In basketball, VERY FEW players can actually stay in front of other players. One on one, no one in the NBA can cover the opposing player. Not legally anyway.
The cure is deception and scheming to funnel players into places they don't want to go.
Deception... Act as if you're going to press and bail.
Act like you're in a zone when you're not.
Act like you're in man when you're not.
Act like you're going to double team then bail.
Quickly bring a trap.
Keep opposing offenses guessing when you're going to "blitz" and who's coming is critical for football. Why not in Basketball?
Both are at fault. The players aren't buying the sceme (wrong or right) and since they don't buy the sceme they aren't playing hard. I think defense is more about effort then sceme. If guys are rotating, switching, fighting through screens, contesting shots, and playing hard good things seem to happen. Currently the players aren't doing these things and the coachs aren't pushing them openly about it... (look at our first quarter points allowed)
You guys miss the point. The issue I have is not if they are out of position to make the defensive play, or if they have a coherent plan to contain the opposing teams best player or if they have plans that make them a precision team. Yes they need better systems for sure. That is not the biggest concern imo.
It is when you are right in front of your guy, he get the ball, stands there, then rises to shoot the 3. No screens, no nothing, just starts to shoot right in front of him, and our guy makes NO MOVE WHATSOEVER to challenge the shot. It is when someone has a minor breakaway and one of our players is even with them when they head toward their basket and our guy GIVES UP ON THE PLAY, just stops and watches the guy lay it up. It is when someone makes a move to the basket and our guy just steps aside, matador defense. Really the lack of personal effort is pathetic right now.
The best system in the world will not get a player to choose to raise his hands above waist height. The player has to choose to move his own arms. Right now for our team their arms are hanging limp and impotent at their sides.
When we get killed time and time again on Pick and Rolls, it's not because guys are being lazy. There is indecision about how much to show, when to switch, and the three guys not involved in the play clearly aren't sure what they should be doing. You see the same thing on double teams. Yet when you watch the Bulls, you see something else entirely. They're trained to execute one of two things: 1) a predetermined strategy to leave certain players unguarded based on weaknesses (ie. shooters who can't shoot); 2) They frequently rotate so precisely that the only unguarded man is on the other side of the floor--a very tricky skip pass for anyone to make.
We don't do this. The guys we have are thoroughly capable of it. Effort is important, too, but they need a system. There was a good quote, not sure who said it, but Thib's guys are all "lined up on a string." That's our compass.