In Reply to: BBall coaches- best way to defend against cherry picking? posted by BruinLove42 on July 30, 2024 at 12:48:38
Are you scoring every time you have the ball?
Because you should. The cherry picker is playing NO defense. He's not even in the half of the court where the ball is. He's hanging out underneath the basket at the far end so he can get an uncontested layup. Pretty bizarre that a youth bball team coach let's a player get away with abandoning his teammates on d so that he can score cheap points and reap glory.
Anyways, if you're playing 5 on 4, your strategy to get the ball into the middle of the paint is a good one. The d must play some kind of zone d, because 4 can't match up v 5. So get inside, collapse the d, and hit one of the two kids that will be cutting to the basket.
Getting the ball out of the basket takes a second or two, so that we'll help in getting back on d.
In general, I'd tell my team that we cannot send 5 guys to the o glass. Thus, the player that is farthest away from the hoop at the time of the shot must turn and RUN back on d at the moment the ball is shot.