Program emphasis
3 priorities · 3 dimensions unansweredOf everything we could teach, what do we emphasize every day?
The Program Brain already holds our calls and our words. This layer holds the harder thing: the order. A staff that emphasizes fifty rules equally has not made a decision. Everything on this page is program-defined — it is what we believe, not something Coach Ready measured. Each emphasis states what it costs us, because every emphasis costs something.
Coach Ready does not rank philosophies. It records ours, says what evidence it can and cannot bring, and names the price.
Our priorities, in order
No middle, no paint
Every other defensive rule we teach assumes the ball did not get to the middle of the floor. Once it does, our help, our rotations and our rebounding all start late.
- Force baseline and wall up.
- A screen is no excuse — the on-ball defender stays attached.
- Sending everything baseline concedes the corner three when our low man is late.
- Keeping the big at the level of the rim concedes the pop to a shooting five.
- A team whose three-point volume is high enough that the rotation behind help costs more than the rim attempt it prevented.
- An elite creator we have chosen to blitz. The rotation is accepted on purpose.
Opponent rim-attempt share, free-throw generation and their primary creator's rim share, measured in our 2025-26 play-by-play.
Coach Ready 2025-26
Limit: Our data does not say where on the floor the drive started, so we can measure paint results and not middle-versus-baseline entry.
Beat him to the spot · Wall up, no foul · Low man ready
Program Identity — defensive identity, entered by our staff · emphasis-v1 · recorded 2026-09 · Program-defined · confidence high
Defensive rebounding is a five-man job
A stop is not a stop until we have the ball. Our coverage can be right and the possession still ends in their favour.
- All five rebound; the guards are not exempt.
- Hit first, then go get it.
- Every defender who commits early to the glass is a defender not in transition.
- Hard help at the rim moves the man who was supposed to box out.
- A team that sends everyone back on the shot — crashing our own glass becomes cheaper than usual.
- A guard we do not trust to survive the collision keeps his floor-balance assignment instead.
Opponent offensive-rebound rate and second-chance scoring in our 2025-26 play-by-play.
Coach Ready 2025-26
Limit: We can measure whether they get the ball back. We cannot measure who failed to box out — that is film.
Hit first · Five on the glass · Chin it
Program Identity — defensive identity, entered by our staff · emphasis-v1 · recorded 2026-09 · Program-defined · confidence high
Transition defence: rim and ball before matchups
The cheapest points against us do not come from a coverage mistake. They come before the coverage exists.
- Protect the rim and stop the ball first. Find your man second.
- In the half court we match, help and recover; in transition we do not trade a rim run for a matchup.
- Getting bodies back early gives up our own offensive rebounding.
- Stopping the ball first accepts a temporary mismatch we then have to survive.
- A team that does not run off makes — the rule can relax after a made basket.
- Our best offensive rebounder keeps the crash on a designated call, and we accept the cost.
Opponent pace and the share of their scoring that arrives before a set can be called, approximated from pace and shot mix.
Coach Ready 2025-26
Limit: Our data does not label transition possessions. Pace is a proxy, and it is a weak one against a team that plays fast and scores late.
Rim first · Ball, then man · Who has the ball?
Structured by Coach Ready from our defensive identity notes; transition rules after makes versus misses are not yet written down by our staff · emphasis-v1 · recorded 2026-09 · Program-defined · confidence moderate
Defensive identity dimensions
3 not statedProgram-defined inputs. Where our staff has not made the call, Coach Ready leaves it blank rather than filling it in — an unanswered dimension is real information.
Transition defence
StatedBefore we are matched up, what are we protecting first — and does the rule change after a make?
Our staff has stated rim and ball first. What we have NOT written down is whether the rule changes after a made basket.
Opponent pace, from our 2025-26 play-by-play. Limit: Transition possessions are not labeled in the data. Pace is a proxy.
Defensive rebounding commitment
StatedWho is responsible, and what do we give up to get the ball?
Stated in our identity as a five-man responsibility.
Opponent offensive-rebound rate, from our 2025-26 play-by-play. Limit: We cannot see who lost the box-out. That is a film question.
Paint and middle philosophy
StatedWhere are we willing to let the ball go?
Stated: no middle drives, force baseline, wall up.
Opponent rim share and free-throw generation, from our 2025-26 play-by-play. Limit: Drive direction is not in the data.
Help philosophy
Not statedWhat is our base help level, and what justifies an exception?
Not stated by our staff. Coach Ready will not choose for us, and will not claim one philosophy is better.
Opponent three-point volume and accuracy, which sets the price of collapsing. Limit: Help actions are not tagged in any data source we have.
Side ball-screen default
StatedWhat is our default on a side pick-and-roll?
Our playbook's contain family is the default. Supplied reference notes describe 'Down' with baseline influence as an alternative worth discussing.
Their big's three-point share and their handler's rim share, from our 2025-26 play-by-play. Limit: No data source identifies which screens were side versus high.
High ball-screen default
StatedWhat is our default on a high pick-and-roll?
