Zone defenses can be an incredibly effective tool to throw at your opponents. At Hastings we used a combination of a packline man defense and a 2-3 zone trap, switching between the two depending on how the game was going. In my opinion it is important to have a zone defense in your program, to not only help you prepare for opponents but to also change things up and find other opportunities for defensive success. I prefer running mostly man, because of the principles man defenses teach and the development of individual defensive skills. Zone defenses do help teach players a lot of skills they will need to apply while playing man to man. Communicating about cutters, playing defense in "help" position, and rotating are all effective man-to-man ideas that can be further practiced while using a zone. It is important to realize what type of zone defense (and man defense for that matter) works with your personnel. Make sure that your players do not mistake switching to a zone as taking possessions off or becoming lazy.
Below are some thoughts from Coach Botkin on the use of Zone Defense. Coach Botkin examines a few of the benefits of running zone defenses. Thanks again to Coach Botkin for his contribution, enjoy!
thirteen.
Coach Botkin: I would consider myself primarily a "zone coach". A lot of coaches ask me about our zones when they see my team play. Their main question is usually "why do we play zone with some of the athletes we have? Why play zone instead of man?" My answer to that is this: (1) I do not play zone all game and (2) I don't just use one type of zone. For about 75% of the game my team is playing defense in a zone. Whether it be 2-3, 3-2, 1-3-1, upside down, or a triangle 2. I switch them up throughout the game just to throw coaches off. Below I've elaborated on my belief that high school teams should play zone defenses:
1. It is taught at the Youth Level/AAU Level -- I have noticed as a high school coach, that kids come into my program every year with experience playing zone defenses from their youth leagues and middle school teams. With the kids I coach I have found that very few, have a lot of experience playing man to man defense. At the first school I coached at we were strictly a man to man program. What started happening to us was we would teach all the man principles and run it all year and then the kids would go play AAU all summer. They would come back in the fall having spent the summer months barely playing any man defense. We had to keep reteaching the same elementary man-to-man principles to a high level varsity team each year. It was becoming very frustrating. From there I decided that since they run some basic zone stuff in youth levels and in summer, why not do it during the school year as well?
2. Putting It In During Practice Time -- As a coach one of the hardest things to determine is how much time we allocate to certain things in practice. Coaches often feel like they don't have enough time to cover everything. In my opinion, working on a great man to man defense should take 5-10 minutes a day doing shell work, then 5-8 minutes on ball screens and off ball screens. Then 10-15 minutes doing team stuff, after a while you look at your practice plan and notice 40-50 minutes is spent just on building your man to man defense. Most teams practice for around 2 hours a day. Half of that time is pretty much gone just covering man to man concepts. I decided it was more valuable for our teams to spend 10-15 minutes a day working on various zones, and then spend an hour and 45 minutes on skill development and offense. The first week or so you may spend 30 minutes going over your zones. But after that, touch on them for a few minutes a piece and after 12-15 minutes you are done with defense. You don't neglect man either, you have 1 assistant or even yourself as the head coach talk about man defense when you work on your offensive stuff. Our team progressed so much offensively by giving our kids an extra 30-40 minutes in skill development every day.
3. It Messes With Other Team's Game Prep -- A majority of coaches run man or a basic 2-3 zone. So when you run some different variations of 2-3 defense or different zones, you are making the team preparing for you spend extra time on practicing against zones. Also, you as a coach do not have to spend time practicing against other coaches plays for scouting reports. You now talk about the opponents tendencies and player skills versus what offense they run or how they might make adjustments to it. This really does save a lot of time and helps your players. HS kids tend to only remember 3 or 4 things during each scouting report- and that is if you are lucky. Now if you run some zones, they are much more inclined to remember player #21 can really shoot it from the right corner so we need to high hand close out and run him off the line, versus how to stop play X if you are in 5 different spots. Again, we are back to saving time in your practice and adding time to your opponents practices.
4. It Dictates Your Opponent's Scoring Options -- Another reason I run a lot of zone is because they usually help take big men out of the game. There are spots in every zone where bigs can get quality looks to score. A lot of bigs are usually not comfortable handling the ball and the tight area to score efficiently. Whereas in man you can isolate a big and throw it into him and he goes 1 on 1. Against a zone that option is not there, a big man will rarely have the opportunity to go 1-on-1. Bob Knight said once "In man, you dictate who shoots it by how your defense plays me. When you run a zone, I dictate who shoots." While I believe that is true, I do not fully agree with it. Kids tend to pass the ball a lot more against a zone and kids who usually do not shoot it, find themselves more inclined to shoot because of the quick "open look" that they have. Star players are usually getting looks by having plays ran for them or having isolations set up for them. Against zone you are really playing against a minimum of 2 players at once. Zones eliminate big men, and make it hard for star players to get the same looks they normally have.
5. It Helps You Control the Tempo -- I am a big believer in controlling the tempo and dictating the pace of the game. Playing zones can help you do that. If you want to slow the tempo you can sit back deeper in a zone and make the offense pass it around and wait for a good shot. If you want to get the tempo to be at a faster pace you can trap players but still have help behind you to pressure a ball handler. You are making the offense play at your pace. You as the defense decide what pace you want, where as in man, they can choose which pace you play at. Do they come down and shoot it quick? Or do they stall? Against a zone you are making them play your way.
6. Transition Confusion is Eliminated -- Newly inducted Hall Of Fame coach Jerry Tarkanian once said "the hardest thing to do in basketball is sprint back to defense from the offensive end". As a coach, how many times has a team scored on you because a player gets lost in transition finding his man? Or how many times does a substitute come in and you have a player caught up guarding somebody who is already being guarded? With zone, kids sprint back faster because of the mentality that you do not have to be "on" defensively for the whole possession. Also think of the benefits it provides for you transitioning from defense to offense. Getting easy buckets is a key to winning games. By playing a zone defense you give your offense great running lanes for transition offense.
7. Defending Possessions -- Like I mentioned before when playing man to man defense your kids have to be "on" for the whole possession. One little screw up mentally or physically can give the other team an immediate advantage. The helpside has to remain in stance and be talkative while moving side to side. Against a zone, you do not generally have to remain in a stance(high hands is a must though), and you do not have to be as active. You can be backside in a 2-3 zone and guard 2 to 3 guys with 1 movement, where as in man you cannot do that. In a zone you have to be "on" 4 to 6 seconds at a time. In man you have to be "on" the whole possession. This works for players that have seemingly short attention spans.
