Read Your Opponent Like A Book: Great Players Are Great Students of the Game

#47- Reading Your Opponent Like A Book:
Great Players are Great Students
by Alan Lambert
Introduction
Today's Playground Pointer may be one of the more unusual I have written in recent years because it's much less about a specific basketball technique and much more about using your eyes and ears to reading your opponents body and position cues to provide valuable clues to tip off what they are doing.  This type of basketball knowledge is what allows experienced players to seemingly be a step faster and a step ahead on the court.   Being a student of your opponent can provide you a significant advantage in the game.  For players who are just beginning to play basketball this topic will be difficult because your library of basketball knowledge is not large enough to pick up relevant cues to gain this advantage.  For you I encourage you to read today's Pointer with the idea of watching older, more skilled players, and watching what they do.  Make mental notes and store them in your library.  Theoretically the more basketball games you watch and play, the larger your library of basketball knowledge becomes.  However if you are not a student of the game, you may be missing some of the most important tools you can assemble in becoming a great basketball player.  Because great players are always students of the game.  That is the focus of today's Pointer.
I am not completely sure where I picked up the habit but somewhere early in my basketball playing childhood someone taught me to be observant of my opponents.  Whenever I walk in the gym, no matter which player I may be guarding or which team I'm playing against, I immediately begin a study of that opponent.  Whether as a team or my individual player to whom I am assigned I am a quick study.  I watch for things like, pet moves, skill limitations (such as a weak left hand, or the inability to push the dribble out behind a defender) provide many clues to how I can better compete against that opponent.  For teams it has more to do with tendencies like always starting their offense to the right side of the court, always making bounce passes to the post, or defensively being a team that fails to communicate screens.  In a few moments I will give you quite a few more ideas about what to look for in terms of individual opponent skills, but for now it's more important you simply register how important this skill is to develop as you develop as a player. 
I remember playing a number of years ago against a player who had great physical ability.   He could dunk like some of the best in the pros, and guarding him was going to be a real challenge.  During warm-ups I began to notice that he could hardly complete any basketball skill, whether it was a jump shot, drive to the basket, or coming off a screen without taking more than 2-3 long steps to get a run at the ball or basket.  Immediately the red light in my head went off that if I could basically position myself to prevent him at any time from getting more than one quick step to the ball, basket, etc. I could completely disrupt his game.  This in fact proved true, and at the conclusion of the game this player’s stats line read something like 4 points, 2 boards and fouled out.  Not all players have weaknesses, and the greatest one's few, but every player has at least one.  You just need to read and study and make them play to their weaknesses.  Keep in mind that if you are a constant study, your library of basketball knowledge fills up quicker and you have more to draw on to use to your advantage.  If you are a study only occasionally, you are unlikely ever to be able to draw upon enough quick court knowledge to gain this type of advantage. 
Why is being a student of the game so important?  One thing you will quickly learn climbing up the basketball ladder is that there will be players physically superior to you, and player physically inferior to you.  With few exceptions most of us lie somewhere in between.  At the level you are playing, probably 50-75% of the players will be of similar physical ability.  If you are a student of the game, all the time, this knowledge often will be the deciding factor in who gains a playing advantage on the court.  If you are assigned to guard a superiorly gifted player then it becomes even more critical to use this knowledge to off-set their physical advantages and even the playing court.  So now I have talked identified a less visible, but critical basketball skill you can develop, called court intelligence, what are some specific things to look for when playing an opponent and what do those things tell me as a player.  Let us know look at seven aspects of individual and team basketball skills and some things you should be observing if you are a student of the game.  Some of my examples might be obviously simple to long-time students of the game, but for those less experienced it's a good lesson in things to which you should be observant:
Studying Your Opponent- Seven Skills
1. Dribbling
When I'm dribbling-
  • I see my opponent is too close to me for their foot speed or foot work to stay between me and the basket-  This signals me that I can go around or penetrate my opponent to force a help defender to come off and stop my penetration resulting in an open teammate.
  • I see my opponent is crossing their feet on their defensive slide work- This means I can beat them by constantly changing direction because their footwork will slow them down despite their natural speed.
  • I see my opponent's center of gravity being raised and lowered by poor footwork-  I should look for moves which elevate their center of gravity and then explode by them to the basket.
  • I see my opponent likes to reach with their hands defensive to try to steal the ball- This signals me to attack the defender as they reach to draw contact while protecting the ball, which in most cases results in a foul being called on them.
