Youth Man-to-Man play
Youth Man: Help and Recover
- Court
- Half court
- Length
- 10 steps
About this play
Help is a loan, not a gift: the helper stops the ball and gets back to his man on the kick-out, and if he does not recover, the defense has traded a drive for an open shot. This play runs a whole possession with three help-and-recover moments: the gap defender at the top stunts at a middle drive and recovers to his man on the kick, the post defender walls a baseline drive and recovers to the post, and the corner defender stunts at a wing drive and closes out on the kick-out to the corner. The ball swings across the floor between them. Why recover instead of trap: a trap needs two defenders on the ball and leaves one man open for the whole possession; help and recover leaves one man open for one second, and the defense concedes that second because the kick-out pass takes longer than the recovery. Where the advantage lies: a drive that meets help ends in a pick-up, and the pass out of a pick-up goes to a man whose defender is already on the way back. Common youth mistakes: helping with the whole body and getting stuck, watching the ball after the kick instead of sprinting, and recovering to the ball instead of to the man. I learned stunt and recover from Jim Boylen's Jr. NBA session, and HoopsKing's guide to help defense fills in the rest; read them if you want to go deeper.
