Getting Defensive

February 7, 2011 | From: Wolves Radio

Whenever people find out that I work for the MN Timberwolves and am a part of the Radio Broadcast team the question I get asked the most (besides how cool is it to get paid to watch/talk about NBA Basketball? The answer to which is very, very cool) is how come the Wolves don't play any defense?

My response is that defense at the NBA level is much different than defense at any other level of play. A few years ago I sat in on a Timberwolves shootaround with our then analyst Billy McKinney.

The Wolves were preparing for the Sacramento Kings and I marveled how much time the coaching staff spent going over the pick and roll.

I turned to Billy and said 'Why are they putting so much time on this, it's pretty simple isn't it? It's just a pick and roll.'

But then Billy began to explain how many options can come off the pick and roll and how, seeing as these players are the best of the best, you can't cheat on defense because an open NBA player will no doubt knock down the shot.

That is the one thing that I think people forget when watching the NBA and complaining that there is no defense being played. There is defense, it's just different than what you see in the college game and because the players are so much better even when you're playing good defense they are going to score anyway.

To go deeper into the issue I sat down with Wolves Assistant Coach Darrick Martin earlier this week. Martin played at UCLA and then in the NBA for a number of teams, including the Wolves twice, from 1994-2009.

He said the first thing a young player has to realize is how different defense is at the NBA level.

"A lot of the guys who come from college play a lot of zone and that's the bulk of their defensive knowledge, in college they don't play a whole lot of man to man. But coming to the NBA you have play man to man, you have to learn the rules, 3 second rule, and how to guard a guy man to man without fouling."

I then asked him about defending the pick and roll.

"That's the major difference between college and the NBA, you've got guys who can play pick and roll not only bigs but smalls that are very good, you have a lot of people who can play pick and roll and be effective at it at the NBA level whereas in college you may only have one guy who can score on the team that you actually have to worry about, so you can trap him and make everybody else try to beat you and its effective in college."

He went on "But at the NBA level if you trap a guy who can step out and shoot then that's trouble. You need to get in your rotations so you have to understand pick and roll rotations and how to play certain guys in pick and rolls so it's just a learning process, and our guys are getting better at it."

And of course the players have to make a commitment on the defensive end.

"Definitely," Martin said with a laugh "Let's be honest not too many people are being drafted number one because they can play good defense in college. Guys are coming into this league because of their offensive ability, but then you learn to play defense and it helps make you into a well rounded player."

Over the course of the season we have seen the Wolves step it up on the defensive ends on certain nights but they are still looking to find consistency on that end of the floor which is all part of the process.