Del Harris on Defending Pick and Rolls

Del Harris just recently retired as a Bulls assistant after being involved with the game for over 50 years. Here are some of his thoughts on defending pick and rolls:

• All players involved must be in athletic stances to be effective, but especially the two involved directly in the pick/roll action. The straight up defender has no chance.
  

• All coverage is relative to distance from the goal and the abilities of the picker and the ball handler. In all cases it is important to body up on the ball handler-push toward help in athletic stance.

• The picker's man must communicate to the ball hander's defender to call out the coverage, even when they are all supposed to know what they are doing.

• Do not allow a picker simply to run into a pick. Be up with your man and try to bump him up off of his preferred angle without fouling. This will break their timing, their angle and will put the picker defender right on his man in the best position to apply whatever type of coverage is selected.

• One plan for determining to go over or under the pick is to go under and make the ballhandler pull up and shoot until he makes a couple. This takes the rest of the team offense out of the play.

• You must evaluate quickly the abilities of the ball handler. Is he a shooter or a penetrator primarily? This will determine the over/under priority for his defender. If he is a star and both, then trapping may be in order.

• Evaluate quickly the ability of the picker. Is he a roller or a pop and shoot player primarily? If he is a pop/shoot, then the aggressive coverages on the ball favor him since it will generally call for a rotation by another player as the aggressive defender can't get back to prevent the shot

• If the picker is a roller, then the less aggressive angle coverage call allow his defender to plug the middle better and make it harder to ge the roll pass.

• Do thye have a player in the low post as the pick/roll is set? If so, there is help behind the pick/roll adn the aggressive coverage on the ball has a better safety valve

• If there is no player in the post and thus the offense is spread in an open attack, then it's difficult to use an aggressive sho or trap because there is little help at the basket to defend the roll

• When a team starts with a man in the low post and quickly rolls him up or out to the perimeter as the pick/roll is set, his defender must yell out a signal such as "Lift" or "Clear" to alert the picker defender in the event he is supposed use an aggressive coverage

• The picker defender must learn to be vocal. He has to call out Help Right or Help Left because many pickers will start to pick one side and then quickly change angles.

• The picker's defender should call out the type of coverage as well when at all possible, even though the game plan should be clear.

• Don't allow the ballhandler to reject the screen and get to the open space away from your help. Push to help.

• Keep coming, especially when you get hit by the pick. It is your job to try to catch up and square back up the ball

• Late Switching. When it becomes obvious that the ball defender will not be able to catch up and is badly beaten, the picker defender can call for a late switch by calling "late"

• When you switch, the man who switches to the roller must get to the basket side of the picker to prevent an easy roll to the goal and to stay with him if he pops.

• A good time for automatic switches, even to a mismatch is when the shot clock is under 6 seconds. This gives limited time to attack the mismatch. You must drill this before you use it.

• Do not allow a splittable gap between you and the picker when you switch, hard show or trap.

• Drop the inside hand when you switch, blitz or tap to prevent a dribble split or quick bounce pass.

• Your shoulders should be lower than the pickers and the ballhandlers to ensure the proper stance. On all coverages of pick and roll, just as in 1 on 1 defensive play.

• In the event there is a bad switch for whatever reason, quite often a bigger weakside defender can call out "GO" to the smaller player and take the bigger player on the roll. This is called "passing off the mismatch" most commonly.

• If a picker slips to the goal instead of holding the pick, the defender must quickly go with him with his hands held highto help block vision in case a pass is made to him.