Coach Branden Mayweather of Central Gwinnett High School uses zone defense combined with man principles to keep opponents off balance. Photo cred – Ty Freeman
Zone defense was a curse word as I learned how to be a coach during the mid to late 90’s. I studied great teachers of pressure man to man defense from Bobby Knight to Mike Roller to Coach Krzyewski. Typically teams that played zone defense were associated with programs that did not want to work that hard or taking the easy way out. I have heard a lot of chatter via social media of how zone defense is bad for basketball. After coaching 15 years at the high school level and now working as a national evaluator for the past six, I have concluded that zone defense is not the problem but poor zone offense is. Here are a couple of my thoughts.
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By: @JLHemingwayPSB
Good Zone Offense Involves Ball Movement
Zone defenses are created to take away dribble penetration. When implemented correctly, a quick penetrating point guard can be neutralized. What is the counter-attack from an offensive perspective? The offensive team must move the ball with the pass. Great zone offenses move the ball quickly around the perimeter. Pass fakes, shot fakes and deception are all important to get the defense to react.
Good Zone Offense Requires all 5 offensive players to be a Threat to Score
A high pick and roll offense versus a man to man defense may only involve two or three players on a given possession. And sometimes if a point guard is super talented, the ball may never leave the point guard’s hands. A zone offense that operates like that will never be efficient. Instead, a good zone offense requires that every player on the floor be involved in the action. Ball reversals, post feeds and post flashes are necessary at times to keep the zone honest.
Good Zone Offense Has good Shooters
Why do most teams zone? Because they want to tempt the opposing team into shooting lower percentage shots from distance. Sometimes the best way to get a team out of a zone is to bust a couple of 3-point shots. But this very principle should tell coaches, trainers and players alike a very simple message: Be a Shot Maker. Of course it is important to be a good ball handler and a finisher at the rim. However, one thing always translates to the next level: high percentage shooters.
Good Zone Offense Includes Screening Away from the Ball
A common complaint that is often heard about watching a game that has a zone defense is Players just stand around. The problem there is not the defense...it is the offense! Coaches must get educated or even creative on how to create space versus a zone defense. Today’s game is often dominated by On-Ball Screening Action. Zone defense by definition generally takes away that option. Screening the bottom of the zone or setting elbow flare screens are great ways to get your shooters open. Furthermore it gets your offense flowing and forces the zone to shift.
Good Zone Offense Makes Players Understand Spacing and Angles
High IQ teams and players will understand how to dissect a zone defense. It is a constant test to see if you can create a 3/2 situation where you can get an open shot. Unlike going against a man to man offense where there are more 1/1 situations, attacking a zone defense requires drawing 2 defenders and then dishing to the open player.
Good Zone Offense Uses all Parts of the Floor
Poor zone offense teams will keep the ball at the top of the key or on the wing. However, the best zone offensive teams will move the ball into areas where it puts pressure on the defense. Areas like the short corner and high post are areas that players can be effective.
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Final Thoughts
Some readers who are more experienced in coaching could be saying, “These principles are not unique to zone offense, this should be guiding ideas for all offense.” I could not agree more. However, when you look at how the game is being played today you notice these things (at every level)
1. The ball is often dominated by the point guard
2. Offenses consist of only Ball Screens and fewer off ball screens
3. Teams are usually better in transition (fast pace) rather than in the half-court.
Zone defenses tend to neutralize many of these factors. It forces point guards to share the ball and it slows the tempo down significantly. The point that I would like to make is that zone defense should not be the enemy of our game, but instead the basketball community should embrace teaching zone offense better. In fact, I would argue that teaching of zone attack principles should be taught more at a youth level. We are training and teaching a whole generation of players who only understand basketball in terms of ball screens and dribble moves. Perhaps zone defense can be conduit that helps our players put a premium on passing, sharing the ball and understanding how to play the game at its highest levels.
Jonathan Hemingway is the Assistant Director of Scouting for the JumpOffPlus.com International Scouting Report, is on the Naismith Trophy Board of Selectors and owns CoachHemi.com, the go-to source for coaches for X’s and O’s. He is the floor director of #TeamEBA camps, a site director for #TeamPSB tournaments and can be reached at jonathanhemingway@peachstatebasketball.com.
