Basketball Hedging Drill: Continuous Ball Screen Defense
A continuous hedge drill for working on ball screen hedges and weak side help. With so many teams running ball screens at every level, defending the pick and roll can’t be something you only cover the day before you play a team that runs it. This drill gets your defense a lot of ball screen reps in a short time.
What Is a Hedge?
When the ball handler comes off a ball screen, the screener’s defender jumps out into the ball handler’s path for a moment. That “hedge” slows the ball handler down and gives the on-ball defender time to recover around the screen. Then the hedging defender gets back to the screener.
How the Drill Runs
- The ball starts on the wing. The player at the top of the key sets the first ball screen.
- Based on the coach’s preference, the screener’s defender hedges the screen and the player defending the ball goes over or under the screen. The animation shows a hard hedge with the on-ball defender going over.
- The ball screener rolls to the basket.
- The weak side defender is responsible for picking up the roller and then recovering to their own man on the wing.
- The player coming off the ball screen looks for the roller. If the help side does its job, the ball gets kicked to the wing.
- The passer now becomes the ball screener, and the drill keeps going until the coach is satisfied.
See the hedge drill animation for the full rotation.
Coaching Points
- Talk early. The screener’s defender calls out the screen before it’s set so the on-ball defender isn’t surprised.
- Hedge with your body, not your hands. Step out hard enough that the ball handler has to go wide or pick up the dribble, without reaching and fouling.
- Get back. The hedge only works if the hedging defender recovers to the roller quickly.
- On-ball defender fights over the top. Stay attached to the ball handler’s hip and get back in front as fast as possible.
- Weak side help is part of the drill. The weak side defender has to tag the roller, then close out to the wing under control.
This drill is based on hard hedges, but it could be used as a framework for working on different coverages like “Icing,” “Trapping Screens” and “Going Under.”
Common Mistakes
- Hedging late, after the ball handler has already turned the corner
- Hedging too long and leaving the roller wide open
- The weak side defender ball-watching and missing the roller
- Closing out to the wing out of control and getting driven by
Variations
- Soft hedge: the screener’s defender shows a step and stays closer to the roller.
- Under: the on-ball defender goes under the screen. Good against non-shooters.
- Go live: once the rotation is clean, let the offense play out each screen and keep score.