Our own playbook already carries Weak as an automatic against high pick-and-roll.
Their creator's usage, shot mix and assist rate, from our 2025-26 play-by-play. Limit: Screen location is not in the data.
Switch philosophy
StatedWhen do we switch, and who is allowed to be switched onto?
Stated as switch 1-4 when personnel allows; our playbook's switch rule is same size.
Their late-clock matchup hunting and the positions of their highest-usage players. Limit: Who was actually switched onto whom is not recorded.
Shot-concession hierarchy
Not statedIf we must concede something, in what order?
Our staff has not written the order down. Our playbook states the cost of each coverage individually, which is the raw material for this hierarchy.
Opponent shot mix and accuracy by location, from our 2025-26 play-by-play. Limit: Shot quality and contest level are not available.
Offensive rebounding versus floor balance
Not statedOn our own shot, who crashes and who gets back?
Not stated. This is the tradeoff that connects our first and third emphasis directly.
Our own offensive-rebound rate and opponent pace. Limit: Crash decisions are not recorded anywhere in the data.
Supplied coaching notes
Reference onlyThese came in as reading. They are attributed, not adopted. They are never a default, never fed into Fit, and no old league result is turned into a current claim.
Three linked defensive priorities, taught every day
The supplied notes argue that the insight was not a metric. It was choosing a very small number of things to emphasize daily — defensive rebounding, transition defence and keeping the ball out of the middle — and treating them as one interdependent system rather than three separate drills.
- Defensive components are interdependent: help changes rebounding, rebounding changes transition, transition changes help.
- Simplify pick-and-roll coverage enough that players master the rotations: side ball screen down and baseline influence, high ball screen weak-hand influence, with personnel exceptions such as blitzing an elite creator.
- Emphasizing few things means accepting that other things go under-taught.
- Simplified coverage concedes predictability to a well-prepared opponent.
- Stated in the notes as personnel-driven, e.g. blitzing an elite creator.
- Coverage exceptions were made for specific opposing creators.
Nothing in Coach Ready measures this claim. It is a coaching account of another staff in another era.
Down · Weak · Rim first
Coaching notes supplied by Jerry DeGregorio — historical account, not a Coach Ready measurement · reference-v1 · recorded 2026-09 · Program-defined · confidence low
Base help philosophy is a choice with a price
The useful idea from the defensive three-point literature is not that one philosophy wins. It is that a staff should state which one is theirs. A minimal-help defence protects catch-and-shoot threes and puts more responsibility on individual rim defence. A swarming defence collapses more, hunts turnovers, and accepts kick-out threes as the bill.
- Name our base philosophy, then name the conditions that justify an exception.
- An exception has to be worth its cost, and the cost has to be stated before the game, not after.
- Minimal help concedes one-on-one rim finishes.
- Aggressive help concedes the kick-out and the offensive rebound behind the rotation.
- A poor-shooting team lowers the price of collapsing.
- A rim protector we trust alone lowers the need to collapse at all.
Opponent three-point volume and accuracy, and our own cost-of-rotation reasoning, both from our 2025-26 play-by-play.
Coach Ready 2025-26
Limit: Our data does not tag help actions, so we cannot measure how much a given defence actually collapses. Published historical article data is context and hypothesis only.
Stay home · One in, one out · Shrink it
Stephen Shea defensive three-point work, supplied as reading — used as a framing question, not a conclusion · reference-v1 · recorded 2026-09 · Program-defined · confidence low
Action vocabulary audit
10 already covered · 9 addedA coach's word and the normalized concept are two different things, and we keep both. This audit compared our existing ontology against a broad contemporary vocabulary reference. Coverage is vocabulary only. No diagrams, play text or team-specific content were imported, and a family entry is not a claim that anyone runs it.
A wing pass followed by a back screen from the high post for the passer.
also called UCLA · high post back screen · blue
A pin-down into an immediate hand-off for the same player.
also called zoom · pin and hand-off · wide
The passer follows his own pass into a hand-off or ball screen.
also called chase · follow · throw and go
An elbow-based structure with the second big on the ball side.
also called strong · elbow strong
A guard sets the first screen for another guard to start the possession.
also called AI · iverson · guard cut
Called structure from a baseline out-of-bounds situation.
also called BOB · baseline out · under
Called structure from a sideline out-of-bounds situation.
also called SOB · sideline out · side out
A ball screen run with the strong side cleared of help.
also called empty · clear · iso screen
A faked ball screen where the screener spaces out instead.
also called ghost · fake and space
Horns · Spain · Ram · Floppy · Zipper · Chin · Drag · Twist · Punch · Pistol
Nothing here was re-imported. Duplicated source material was audited and skipped.
Slot · Dunker spot · Angle · Double drag · Step-up · Short roll · Thumb down / thumb up · Throw-and-chase · Shake · Flare · Hammer · Loop · Rip · Horns flare · Horns twist · Jayhawk · Dive · Rub · X-out
Not a defect. These are spacing and coverage concepts rather than action families.