Thoughts on pace, pressure, intensity

Whether on offense or defense, coaches want their teams to play at a certain pace. That tempo is based on your team, your philosophy, personnel available, the opposition, the game conditions, and several other variables. Some thoughts on intensity, tempo, and pressure follow:

• dictate tempo with defense and transition
• control tempo with offense and rebounding
• when coaches teach pressing, they need to focus on teaching rotations - once players know the fundamentals of defensive rotation, any press can then be adapted or added
• Defense = System + Attitude (must teach it and demand it)
• it is okay to set the intensity level for your team as long as your players understand that you are doing so because you want them to be successful (it is much more effective for your players to choose a high intensity level without your involvement)
• in order to teach your players to LIVE LOW (play and stay down), use ball-handling drills such as stationary figure 8 dribbles that maintain a good low player stance
• when bringing the ball up against a quick, ball-pressure, defensive point guard try and find a way to change the match-up of who defends the ball coming up the floor (i.e. have a different player bring the ball downcourt) or enter the ball early and high into your offense