Offense or Defense?

"Offense sells tickets, defense wins championships." How many times have you seen that on the back of a summer camp tee shirt? NBA World Champion and TNT analyst Kenny Smith is the first person I heard coin the following phrase, "good offense will always beat good defense." Which statement is more accurate? Depending on which side of the fence you fall on will determine a major component of your coaching philosophy. As a coach, it is impossible to emphasize every aspect of the game. High school coaches must battle information overload and physical limitations and college coaches have time constraints on the number of hours they can practice. NBA coaches have their own set of obstacles to deal with; the length of the season and the amount of travel being two of the most formidable issues. As a result, coaches at all levels must prioritize the concepts they wish to emphasize. What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the name Phil Jackson? How about Rick Pitino? Tom Thibodeau? If you said the Triangle offense for Phil Jackson and a pressing/trapping style of defense for Rick Pitino, very few savvy basketball fans would argue with you. Tom Thibodeau is considered to be the ultimate defensive minded coach and his Chicago Bulls teams are always near the top of the NBA in every meaningful defensive category. These areas of the game are the foundations of these particular coaches’ philosophies. These are the areas of the game that they will focus on during their practices and these are the areas that they wish to excel at in the games. Are you an offensive minded or defensive minded coach? Does emphasizing one or the other increase your chances of being a championship team? The purpose of this article is to help you formulate your own coaching philosophy by analyzing the uniqueness of this team sport and taking a closer look at both sides of the floor to determine which end is the most important.

I believe basketball is the most challenging team sport to play. I won’t argue that hitting a baseball is the most difficult thing to do in sports and I am not denying the physical nature of football and hockey. However, what makes basketball such a difficult game to play is that all players must attempt to play both ends of the floor. Additionally, transitioning from offense to defense or vice versa takes place in a matter of seconds. This transition is challenging because the skill set and mentality that each end of the floor requires in order to be successful is dramatically different. Picture some of the best defenders in the NBA. Many are long, strong, mobile, agile, and have a 'take no prisoners' attitude. They have a great motor and exert a tremendous amount of energy. They never take a possession off and take on all challengers, regardless of what their opponents offensive abilities or reputation may be. A great defender may have an elite skill (i.e. shot blocking) or may be able to guard multiple positions. But more than anything, great defenders have a certain mentality. They refuse to get screened; they challenge every shot, go after every rebound, and take it as personal insult when the person they are guarding scores. The intensity and effort that is required to be a great defender cannot be overlooked. Most great defenders play with a chip on their shoulder. The winner of the annual NBA Defensive Player of the Year award illustrates the aforementioned characteristics. Joakim Noah, Marc Gasol, Tyson Chandler, Dwight Howard, Kevin Garnett, Marcus Camby, Ben Wallace, and Ron Artest represent the last fifteen winners of this award. If you dig even deeper into the history of this award, you will discover that Dikembe Mutombo won this award four times and Ron Artest was a two time recipient. What do these past award winners all have in common? None would be considered a great offensive player. Tony Allen and Rajon Rondo have been mainstays on the NBA All-Defensive teams and are also examples of being great defenders and average offensive players. In order to be a great offensive player, one must have patience, touch, and the ability to play at different speeds. Offense is about timing and rhythm. Defense is about intensity and effort. This is the irony of basketball. Once you cross that half-court line, your attitude must change and your skillset must adapt accordingly. Using a teammates screen to free yourself for a shot is very different than fighting through a screen on the defensive side of the floor to prevent an entry pass to the man you are guarding. Shooting twenty foot jump shots requires a different skillset then blocking out your opponent as they chase down a rebound. It is because of this contradiction that very few players excel on both ends of the floor. Of course, there are always exceptions to every theory. Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, Gary Payton, David Robinson, and Kevin Garnett are all past winners of the Defensive Player of the Year award. Lebron James, Chris Paul, Kobe Bryant, and Tim Duncan are always present on the NBA All-Defensive teams. The common denominator with these players is that they are all superstars and Hall of Fame caliber players. That is what makes them great; they dominate on both ends of the court.

Let's assume you are not lucky enough to have a superstar on your team and you are coaching at a level where winning is important. If you look at NFL head coaches, the majority of them were either offensive or defensive coordinators at some point in their careers. When they become the head coach, they typically emphasize the side of the ball from their coordinator days. As a basketball coach, which side of the ball are you going to emphasize? Does the best offensive team in the NBA win the championship or does the best defensive team win the championship? In this day and age of analytics and sabermetrics, I have chosen to look at only four team statistics, two on each side of the ball. Offensive field goal percentage, points scored per game, defensive field goal percentage, and points allowed per game will be the focal points. If we look at the last ten NBA champions, it is interesting to note that six times, the championship team was statistically better on the defensive side of the court while four times, the champion was superior on the offensive side of the ball. I am only going back ten years because the 2004-2005 season was the first with the new hand-check rule. The implementation, or should I say, the new interpretation of this rule, most certainly gave the offensive player an advantage that players prior to that season did not have the privilege of enjoying. Essentially, I wanted to compare apples to apples and not apples to oranges. It is also interesting to note that statistically speaking, the best defensive team in the NBA over the past ten years has only won the championship three times; the 2005 Spurs, the 2007 Spurs, and the 2008 Celtics. If you look at the '08 Celtics roster, you will learn that Kevin Garnett, Rajon Rondo, and Tony Allen were all on that team AND Tom Thibodeaux was the assistant coach! Does it really come as a surprise that they led the league in many defensive categories? Conversely, the best offensive team in the league has captured two titles during this decade; the 2006 Heat and the 2013 edition of the Heat. Most would agree that what the Spurs have accomplished over the past sixteen years is remarkable. Their resume speaks for itself. Fifteen consecutive seasons of 50 or more wins (they won 37 games in the lockout shortened 98-99 season and 56 in the 97-98 season, so it really has been 17 seasons!) and five NBA championships. If they have been the most successful franchise over the past 15 years, how have they ranked in our four analyzed statistical categories over the past ten NBA seasons?

Team Statistical Category NBA Rank

Points Scored per Game 13.3

Offensive FG% 5.9

Points Allowed per Game 5.5

Defensive FG% 5.2

As the table indicates, the Spurs have been unbelievably consistent on both ends of the floor. They have essentially been in the top 5 in three major statistical categories. I believe this point re-emphasizes how difficult of a sport basketball is to play. You cannot win a championship in basketball by merely dominating one side of the ball like you can in football. There have been several Super Bowl championship teams that have had dominating defenses and less than adequate offenses. The 1985 Chicago Bears and the 2001 Baltimore Ravens are just two examples of this. In basketball, if you cannot score the ball on a regular basis, it does you no good to stop the opponent multiple times in a row. The opposite is also true. The purpose of this article was to help you identify some of your core coaching philosophies. I was hoping my research would reveal that underscoring one side of the court was going to dramatically improve your chances of being a championship team. Unfortunately, this was not the case. In basketball, to win at the highest levels, balance is the key. Spend equal amounts of time developing your teams offensive skills while at the same time instilling the necessary physicality and toughness that is required on the defensive side of the ball. Your roster must also contain balance. For every ‘defensive stopper’ you have, make sure you have somebody who can get you buckets! This balance of offense and defense should give you the best chance of capturing your league championship.