When I'm defending the dribble-
  • I see my opponent has a relatively high dribble-  This tells me that I can pressure the attacker, flick at the ball with balance, or play close because a high dribble means the ball is in the air a longer amount of time and immediately after the ball has left the defenders hands on the dribble they will have a difficult time making a move, re-gathering control of the ball, or changing directions quickly until the ball has hit the floor and returned back to their hand.  Attack defensively when the dribble is slack you could say.
  • I have an opponent who is very fast off the dribble-  I should allow an extra half step or two of buffer space between me and my opponent so that I can react and stay between the man and the basket.
  • I have an opponent who is fast but cannot pull up and shoot off the dribble to their left hand- I will force them left, and play them to shoot the ball.
  • My opponent likes to spin dribble but tends to leave the ball behind the body on the spin instead of pulling it through and out in front of their body-  This might mean that I can control the dribbler by overplaying them to force a spin move knowing their ability to accelerate out of this spin is minimal and I can anticipate and slide over to cut the spin.  I might also notice this player doesn't keep their court vision up the court while making the spin meaning I don't have to be too concerned about their ability to pass or shoot from that position.
  • My opponent is pretty quick but can't seem to control a speed dribble more than two dribbles down the court without slowing up or picking up the ball-  This little tip means I can play aggressive defense because while my opponent has speed if they are away from the basket, their ability to beat me over distance will be restricted by their dribbling limitations.  I can't count the number of good basketball players I have seen over the years who has difficulty completing more than 2 speed dribbles in succession.
2. Passing
  • My opponent always looks where they are passing-  I can use this information to keep myself between my man and the basket, but always get a hand up in the passing lane as their eyes signal where the ball is going to be passed.
  • My opponent has a weak left passing hand- Pressure their right hand and force them to pass with their left.
  • My opponent is a good passer off the dribble but has poor pivot skills after picking up the dribble-  This signals me to bait the player into dribbling and picking up the dribble, then applying hard pressure because their inability to pivot and keep their balance causes them to force bad passes.
  • My opponent doesn't ever pass (they are a black hole)-  This tells me to force them to catch the ball in a low percentage scoring area and to pressure them with footwork out of their high percentage areas knowing I can get good help because this player doesn't give up the ball.
  • My opponent doesn't run through the ball when cutting to get open-  I can play a little more aggressive in the passing lanes because it is very unlikely that my player receiving the ball can challenge me equally for possession of a ball put in the passing lane if I am aggressive.
3. Shooting
  • My defender like to play me in a low wide defensive stance- I should be prepared to shoot the ball quickly if I am in scoring position and my defender is overly concerned about my ability to drive to the basket.
  • My defender is playing me exceptionally tight- I may have to put the ball down hard to the basket with at least one long low dribble, or two medium low dribbles behind the defender to drive them off to create shooting space.
  • My defender likes to rise up quickly to challenge my shot- I should be prepared to present believable shot fakes to get them to elevate their center of gravity at which time I quickly penetrate them to an area where I can safely get the shot off without a hard challenge.
  • My attacker likes to catch and shoot quickly- I must be prepared defensively to close up quickly and force them to put the ball on the court or to change their shooting rhythm.
  • My attacker has a very confident shot and excellent form-  This tells me that rather than challenging the shooter high (forcing a higher arc shot) I should concentrate more on putting the physical challenge of my challenge hand near their elbow (not fouling) in a more subtle attempt to get them to subconsciously alter their form or rhythm just enough to miss the shot.
  • My player is a deadly foul shooter-  I must be prepared physically and mental to keep the ball out of my opponent’s hands in late game situations and to be super focused on getting better defensive position at all times to prevent them from attacking the basket and drawing fouls from myself or teammates.
  • My attacker has a pet move- I will do everything I can via defensive footwork and positioning to prevent my opponent from getting the ball in that spot, or if they do, forcing them to make a move away from their favorite shot.
4. Rebounding
  • My defender rarely tries to make contact with me when my team attempts a shot- If I do not have defensive balance responsibility back, I can aggressively attack the offensive boards on every shot.
  • My defender like to make contact and turn their back on the box out but fails to move their feet well- I can have success on the glass by making one hard move to turn the defensive rebounder and then a quick counter move to beat them because of their slow footwork.
  • My defender likes to get too close to the basket on the rebound-  This signals me I may have some success by pinning my defensive rebounder under the glass, especially when my team is taking long 3 point shots where the rebounds come much further out.
