How to Improve Your Basketball Team’s Transition Defense

• By Grant Young

Transition is one of the hardest aspects of the game for a basketball team to train for because it's fast-paced and it's over in seconds. 

For an offense, it's the easiest opportunity to score easy baskets, drive to the lane, and rack up points in bunches before their opponent has time to adjust. Especially now with so many teams focusing their effort on playing fast and pushing the pace, It's important to set up a good transition defense game plan.

Opposing teams will often try to take advantage of the transition because players are typically scattered on the floor and it's hard for a team to get back into their defensive set amidst this chaos. As part of transition defense, it is crucial not to allow the opponent any easy points. The best way to achieve this goal is to always make sure one player is focused on getting back on defense so that there’s at least one person available to stop a transition attack. 

A few common tips for a player on transition defense is to sprint back and try to force at least three passes, which will ideally give their teammates time to get back. Players should also not backpedal, as this might throw them off balance. Players should also aim to protect the basket and shrink the floor. But possibly the most important point is communication via talking and pointing while running back, which can make the job easier. 

While all players and coaches know these basic transition tips, Chris Kreider can take your transition defense knowledge to a whole new level. 

Coach Kreider is in his second season as an assistant coach at SMU. Prior to that, Coach Kreider served as an assistant coach at Georgia State. He was previously at Rice University, where he guided the Panthers to a 16-6 record and a third-straight appearance in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament Championship Game. Along the way, he led the Panthers to an opening night, quadruple overtime victory over Georgia Tech, marking the program’s first win over an ACC opponent in school history. 

Coach Krieder’s ‘Transition Defense’ course is an excellent resource for any basketball coach who is looking to turn their transition defense into a stalwart force that any opposing team will struggle to score against. 

Things to Consider

Coach Krieder has five questions that pertain to transition defense that he believes are crucial to succeeding in that facet of the game. 

The first one is: Have we identified and taught our defense assignments in transition (1-5)?

For this one, a coach must make sure that every defensive player knows exactly what their defensive assignment is every second they’re on the court. As soon as the opposing team gets their shot up, every player must be clear on what their assignment is, both of the shot is made, and if it’s missed. 

The second question is: How many players do we send to the glass to rebound vs. how many do we send back on transition defense?

While this question is simple enough, it’s also important for coaches to understand why they’re making this specific personnel decision. Is it because it’s what other teams do? Because the coach has had success with it in the past? Or is it a matter of roster construction? Knowing the why behind this decision will help any coach decide on the correct numbers to allocate to each scenario.

Transition defense question No. 3 is: How much attention do we give our transition defense on a daily basis?

The amount of practice time a coach allocates to transition defense directly correlates to the amount of success they can expect their team to have in transition. While this doesn’t mean that tons of practice time is dedicated to this facet of the game, coaches ensuring that many of the habits that make for good transition defense (communication, conditioning, and rim protection) are getting practiced will be a major asset when transition defense is needed during the game. 

Coach Kreider’s fourth question is: How do we hold ourselves accountable in this area (practice and games)?

Whenever a team designates that practice time and those responsibilities on the transition, coaches need to find a means to hold their players accountable for executing them. This could be done by charting every transition scenario, assigning a percentage to each player, or any other way that a coach wants to utilize. 

The fifth and final essential transition defense question is: What is our plan when we run into “that team” that challenges our system?

There will always be a team that prides itself on transition offense that will present a true challenge to your team. When that happens, a coach must have a “Plan B” ready for their team to turn to.

Communication - Talk & Point

Coach Kreider emphasizes that a little bit goes a long way when it comes to communicating during transition defense. 

In the screenshot above, three Georgia State players can be seen pointing back on defense. This is a great example of players knowing where they’re supposed to be, holding each other accountable to their specific positions, and using hand gestures to communicate. The players were also surely speaking with one another in this instance. 

Of course, these great habits don’t come around by coincidence. It took time for Coach Kreider’s players to understand how important communication is during transition defense, and for them to then instill these changes when they’re in the court. 

But as long as players are seeing a commitment from their coach about making transition defense a priority, they will surely begin to do the same.