How to Defend the Pick and Roll

• By Grant Young

The pick & roll is one of the simplest (yet lethal) offensive tactics that a basketball coach can employ. And while it can sometimes seem impossible to stop when an offensive duo is executing it to near perfection, there are a few tried and true ways that coaches have adopted over the years, in order to put a halt to this two-man play and give their team a chance to win. 

One of the coaches that has been pivotal in crafting a defense against the pick & roll is Lindsay Gottlieb. Coach Gottlieb is currently the head coach of the University of Southern California women’s basketball team. Prior to her arrival at USC, Coach Gottlieb was an assistant coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers NBA franchise, starting in 2019. This was historic, because it made Coach Gottlieb the first NCAA women's head coach to be hired by an NBA team.

Prior to being in Cleveland (who are in the midst of an intense NBA playoff series against the Boston Celtics), Coach Gottlieb was the head coach at the University of California, Berkeley, for eight seasons. She has collected a 268-154 overall record across 13 seasons as an NCAA head coach. 

Coach Gottlieb has proven to be one of the best, when it comes to defending the pick & roll. And her ‘Defending The Pick the Roll from College to the Pros’ course from when she was with the Cleveland Cavaliers is a masterclass. 

We've compiled some of Coach Gottlieb’s best insights on how to defend the pick & roll, giving you the tools you need to defeat this game-wrecking play. 

General Principles

Coach Gottlieb explains that there are three general principles when it comes to defending the pick and roll. They are: 

1. Do we know what we’re supposed to do?

2. Are we working/communicating with others?

3. How hard are we willing to play?

The first principle is simple: do your players know exactly what the coverage is supposed to look like? If they don’t, then you must ensure that they do know before you do anything else. Because any defensive scheme is bound to break down if your players aren’t crystal clear on what it entails. 

“Pick and roll defense doesn’t work if just one guy doesn’t know what they’re supposed to do,” Coach Gottlieb says. Which is why effective communication between players (and from coaches to players) is absolutely crucial. 

And the third general principle should be a core principle with everything, as it pertains to basketball. If your players aren’t willing to play at 100% during every possession, both on offense and defense, then there are bigger problems you must address before pick and roll defense.

And then getting into more specific principles, Coach Gottlieb discusses that, no matter what your coverage is going to be (whether it’s going over/under the defender, whether you have a hedge, etc.), your on-ball defender has to be playing physical, putting pressure on the ball, and giving a great effort at all times. 

As for the screener defender, they will need to have early and loud communication. This is especially when the on-ball defender, but it’s also important for every other defender on the court to be keened in to the communication and decision that are being made between the two pick and roll defenders, so they know when to assist if need be.

The screener defender needs to be in the right spot at all times, or else the entire defensive effort will be rendered useless. And they’ll also need to know their peel principles (which is when they’ll be taking the ball handler, and when you’re allowing the guard to get back in front).

Coach Gottlieb then notes how the Cavaliers tell their players that if they can cleanly see their players’ name and numbers on the back of their jersey, they aren’t getting back in front; which is when they want to yell, “peel!” to communicate the peel to the on-ball defender. The screener defender will also need to contest the shot, if need be. 

As for the other defenders on the team, Coach Gottlieb shares a crucial insight. In a perfect word, the pick and roll should be defended by the aforementioned two players: the on-ball defender and the screening defender. Which means that the other three players on the court can remain on their respective players. 

This is to say that the other defenders shouldn’t be overly eager to offer help on the pick and roll, at the expense of leaving the player they’re assigned to guard open. Instead, they need to trust that the on-ball defender and the screening defender will be able to execute your pick and roll defense. Although it’s also important for the other defenders to be available to help out, if doing so becomes a necessity. 

Later on in her course, Coach Gottlieb mentioned that it’s inevitable that, if you are going to switch during your pick and roll, there will be some post-ups and mismatches that occur. Unfortunately, that is inevitable when defending the pick and roll, and is why it’s such an effective offensive technique. 

Yet, the goal isn’t to stop every single pick and roll that you go up against. There will be some possessions where your opponents score, because that is simply the nature of basketball. But with Coach Gottlieb’s defensive principles and core techniques, the idea is that the pick and roll won’t be so unstoppable that it single handedly keeps your team from winning the game. 

But if you can instill these principles within your players, they’ll be given the tools to not only effectively defend against the pick and roll, but will be adaptable enough for whatever offensive schemes and talents they might see on the court.