Red/Yellow/Green

Got a great little philosophy from Will "The Thrill" McKay last week. We've all noticed that the NBA and NCAA D-1 guys have seemed to call tight out front and loose near the basket. Thrill picked up a way to understand that at a camp last summer. I've added a twist to it that I think further accentuates this.

Think of the basket as the capitol city of the basketball court. The offense wants to invade and take the city by scoring. The defense wants to protect its basket and prevent the invader from scoring. The offense can launch missiles with finesse by gunning long-range 3's, or they can grind out close-range shots by setting screens, crashing to the basket, and using physical dominance to get there.

Thrill will tell you to divide the front court into 3 areas, the Red Zone, the Yellow Zone, and the Green Zone.

The Red Zone is above the top of the key. The only scoring attack from here is a long-range bomb. It's not near the battle front of the war on the basket. Hand-to-hand combat should be rare. You don't need or want rough post play 30 feet from the basket. Therefore, you should be intolerant of physical play when you are more than 20 feet from the basket. Bad screen 30 feet fro the basket is not going to provide an imminent scoring threat, so it will be called tightly. Finesse and quickness rule the Red Zone.

The Yellow Zone inside the 3-point arc but outside the key. Screens may be set, guys start to drive the basket. However, you are still quite a way away from the basket. It will not be an area of all-out defense. The offense is still trying to position themselves to attack the basket. You will want to let a little more go than in the Red Zone, but still understand that the offense has not gotten into the Green Zone yet, where victory becomes imminent, and the defense may get desperate.

The Green Zone is the key and the post area. Ball gets in there on post play, the defense will rush down there to protect the basket. Coaches will scream at the defense to prevent open lay-ins. Players will try and play through contact in the final push for the position or shot. Just like Russia piled millions of people to protect Moscow to the last man in World War 2, the good team will desperately try and prevent the basket when the ball gets in the Green Zone. Again, the threshold for a foul here is higher than in the Yellow Zone, and lot more than the Green Zone.

Fouls are fouls. But the strategy of the game is to score baskets. Understanding how physical the game should be with respect to how far away from the basket the basketball is, and where the offense is trying to go with the basketball, will help you get the right balance of when fouls should be called, and when you should pass. This metaphor and description may illustrate a way to think about it and give you something to think about. Or, it may not. I liked it--it's what I see on TV, and there is a reason they're there and most of us are not.