In Basketball when you are on defense should you go up close to the person you are guarding?

Question

should I do that. I play basketball.

Answer 1

A good rule fo thumb for your defensive positon is to be at a distance where you can swat the ball away from the opponent when he is dribbling in front of you. This is roughly, depending on your wing span, about a foot and a half away. Also when guarding someone look at where their belt buckle would be. This will help keep you from getting beat off the dribble. Think about it all of the jab steps and fakes come from body parts such as shoulders arms and feet, but the torso, belly button area, stays relatively still. If you do get beat turn around and sprint back into position.

Answer 2

As a H.S. basketball coach, I tell my players to be an arm's length away. If you stay low and are on the balls of your feet, you will have a better chance of sliding your feet back to defend the dribble and able to put a hand in the face if the player you are guarding chooses to shoot the ball. To put pressure on the player, you can take quick jab steps at them, but at the same time be prepared to move back. Playing too close to a player with the ball will invite them to go by you. Playing it safe and backing up will help prevent penatration, but will allow them to see the whole floor and it will also give them a clear look at the basket. I expect my players to be active on defense, but at the same time smart. I hope this helps.

Answer 3

its all relative. There are certain things that you have to take into consideration.
The most important part of defense is to stay in between your opponent and the basket. Second to use boundaries such as the half court line, the side lines and the baseline to force them to pick up their dribble force bad shots or create turnovers (back court or out-of-bounds). That works for all players.
The specific part is to know how well the player can shoot and dribble. The closer a player is to their shooting range the less space you give them. The worst a dribbler the person is the less space you give them. If the player picks up their dribble. get right up on them and mirror the ball preventing them from passing or shooting. a good gauge is to always have the person you are guarding about arms length away.
If you find yourself getting beat off the dribble or taken to the basket give a little more space. try to use space to give your opponent false confidence and force bad shots.

Answer 4

Are you talking about man to man defense? I believe that's still what it's called, even it woman's basketball. (there's no need to mix sports and politics) Man to man means each player has a specific player on the other team he or she is supposed to guard, as opposed to guarding space in a zone defense.

Answer 5

it depends on who u are guarding if the person is a jump shooter then get up close but if he can drive past u keep some distance and if hes like kobe or tmac and can drive past u and take the jump shot then it would be good to have long arms so u could keep a little distance and still have a chance to block him.

Answer 6

If the person has the ball then no give them a little bit of space so they cant just move around you. If they dont have the ball stay really close especially if you are playing man on man so you can keep track of them.

Answer 7

It depends how quick you are if you have a hard time keeping up you should stay an arm length away but if you are quick you can play close

Answer 8

okay yes if hes a good shooter and no if he likes to drive spread out that way you can get to his shot and still guard the lane

Answer 9

it depends what kind of defense, if you get too close they will run by you and you will probably foul. if u stay too far back they can just shoot over you

Answer 10

an arms length away is good