23 Zone Rebounding

Rebounding out of a Zone Defense can be a challenge. In this post, we'll look at our Defensive Rebounding teaching points out of the 23 Zone.

All defensive schemes provide you with both strengths and weaknesses. In choosing a scheme, we lean on its strengths and hope to find ways to mitigate the weaknesses. When it comes to zone defense your ability to make the offense stagnant, be in a good help position, and create steal opportunities would all classify as strengths. On the flip side defensive rebounding, defending the three-point line, and guarding the basketball could all be classified as weaknesses.

As a team that plays a significant amount of zone defense, we want to find ways to mitigate the weaknesses of the scheme. For teams that do not have great length on the bottom of their defense rebounding can become one of the weaknesses we need to pay attention to. In this post, we are going to use some screenshots, video clips, and diagrams to detail some of the defensive rebounding concepts that we employ to do just that.

Check Out our other Posts on the 23 Zone:

Defensive Rebounding Responsibilities -

The first thing that players must understand is that they will have a specific area of the floor that they are responsible for rebounding in. Just as we have an area of the floor that we are responsible for guarding, we will also be responsible for rebounding the basketball in that area we well. The details of which rebounding methods players should use we will get to later in the post.

Rebounding Areas -

Center:

The area of the floor that the Center is responsible for is roughly from the Free Throw Line to the Middle of the lane.

He needs to makes sure he gets out from under the rim and be in a position secure any rebound that lands in the painted area.

Wings:

The Wings are responsible for rebounding the area surrounding the block on their side of the floor.

They may or may not have a player already occupying that area, so they need to be prepared to either fight for position, or complete a box out.

Guards:

The Guards have an area of the floor designated as the "Guard Box". This is an area that surrounds the elbows at the top of the lane. As we will discuss in our next section they will required to either rebound that area of the floor or possibly box out a crasher.

Box Out Assignments -

Now that players know the area of the floor that they are responsible for, we need to discuss the methods they will use to secure rebounds. All coaches are familiar with the term "Boxing Out" and in this post we are using this term synonymously with the idea of "Making Contact". We would our defenders to make contact with the offensive player as quickly as possible and then focus on getting the rebound at its highest point.

Rebounding Methods:

Box Out Assignments -

Center:

The Center is almost 100% of the time going to be hunting a Box Out opportunity.

The offensive Middle Man (5) typically has the best chance to rebound and in most cases is one the opposing team's biggest players. He must be Boxed out.

Wings:

Becuase of the likelihood that offensive players will be located on the baseline the Wing Players' Box out responsibilities are a bit more complicated.

They will essentially be using two methods; (1) Boxing Out and (2) Fighting to 50/50.

Guards:

Similar to the Wing Players the Guards will have to decide whether they must Box Out or whether they simply Rebound in Space.

High Pointing the Ball -

I believe the most important aspect of rebounding lies in your ability to time the carom of a missed shot and then "High Point" the basketball. In the 23 Zone Setting this becomes even more important for your Wing Players. There are many times in which Wing Crashers or Baseline Players are 50/50 or underneath the Wing Players. This is why I think the best 23 Zone lineups include tall, athletic players in those two wing positions.

Teaching Points:

High Pointing the Ball -

Common Areas:

The most common areas of the floor that players need to "High Point' the basketball is on the blocks.

Because of the tendency to put players on the baseline versus Zone Defense it is not uncommon for the offense to have the inside position.

Fight to 50/50:

In these scenarios the goal needs to be to Fight to 50/50. We need to make sure that we are at least shoulder to shoulder in order to give us a chance to High Point the rebound.

High Point > Box Out:

Boxing out is only one half of the rebounding battle. Most of the best rebounders I have coached were able to master the second half of the battle, High Pointing the ball. We need players to not only make contact with their man, but get up and High Point the basketball to secure possession. This is especially true for our Wing Players, who will most likely be 50/50 or sometimes in a disadvantage situation.

Guards be careful of "Over Pursuit" -

Probably the biggest mistake that the guards make is over pursuing the basketball on perimeter misses. It is fairly clear that if a perimeter player in your area crashes you need to make contact and box him out. When no one crashes in your area of the floor then we are asking you to simply Rebound in Space. We are defining an area of the floor as "The Guard Box" and you should try not to crash lower than that area. Any crashes lower than this will most likely lead to us giving up long rebounds.

The Guard Box -

Guard Over Pursuit -

Guard Box:

As you can see in the diagram the area colored in gray is approximately the area of the floor that we want the Guards to be in.

Rebounding in Space:

If the perimeter player (2) crashes then we box him out.

If the perimeter player (2) does not crash then we need to Rebound that Area. It is our job to get any long rebound that goes over the heads of X3 & X5.

Danger of Over Pursuit:

The obvious danger of over pursuing is that we are giving the offense a chance to get long rebounds that normally would not have gotten. There is a sort of magnetism that draws players to crash directly in the rim, but we believe rebounding that area of the floor (Guard Box) will yield better results.

Guard "Help Down" on Corner / Short Corner Shots -

Defensively one of the goals of the 23 Zone is to not allow the basketball to be swung to the corner. Our Wing Players are actively bumping to prevent that pass from being made. On occasion when the ball is entered to the corner and a shot is taken, we are asking our Guards to Cover Down.

The scenario would generally play out like this:

Guard Cover Down -

Get 5 Man Boxed Out:

Typically the Middle Man (5) is the opponent's Center. Now positioning directly in front of the rim he now becomes the priority box out.

We feel that the opposite guard (X1) will usually have good vision of this occurring and has the best angle to push the Middle Man to the baseline.

Keep the Wing on Backside:

We are putting our best rebounders in the X4 & X3 spots so in my opinion, I think it makes the most sense to keep X3 on the backside in this scenario.

If the opposite guard can take out the Middle Man we can let our athlete rebound - weit is our best to chance to get out and run.

Concluding Thoughts -
 Like most things, we want to keep our rebounding strategy simple. We want to clearly define the responsibility of each player in the zone and then hold them accountable to what occurs in that area of the floor. Then we need to teach them the methods and techniques that will allow them to problem solve and rebound the basketball. In this post we discussed traditional Boxing Out, Fighting to 50/50, and the idea of Rebounding your Area. Perhaps the most important element in Rebounding the basketball out of the 23 Zone is emphasize the effort needed to Fight to 50/50, and the timing to High Point the basketball as it comes off the rim. If our players can understand where they are responsible and how they are expected to react to different circumstances we can be well on our way to mitigating one of the defense's weaknesses.

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