The X's & O's of Basketball - Hedging A Screen

bonez07
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Hedging A Screen
« Thread Started on Jan 29, 2008, 12:37pm »

What does that exactly mean? My coach tells me all the time to do this, but I have no idea what he's saying and I don't want to look stupid by asking.

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bruchu
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Re: Hedging A Screen
« Reply #1 on Jan 29, 2008, 2:40pm »

When people talk about 'hedging a screen' what they mean is for the defense to do a hard switch or as some people say 'show hard'. The purpose is to switch on the ball-screen such that the switching defender comes all the way out to stop the dribbler from going the way of the screen.

The idea behind the hedge is to show hard, prevent the dribble penetration, then recover right after. It's an effective and safe way of defending the ball screen. The only downside is that it results in a temporary mismatch after the screen.

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johncarrier42
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Re: Hedging A Screen
« Reply #2 on Jan 29, 2008, 3:04pm »

First of all...NEVER feel stupid for asking questions to your coach. That is what he's there for, it's his job as a coach. Now, if you felt silly about asking it in front of the group, pull him over after practice and ask in private. But NEVER don't ask!!

As a coach, I would be pissed if a player didn't know and then didn't ask me. If he asked me I would be greatful that he did. You have to remember, we can't read your mind. Somtimes we don't know when you are really lost and just not listening because they often appear the same. At the same time however, I do commend you for coming on and finding the answer, not just sulking about it.

As for hedging, yes, it's basically as Bruchu said. You step out above the screen (assuming you are defending the screener and not the dribbler here). You help to slow down the dribbler so his defender can recover to him and then you recover to stop the role.

I would do it as follows: Keep one hand on the back of the screener in between the shoulder blades. This helps you keep tabs on him so he doesn't role to the basket and leave you. If you have a hand on him, you always know where he is. Also, it helps you bump him a little and slow down that roll. Then you take your bottom foot (foot farthest from the top of the pick) and place that at or above his top foot so almost your entire body is above his screen. You will be at the same angle he is, but slightly behind him. This will force the dribbler to go much wider to get around the screen and will give your teammate more time to recover.

Hope this helps,

John Carrier

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nlamothe
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Re: Hedging A Screen
« Reply #3 on Jan 29, 2008, 9:56pm »

Somewhere recently I saw a clip in which the coach mentioned/demonstrated this... if I bump into it again, I'll post it here, but one thing I took away was that the hand on the back should be thumb down, palm away from the player - prevents the holding call.

Here's one: (requires that you sign up, but worth it... lots of little clips like this)
the third option - "Up and Under" is what I generally consider a "hedge"
http://www.basketballcoach.com/cgi-bin/b....ml?id=LTP QfQBv

Still looking for the first one...

« Last Edit: Jan 29, 2008, 11:12pm by nlamothe »

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bonez07
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Re: Hedging A Screen
« Reply #4 on Jan 30, 2008, 2:43pm »

Thank you. But now say I AM guarding the dribbler (since I am 90% of the time)?

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johncarrier42
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Re: Hedging A Screen
« Reply #5 on Jan 30, 2008, 3:11pm »

You don't hedge if you are guarding the dribbler. You recover when you are guarding hte dribbler. I would advise talking to your coach about whether he wants you to go OVER or UNDER the screener because there are different ins and outs to either practice.

Best of luck,

John Carrier

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bonez07
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Re: Hedging A Screen
« Reply #6 on Jan 30, 2008, 6:42pm »

Ok yeah I'm going to talk to him because I was guarding the dribbler in the scrimmage and he was guarding the screener, and he was telling me to hedge the screen. But hedging in general means me going over or under the screen?

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nlamothe
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Re: Hedging A Screen
« Reply #7 on Jan 30, 2008, 6:59pm »

Hedging the screen means the defender on the screener extends the screen so that the dribbler can't use it effectively.

The defense on the dribbler has three basic choices, over, under, and switch. All three are possible with or without the hedge.

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bonez07
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Re: Hedging A Screen
« Reply #8 on Jan 31, 2008, 12:42pm »

Ok got it.

