Thanks to Coach Eric Musselman for passing these along to me:1. Starts with basic man principals of ball-you-man.
2. Win or lose – make sure you played "your way." No one ever likes to lose, but when you watch game film, you always want to see that you played "your way," win or lose.
3. The trapping and switching nature of their defense is based on "Calculated Risk." They don't want to miss an opportunity to "Blitz and Step-Up."
4. Situations where Calculated Risks are appropriate for Blitzing include: 1) anytime the ball is dribbled toward you as a defender. 2) Your man brings you to the ball. 3) The ball is dribbled to the baseline setting up a trap from behind.
5. They want to Blitz all ball screens or dribble hand-offs when defenders react to the Calculated Risk situations. Teaching point is that the trappers should never foul or get steals. Trappers are deflectors.
6. When a 2-man game occurs, the other three players "load" to the 2-man game.
7. Man guarding the screener calls the "Blitz" or "Switch." If you are guarding the ball-handler, always assume "Blitz" and he must step over the top to trap, or to be put in a ball-you-man position on the roll man if a switch occurs. If a big switches on to a small, the other three defenders should "load to the iso."
10. Never want to switch for convenience, would always prefer to "Blitz" if they can.
11. These rules are all applicable in the scoring area, approximately three feet beyond the three-line and in.
12. Coach Del Harris commented that it is an effective technique to teach someone going over a ball screen to do so by crowding the man with the ball and then throwing his leg and arm over the top in one motion.
