PlanetFrnd
Head Coach
[strike]Litl[/strike] Planet Earth, whereas I can't be certain of this, I think you have the wrong idea of a matchup zone in your head - think man-to-man with a lot of switching.
One benefit of running this type of "zone" defense is that it clarifies the switching schemes, off-ball defensive matchups and creates better help defense. The most noted weakness is rebounding, but this is an execution issue.
There is generally only one "slide" that pulls the bigs out of the paint and that's when there is a quick ball rotation to the opposite corner. This is usually because the ball has been either passed or driven in a way to cause the backside guard to rotate strong side and the backside wing to rotate up. In this slide (which Koufos really struggled to execute, Dallas does a good job and BJ is somewhere in the middle) strong side quickly becomes weak side, but, if there is a shot, the weak side should already be "overloaded" because of the quick ball rotation. In theory, the weakside wing and guard should already be in position and the strongside guard, who has rotated weak, should be matched as well. This may present a matchup problem somewhere in the paint of big offensive rebounder versus smaller defensive rebounder, but thats a sacrifice you make in order to "force" the shot from the corner - generally a much lower percentage shot. Point is, you should have at least two wing players and one guard in or near the paint to rebound. When those players are Lighty or Turner you see some good "covering down" and their athleticism makes up for matchup issues.
Some of our wings and guards struggle with their cover downs and/or other slides in the helpside. Here's the thing though, if they can't execute relatively short 6-8 foot defensive slides in the helpside in a scheme where they are already in position to make the slide, how can you depend on these kids to play good helpside in a man where they could be anywhere on the court? How can they be sure of their switching "dos and donts" when they are constantly in different situations? Matchup zone reduces variables and shortens help assignments.
By the way, the Bucks are a solid defensive team. I honestly don't know why there is so much noise about switching schemes in the first place.
One benefit of running this type of "zone" defense is that it clarifies the switching schemes, off-ball defensive matchups and creates better help defense. The most noted weakness is rebounding, but this is an execution issue.
There is generally only one "slide" that pulls the bigs out of the paint and that's when there is a quick ball rotation to the opposite corner. This is usually because the ball has been either passed or driven in a way to cause the backside guard to rotate strong side and the backside wing to rotate up. In this slide (which Koufos really struggled to execute, Dallas does a good job and BJ is somewhere in the middle) strong side quickly becomes weak side, but, if there is a shot, the weak side should already be "overloaded" because of the quick ball rotation. In theory, the weakside wing and guard should already be in position and the strongside guard, who has rotated weak, should be matched as well. This may present a matchup problem somewhere in the paint of big offensive rebounder versus smaller defensive rebounder, but thats a sacrifice you make in order to "force" the shot from the corner - generally a much lower percentage shot. Point is, you should have at least two wing players and one guard in or near the paint to rebound. When those players are Lighty or Turner you see some good "covering down" and their athleticism makes up for matchup issues.
Some of our wings and guards struggle with their cover downs and/or other slides in the helpside. Here's the thing though, if they can't execute relatively short 6-8 foot defensive slides in the helpside in a scheme where they are already in position to make the slide, how can you depend on these kids to play good helpside in a man where they could be anywhere on the court? How can they be sure of their switching "dos and donts" when they are constantly in different situations? Matchup zone reduces variables and shortens help assignments.
By the way, the Bucks are a solid defensive team. I honestly don't know why there is so much noise about switching schemes in the first place.
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