coachmccormick
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Re:just beat your m2m press w/out playing you - 2008/06/17 21:55
You would be surprised, I have seen some women's college coaches attack a man2man press with a zone press break. I scream at the television and then turn the channel because I cannot take it...
Bringing the ball up against one man shouldn't wear out a guard. It doesn't take that much extra effort if they are good. It should take 1 move and maybe a hesitation one the defender catches up.
If the offense clears out, and the defense stays, it clearly is not a man press, but if the other defenders to not adjust, an offensive player will be wide open down court for a probable lay-up.
We faced a team this year that ran a diamond press and never adjusted to the fact that our "press break" had 1 player to receive the inbounds pass and 3 players at half court or in the front court. We threw over the press on the inbounds pass and finally they took off the press. I imagine every other team puts 3-4 players in the press break, like most teams, which allows the diamond to work. It's amazing the lack of creativity and the ease with which players can break presses (or press) when the opponent can only do one thing.
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David E
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Re:just beat your m2m press w/out playing you - 2008/06/19 23:48
GAtwood wrote:
I don't care how good your (any press) press is, they are only effective if your team isn't prepared to deal with them.
While it may be true that the relentless pressure has a tiring effect, it's true both ways. Your players will also wear down chasing us all over the court, and there's a good chance we are going to pick up some cheap fouls on your defenders too.
Very true that presses look their best against teams that are unprepared. I think Coach McCormick has made the point many times that defenses of any kind look good because offensive players are so poorly developed.
We have been very fortunate in the last three years to have had much, much more depth than our opponents, so fatigue has not been a factor for us. Yes, we have been better than the majority of the teams we have played, but our ability to run and get the other team running has enabled us to turn what would have been close games into ones that weren't so close.
when I encounter a team like mine that isn't really bothered by full court pressure, I get out of it.
I've taken the philosophy that you are either a pressing team or not. We have been a pressing team the last three years, particularly this past year when our "inside" players were outsized by a minimum of four to six inches every game. (We for 0-for-the-year last season on actually winning the opening tip, although we did steal almost 50% of them.) We couldn't afford to let the opponent's bigs get involved. So we pressed every game, regardless of opponent, until the game was decided. And yes, a couple of times that happened in the first quarter. (Well, there was one team that was really bad that we didn't press at all.)
Next year we will definitely not be a pressing team. I know there will be some time and score situations that will call for some type of full-court defense, but I doubt that will be very productive for us. Andy Landers says that when a non-pressing team starts to press the players usually don't have any expectation of success because they are having to do something they don't normally do.
I want our ball handlers running too. In fact, not much irritates me more than my guards allowing the defense to set up without putting any pressure on them by walking it up. If I see that, I assume that guard needs a rest.
I like that. 
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coachmccormick
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Re:just beat your m2m press w/out playing you - 2008/06/20 17:50
I agree, as a general rule, that you either are or are not a pressing team. If you are a pressing team, you have to believe in it wholeheartedly and not take off the press just because the other team broke it twice, like many teams. As a pressing team, part of the strategy is to wear down the opponent - I wrote an article once that said most coaches use presses like they look for the knockout blow, but they are most useful as body punches constantly wearing down an opponent to where he makes a mistake because of fatigue.
Now, a smart PG should be able to handle the pressure and conserve some energy to avoid the fatigue induced mistakes, but, then again, how many really smart or really well-coached PGs are there at any level?
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netpup
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Re:just beat your m2m press w/out playing you - 2008/07/03 11:21
I haven't read all the posts on this topic so forgive me if I'm being redundant, but one point I'd add is that several coach's choices about when to pull out of a press, or whether or not they should pull out of it at all, is also based on the quality of shots the other team is getting.
If the press forces a tempo that is just a little faster or slower than what the opponent finds comfortable, "good shots" sometimes end up as nothing more than missed shots. Regardless, every armchair coaching dad in the gym will usually shake his head at how much the coach is 'gambling'.
This doesn't mean that a press should allow those shots - every missed rotation is a teaching moment. I'm just throwing this in to point out sometimes the press can impact tempo in a manner that favors the pressing team, even if the press isn't forcing a bunch of turnovers. Sometimes, the game tempo is the reason the coach chooses to stick with the press, more than
an oversimplified notion that at some point the press will cause the other team to collapse from exhaustion.
Coach Stinson
www.perfectpractice.net
Coaching Better Basketball
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David E
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Re:just beat your m2m press w/out playing you - 2008/07/03 13:51
netpup wrote:
Sometimes, the game tempo is the reason the coach chooses to stick with the press, more than an oversimplified notion that at some point the press will cause the other team to collapse from exhaustion.
That's a good point. When I was talking about fatigue earlier, I guess I made it sound like our opponents were going to pass out and we were going to have to call the paramedics. Obviously, that is not what usually happens.
What happens is that some open shots the offense was making earlier in the game become missed shots, as you described, and decision-making becomes worse.
I think these are the byproducts of getting the opponent out of their tempo "comfort zone."
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netpup
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Re:just beat your m2m press w/out playing you - 2008/07/03 15:34
You didn't make it sound like that at all, Coach. The statement was more of a general response to the common line that comes from pressing coaches that goes something like, "We're in superior condition to everyone we play against, and we'll wear them all down in the end". I understand why coaches say it...it's part of building toughness into a team. The downside of it is that I think it kind of creates a general impression of pressing coaches as drill sergeants who run their kids 8 miles a day and eat rocks for breakfast, but are a little lacking in the strategy department.
I'm joking about the rocks, of course
Josh Stinson
www.perfectpractice.net
Coaching Better Basketball
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