I am curious as to some opinions as to why our guards get beat so often with dribble penetration. Without a rim protector, we are getting hammered with this problem.
We have players who know how to get to the rim themselves when they have the ball, but fail to have, or utilize that quickness to stop their opponent from doing the same thing.
My meager observations are as follows:
1 - Trying to defend the pick and roll effectively means several pieces need to come together and players have to know their assignments with backside help, etc. I see our guys fulfilling their role at times, but I guess they are just not getting it on a consistent basis?
2 - Knowing when to play closely guarded on the outside and when to sag off a bit in order to avoid getting beaten off the first step is a tough call to make, unless you have paid close attention to the scouting report. Are they not getting good scouting, or just not paying attention?
3 - Ability to play downhill on offense and drive it to the rim is not the same as possessing lateral quickness and utilizing it effectively. Do we lack this lateral quickness?
I would welcome any other input, or corrections of my own thinking so that I can better understand what is going on with our defensive deficiencies.
