Youth Zone Defense play
Youth Zone: Gap Drive and Kick-Out
- Court
- Half court
- Length
- 11 steps
About this play
For ages 12 and up, after the man-to-man series. Dribble penetration is the zone's other weakness, and good offenses drive the gaps to make the zone collapse, then kick the ball out to the shooter the collapse uncovered. This play shows three drives and what the zone concedes on each: the gap between the guards (guards close, X5 stops the ball, forwards stay home, kick-out goes to a wing the forward is already running to), the gap between the guard and the forward on the wing (the forward steps up, X5 slides over, kick-out goes to the corner), and the baseline drive (the forward walls it with no baseline, X5 steps over, the pass goes back out). Why the zone can give up the kick-out: a kick-out is a pass back outside, and the zone concedes outside shots on purpose; what it will not concede is the layup or the dump-off to the block, which is why the forwards never leave the blocks on a middle drive. Where the advantage lies: a drive that ends in a pick-up and a kick-out has spent three seconds of clock and put the ball farther from the rim than it started. Common youth mistakes: both forwards stepping up on the middle drive (dump-off layup), the guards opening their hips so the dribbler splits them, and the forward letting the baseline drive get under him. I learned the never-split-the-guards rule from Coach's Clipboard's 2-3 zone page and Upward Sports' lesson on protecting the middle; both will take you deeper on the gaps.