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golfindad
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Re: Hedging A Screen
« Reply #9 on Feb 9, 2008, 1:09pm »

Jan 29, 2008, 3:04pm, johncarrier42 wrote:

First of all...NEVER feel stupid for asking questions to your coach. That is what he's there for, it's his job as a coach. Now, if you felt silly about asking it in front of the group, pull him over after practice and ask in private. But NEVER don't ask!!

As a coach, I would be pissed if a player didn't know and then didn't ask me. If he asked me I would be greatful that he did. You have to remember, we can't read your mind. Somtimes we don't know when you are really lost and just not listening because they often appear the same. At the same time however, I do commend you for coming on and finding the answer, not just sulking about it.

As for hedging, yes, it's basically as Bruchu said. You step out above the screen (assuming you are defending the screener and not the dribbler here). You help to slow down the dribbler so his defender can recover to him and then you recover to stop the role.

I would do it as follows: Keep one hand on the back of the screener in between the shoulder blades. This helps you keep tabs on him so he doesn't role to the basket and leave you. If you have a hand on him, you always know where he is. Also, it helps you bump him a little and slow down that roll. Then you take your bottom foot (foot farthest from the top of the pick) and place that at or above his top foot so almost your entire body is above his screen. You will be at the same angle he is, but slightly behind him. This will force the dribbler to go much wider to get around the screen and will give your teammate more time to recover.

Hope this helps,

John Carrier

Could not agree with John 100% about asking!! If you want to be good you have to be willing to be different. Many kids never ask when they don't understand something; that's why most players are average. They don't want to be different.

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coachmcd
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Re: Hedging A Screen
« Reply #10 on Feb 12, 2008, 1:25am »

If you want to see good hedging, watch a UCLA or Washington State game. The person guarding the screener is hedging (forcing the ball to retreat coming around the ball screen, and giving time for ball-defender to recover to ball). Those are the best two teams at hedging the screen that I can think of off the top of my head. UCLA is the best in the country at hedging ball screens, and seeing it might be the best thing for you to understand it. Also, if you don't understand what is happening in practice, you probably aren't the only the on the team who feels that way, and a good coach will always be willing to explain something as important as hedging.

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bonez07
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Re: Hedging A Screen
« Reply #11 on Feb 13, 2008, 10:50pm »

Ok, hopefully I can find this on Youtube.

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commcoach
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Re: Hedging A Screen
« Reply #12 on May 15, 2008, 10:33am »

Feb 9, 2008, 1:09pm, golfindad wrote:

Jan 29, 2008, 3:04pm, johncarrier42 wrote:

First of all...NEVER feel stupid for asking questions to your coach. That is what he's there for, it's his job as a coach. Now, if you felt silly about asking it in front of the group, pull him over after practice and ask in private. But NEVER don't ask!!

As a coach, I would be pissed if a player didn't know and then didn't ask me. If he asked me I would be greatful that he did. You have to remember, we can't read your mind. Somtimes we don't know when you are really lost and just not listening because they often appear the same. At the same time however, I do commend you for coming on and finding the answer, not just sulking about it.

As for hedging, yes, it's basically as Bruchu said. You step out above the screen (assuming you are defending the screener and not the dribbler here). You help to slow down the dribbler so his defender can recover to him and then you recover to stop the role.

I would do it as follows: Keep one hand on the back of the screener in between the shoulder blades. This helps you keep tabs on him so he doesn't role to the basket and leave you. If you have a hand on him, you always know where he is. Also, it helps you bump him a little and slow down that roll. Then you take your bottom foot (foot farthest from the top of the pick) and place that at or above his top foot so almost your entire body is above his screen. You will be at the same angle he is, but slightly behind him. This will force the dribbler to go much wider to get around the screen and will give your teammate more time to recover.

Hope this helps,

John Carrier

Could not agree with John 100% about asking!! If you want to be good you have to be willing to be different. Many kids never ask when they don't understand something; that's why most players are average. They don't want to be different.

Nothing's more frustrating as a coach than going a whole season then finding out that one of your players didn't understand a concept because he didn't ask earlier.

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