  • My opponent has decent box out technique near the basket but is slow to locate the ball or get their hands up-  If I stay persistent and keep my hands up I am more likely to get a tip in or keep the ball alive for a teammate.
  • My opponent is strong in box out position when making contact with me but slow to get off the floor for the rebound-  I should stay active and physically away from my opponent so they cannot use their strength to deter my run at the ball.
  • My opponent is an excellent jumper on the glass- I should make as much physical contact as the rules allow as quickly as possible to keep this player from getting a run at the rebound.  If they do beat me to a competitive position on the glass, if I time further contact at the moment they would normally jump for the ball I can reduce their ability to get off the floor and increase our chances of winning the ball.
5. Fast Break
  • My opponent is slow to react on a change of possession where my team gets the ball- The first two or three steps I take will free me up the court in transition if I explode up the court.
  • My opponent is one who loves to drive the basket at all times-  Play the break situation as a defender as if they are going to pass, knowing full well you will set your feet early away from the basket to force this attacker into a charge or an errant pass.
  • The wing attacker on the break is a big man who has difficulty quickly stopping-  I can look to establish my feet early just outside the lane and look to take the offensive charge from this player who because of their body mass takes more time to slow down and stop their body.
  • I am back defensive with a decisive disadvantage numbers wise on a fast break-  I should be aggressive to fake, juke, and hedge all balls, passes to cause the offensive to make an additional pass, take longer to get to the basket, and get a shot off because I have more help defenders coming in time.
  • The attacking dribble on the break is a poor ball handler- This tells me to make them make a pass and play the pass.
6. Team Offense
  • I don't hear a lot of communication by the defending team-  This means we can use a lot of screening action to cause player to lose and confuse assignments to get easier scores.
  • Our opponent uses a lot of switching on defense-  This signals for me to look for a flash cutter to the ball by the screener immediately following one of these switches.
  • One of my teammates is red hot and can score consistently on their opponent- We should run our offense but look for this player and match up at every opportunity without breaking our offensive pattern.
  • Our opponent has one or two very big slow players and one or more very short players-  I will look for opportunities to run small to big screening action to force a switch and create a inside-outside mismatch.
  • Our opponent is quick but has sloppy defensive footwork-  We will attack the basket off of screens and cuts when pressured to draw help defenders or fouls.
  • Our opponent has a big shot blocker-  We will attempt to draw this shot blocker out away from the basket by positioning the player they are guarding away from the basket, using them as a screener away from the basket, or driving the middle of the lane to draw the shot blocker to the ball which allows me to pass under the basket to my teammate who has been left open as the shot blocker challenges my shot.
7. Team Defense
  • Our opponents like to create shots from penetration more than structured offense-  This signals that we should focus all footwork on stopping first step penetration to force them to play a more disciplined style of offense.
  • Our opponents have a significant size advantage in the post- I and my teammates will have to be persistent in pressuring the passing perimeter to prevent quick entry lob passes.
  • Our opponent likes to use a pass or dribble entry right to initiate their offense more than 90 percent of the time-  Something as simple as denying any right side entry and force our opponent left may result in a win at the end of the game.
  • Our opponents offense runs best through their high post-  We will make all attempts to pressure any entry or interior high post pass.
These ideas are not new to many of you, but the yellow brick road is this today.  No matter what aspect of your game you are working on, no matter who your opponent is (offensively or defensively), no matter what skill level you are in the game, to become a great player become a great student.  There is an old adage that says "kick me once shame on you, kick me twice shame on me."  If you are a great student of the game, you won't get kicked twice very often.  In fact you will find the more you know about your opponent, their tendencies, their physical strengths and limitations, the more you will gain that critical edge to compete when it comes game time.  It is amazing to me as a coach and player of the game for more than 40 years how little information I can get out of players about their opponents who are supposedly students of the game.  Coaches give you team scouting reports to help your team prepare for tendencies from a strategic point.  But coaches can't overburden you with minute details about all the footwork or habits of individual players to the point where you can't think fluidly in the game.  Your observant eyes and ears can be the collection can for useful information about your opponent that can even the playing court and lead you down the road toward cutting down the nets.  Your coach is doing all he can to prepare you.  What are you doing to prepare yourself?   It's your test to take, what kind of student are you?
 
Check back next month for another Playground Pointers courtesy of The Basketball Highway®.
  • Printer-friendly version