Zone Defenses

Reasons to Zone:

  1. Do not require a lot of practice time to implement.

  2. Guarding a limited area requires fewer individual defensive skills and techniques.

  3. Allows teams to play successfully with tall and/or slower players.

  4. Lowers the number of personal fouls, cutting down on opponent’s free throw attempts along with keeping players out of foul trouble.

  5. Conserves energy and enables teams to player fewer players for longer periods of time.

  6. Eliminates dribble penetration along with disrupting screening and motion type offenses.

  7. Prevents player mismatches and one-on-one isolations.

  8. Keeps players in fast break positions along with keeping taller players and best rebounders inside and around the basket area.

  9. Adaptable, can collapse against weak outside teams and extend against good ones. If desired, can even double team.

  10. Psychological weapon since the majority of opponents and players are ill prepared to attack zone defenses.

  11. Forces opponents to spend addition preparation time for a game.

  12. Takes advantage of a team possessing poor individual passing skills.

Zone Limitations:

  1. Weak against good outside three point and low angle shooting teams.

  2. Susceptible to fast breaks and early offense.

  3. No individual player responsibility or accountability.

  4. Since all defenders must move as a unit on every pass, good zones require a great amount of work and expenditure of energy.

  5. Overloads and stack alignments can cause match up problems.

  6. Poor footwork and defensive fundamentals. Players tend to play upright affecting their quickness and reaction time.

  7. Problems when trailing late in the game. Forces teams out of zone and into playing their secondary defense in crunch time.

  8. Susceptible to offensive rebounding. Long rebounds off missed three point shots and no specific individual blocking out accountability.

  9. Offense, not defense, controls the game tempo.

  10. Tough to win big games and championships with zones.

 

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