Defense at the NBA level and the outdoor parks level is completely misunderstood by the general public, the weekend warriors, and even the majority of serious basketball players. Oddly enough, defense in high school and college basketball conforms very well to the theories and firsthand knowledge most of us have of what makes a player, and a team, outstanding on the defensive end.
Before I go any further, let me clarify that outdoor basketball and NBA basketball are more similar than NBA basketball and collegiate basketball. Not necessarily in the level of skill or offensive efficiency, but in what is takes to do well at defense.
At your local park the talent level is commonly a varied level of abilities. You play man-on-man defense and usually try to stick the worst players on each other. When you have a scrub guarding the reigning Kobe of the courts, the effect is magnified 10 times in that setting.
This scattering of athleticism and defensive ability makes it hard to be completely effective in a team defense, forcing players to rely on matchups and individual defense instead.
Similarly, at the NBA level there is no stopping an o ...
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Article written by Sunil Tatapudy
Defense: The True Impact at The NBA Level
July 28th, 2010 by Sunil Tatapudy Leave a reply »
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