm believer in man pressing and believe that you don't have to have elite athletes to do so. I coach an 8th grade A team at a 4A school and my best lineup went 5'11", 5'11", 6', 6'2", 6'6" (we had some freak size). However, they weren't all lightening quick. It's all about the kids being able to anticipate and knowing where and when to trap. I had 3 different traps I ran out of a full court man. I'd put my 4 man on the ball so that his length would bother the inbounder. I'm not gonna ramble on about each trap, because it's easier to look at a diagram, but when I would face really athletic teams we'd kill them where we'd force the inbound to the corner then the man guarding the opposing PG would bait him up the sideline like he had him beat. Then as soon as he'd cross half court, our defender guarding the deep man on that side (the 1 for me) would sprint up for the trap and everyone else would rotate over. Really gives kids that age problems because they don't see it coming until they're stuck.

However, if you don't think a full court defense will work, but still want to pressure there's lots of things you can do. My favorite half court D was a 2-2-1 where we'd pick up as soon as the ball crossed half court and the top two guys would pressure and trap if they could. Then, you can trap the first pass (typically it goes to the high corner if your top guys get good pressure) and everyone else rotates out of that. It's a pretty safe defense as well because it drops into a 2-3 naturally, even if the other team passes their way out of the traps.

I've thought about a man-press. Do the kids pick it up pretty fast? If they don't pick it up and execution is sloppy does it lead to a lot of transition points?

Just worried about the short turnaround between now when I get the kids and the end of the season only weeks away.

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I've thought about a man-press. Do the kids pick it up pretty fast? If they don't pick it up and execution is sloppy does it lead to a lot of transition points?

Just worried about the short turnaround between now when I get the kids and the end of the season only weeks away.

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Obviously my kids are a little older, but I had 4 days of practice prior to our first game and they had the first two traps down. I think it's pretty easy to pick up because all the rules of a half court man defense still apply, just extended out full court and the addition of some different traps.

I teach a man press, but the kids don't pick up "their man" after a made bucket or a dead ball; instead they run to a spot and the man in that spot is now their man. The rules for each position are: 4 defends the ball, 2 and 3 are up and pick up the two main ball handlers (you can deny or play behind), 1 goes from being the safety after the shot goes up to play-side half court, 5 picks up deepest man or goes opposite the 1 if they don't send a man all the way down court. I think it saves the kids from having to scramble and look for whoever it is they're guarding, but more than anything it makes it easier to teach the different responsibilities for each trap. i.e. some teams have a big man inbound the ball, some teams a guard. I don't have to teach 1 through 5 what to do if their man is inbounding the ball, I just have to teach my 4s.

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If they don't pick it up and execution is sloppy does it lead to a lot of transition points?

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Even really good presses will lead to some layups. It's the nature of the beast, and you have to be ok with giving up some easy buckets (which is always a hard thing to reconcile with yourself). However, the thing that really sold it for me was something I read from Jeff Evans (head coach at Amarillo Palo Duro), where he sells his team on the press being their insurance policy. You may give up a few easy layups from the opposing team breaking down the press, but the number of turnovers and extra possessions created (and hopefully steals leading to your own easy layups) more than make up for those few times they break the press.

I faced one team this year that could consistently break our press, but it was their transition 3s that killed us more than easy layups.

2-3, match your slower forward with your faster guard on the same side of the court. Emphasize the importance of staying in a good fundamental defensive stance through an entire possession too... You'd be shocked how much quicker your team will be by just doing this.

In terms of offense... Honestly, omthe game is still one ball and offense isn't that fun unless you are involved. I'm big with youth bball in forced involvement... ie run lots of set plays and emphasize rules like 2 passes minimum before a shot. It sounds dumb but youth basketball offense often becomes a ****show unless you force everyone to get involved somehow... That's why set plays work well at under 15 or so.

I loved it when teams would man press us. If you're kids are not that quick I wouldn't touch a man press. I like the 1-3-1. Get them active and their hands in the passing lanes and they will do fine. We would do a 1-2-1-1 3/4 court soft press and would fall back into the 1-3-1. On offense, a high post exchange would work well if you have that much of a size advantage. Make sure the high post guy has good vision and you'll get good looks.

I personally think all young teams should learn to play man. You can adjust your level of pressure based on how athletic they are and who you are playing against. But in the end, every kid needs to learn how to stay in front of dribbler and how to help and rotate. The concepts learned can be applied to any defense at every level.

When I was a kid zone defenses and spread offenses were not allowed. That's how it should be.

Our season ended Saturday. We got 3rd in the big end of year tournament. We lost to the team that won and came in 2nd for our double elimination. The winning team had the best athletes by far. The second place team caught us on a day when put backs weren't falling. Good season all in all. Really enjoyed this group of kids.

So what did you end up running defensively? I always love hearing how different people adapt to different personnel.

I based out of a 3-2 with my three tall long guards up top (my 3 guards were all as tall or taller than every other team's posts, including my posts).

When teams had better perimeter players it was more of a matchup zone but if they had weak ball handlers we trapped and denied the first pass and scored a lot of transition baskets. The trap left the backside wide open but with the length of my guards up top nobody could ever exploit it.

Really fun season and my favorite group of kids yet. Very coachable. I just wish our local youth league did a better job of teaching fundamentals. I feel like the HS coach should be more involved in directing that. This is technically his farm system. But that's a whole new thread lol

Nice

Try a 1-2-2 halfcourt trap.

It allows a lot of pressure in a much smaller space. The rotations are shorter and are predetermined so that your long arm and step slow players will seem much faster.

You can also use a box and one zone as the alternative when you have a dominant player on the other team. The trap and the zone look identical before the ball crosses half court. You can signal the jump into the trap or let them hang in the zone.

We had good success with this when I couldn't press and run due to size.