What is help defense in basketball? Help defense is just a great terminology because a lot of times in basketball they give you words that have different meanings, but help defense is exactly what it says.
There is no arguing that basketball players like Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady sell tickets because of their great offensive talent. But look back at the last two NBA Champions (San Antonio Spurs in 2005 and the Detroit Pistons in 2004) and its obvious to see that defense wins basketball championships. And in order for any team to be successful, they have to learn how to be just as fluent on the defensive end of the floor as they are on the offensive side.
As a former University of DePaul head basketball coach, Joey Meyer believes fully in help defense and how it can help a team to be more successful.
"Help defense is just a great terminology," said Meyer. "Because a lot of times in basketball they give you a word that have different meanings but help defense is exactly what it says. You're basically helping your teammate."
According to Meyer, even when you're playing man-to-man defense, you still need the help of your teammates defensively in order to be successful.
"A lot of people use the term shrink the court," he said. "When you play, you want the offense to go against all five guys. So if you're guarding your guy and he's way away in the corner opposite the ball and you go stand by him, you're not helping your team or shrinking the court."
"So, the guys on the other side of the floor have to play one-on-one or two-on-two," he added. "But if you come to the lane in help defense and shrink the court that means they have to play one-on-four or two-on-five."
No matter how good one player is defensively, he's only as good as his help defense. "I always tell our guys I don't want our defense to get spread, no matter where they're standing," said Meyer. "You've got to be in the lane helping. It's a hard thing to teach young players because if I'm guarding you and you're a great shooter, I don't want to leave you because if I do and you score that makes me look bad. But, you have to play good team defense if you're going to be any kind of tough, defensive minded team."
One of the concerns of playing good help defense in basketball is a three-second defensive call. According to Meyer, you want to stay clear of getting these called because they can result in technical free throws for the offense.
"A three-second defensive call is something that they don't have in college but they have in the NBA," he said. "If you're in the lane for three seconds and you're not guarding anybody, that's a technical foul. And they did that to open up the court and give the great athletes a chance to get to the basket."
Meyers also gives a little history of the three-second call.
"Before, they used to have this defensive rule of not being able to play a zone," he said. "They tried to keep this as simplified as they could by saying you can't be in the lane unless you're guarding somebody. If you're in there for two seconds you better start heading or they'll call a foul."
Was the three-second call ever called on the offense? "They always had the three seconds on offense, but in the last few years they put the three-second defensive rule in their also," said Meyer. "But now, teams can play zones in the NBA. But it's harder to play because you can sit in the middle of the zone. That's where they put Shaq (Shaquille O'Neil) at. But now, he can't stay there. He's got to step out the lane or he's got to be guarding someone."
