How to defend big men...

Any tips?

I'm 6' around 220lbs...been lifting weights for a few years now so I'm a bit strong(my weights helps) but I always have a hard time keeping the big guys out of the paint, strenght is not much of a problem is as I always get pinned or they can easily score on me...I'm talking about the 6-3+ guys who despite weighing more than me they are quick on their feet and have a somewhat developed post game. I always have to defend the big guy because I'm the biggest out of my group(relative size, not height). On the offensive side I don't struggle much since I always use my body to power my way inside, it's when I have to defend the bigger people. I would appreciate any help.

My vertical is nothing impressive but I get my good share of boards by boxing out, even against much taller people. That's one of my strengths, boxing out and pick and rolls. I also have a nice jumper going for me which everybody loves. Still, I really struggle defending "true" bigs. I'm going to loose weight till I'm skinny as a twig, and only then will I have a valid reason not to guard the biggest guy on the other team.

I kinda have the same problem. I'm 5'9, 140 lbs, and I'm already the third tallest guy on the team (HS Varsity. And before you ask, yes, I'm Asian). One thing I always try to remember, though, is to keep a wide base. My legs should be pretty wide apart, maybe a little bit more than shoulder-width, but then keep my body straight. One of my teammates also told me that one thing I can do when being posted up is to put one leg in between the opponent's legs. Sounds kinda gay right now, but then it helps. People have trouble backing you down when they can't use their hip too much. Another thing is too just keep your hands up, but I bet you knew that already. That's pretty much all I can give right now. I'm still working on it myself, but I hope I kinda helped.

[QUOTE=NotYetGreat]I kinda have the same problem. I'm 5'9, 140 lbs, and I'm already the third tallest guy on the team (HS Varsity. And before you ask, yes, I'm Asian). One thing I always try to remember, though, is to keep a wide base. My legs should be pretty wide apart, maybe a little bit more than shoulder-width, but then keep my body straight. One of my teammates also told me that one thing I can do when being posted up is to put one leg in between the opponent's legs. Sounds kinda gay right now, but then it helps. People have trouble backing you down when they can't use their hip too much. Another thing is too just keep your hands up, but I bet you knew that already. That's pretty much all I can give right now. I'm still working on it myself, but I hope I kinda helped.[/QUOTE]

Our schools the same way we have no height our center on varsity last year was like 5'11 and hes really a guard

[QUOTE=NotYetGreat]I kinda have the same problem. I'm 5'9, 140 lbs, and I'm already the third tallest guy on the team (HS Varsity. And before you ask, yes, I'm Asian). One thing I always try to remember, though, is to keep a wide base. My legs should be pretty wide apart, maybe a little bit more than shoulder-width, but then keep my body straight. One of my teammates also told me that one thing I can do when being posted up is to put one leg in between the opponent's legs. Sounds kinda gay right now, but then it helps. People have trouble backing you down when they can't use their hip too much. Another thing is too just keep your hands up, but I bet you knew that already. That's pretty much all I can give right now. I'm still working on it myself, but I hope I kinda helped.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the advice.

As for placing my leg in between the big, I already do that, as well as put my forearm on their back, but most of the times putting my leg in between them fails...it's risky. they can use it to leverage(they place their arm on your body and turn around then take it in)...which usually ends up happening often. I do wish I was a few inches taller though.

I'll try to make myself more wide, I never really employed this so I'll have to practice it.

The leg trick works sometimes, but not always, there are some centers who will use it to their advantage. I hate defense because it's something you must learn by yourself...with offense you can always teach yourself how to shoot, dribble, do layups, etc, but with defense, it's nothing set, you can't rely on blocking shots alone or keeping people out of the paint because it doesn't always work.

Thanks.

[QUOTE=highwhey]Thanks for the advice.

As for placing my leg in between the big, I already do that, as well as put my forearm on their back, but most of the times putting my leg in between them fails...it's risky. they can use it to leverage(they place their arm on your body and turn around then take it in)...which usually ends up happening often. I do wish I was a few inches taller though.

I'll try to make myself more wide, I never really employed this so I'll have to practice it.

The leg trick works sometimes, but not always, there are some centers who will use it to their advantage. I hate defense because it's something you must learn by yourself...with offense you can always teach yourself how to shoot, dribble, do layups, etc, but with defense, it's nothing set, you can't rely on blocking shots alone or keeping people out of the paint because it doesn't always work.

Thanks.[/QUOTE]

No prob. Just trying to learn like you. Never had that problem with the leg trick, so far. The thigh really bothers them.

Everything mentioned, I have gone through. Defending the post is not easy and is one of the most tiring aspects of the game.

When I first started playing for my most recent team (I started playing maybe around Oct-Nov of '07 for this team), I was terrible at post defense and defense all together. The coach, however, was very defensive orientated, so it was either learn to play defense or not play. So I had no choice. I now love playing defense and think it's the best part of the game, behind rebounding, which is by far the greatest part of the game.

When I joined this team, I was maybe 6'2ish and about 160 or so (I was 16 at the time, just about to turn 17). I was a stick. I was routinely going up against much bigger post players and getting killed. As I got older, I just started to learn what did and didn't work, it's a learning process. You've got to find out what works.

By the time the end of the second season rolled around (I played 2 seasons for this team), I was about 6'3-6'4 and about 170 (this was only about 4 months ago), so I was a little bigger, but still nothing impressive. But I was a lot stronger and a lot wiser. I knew how to defend the post, I knew how to stop pretty much any player I wanted.

How to defend big men? Don't let them get position or the ball in the first place. This is why defending the post is so much hard work, because the only way to defend is to chase the guy around the key and throw your muscle around. You've got to front them up, you've got be willing to put your body on the line to stop these guys from getting position. If you let them get position and then the ball, you're screwed and may aswell just give them an open layup, because any post player with any skill will easily score once he's got the ball down low.

I'm now 18, 6'4 and about 183 and I've found I can defend the post better than ever. I've gained a lot of strength through weight training and it makes life a lot easier.

There's always little tricks that you can pick up through playing with older players, or just getting more experience. Such as creating a wide based and placement of your legs, as already mentioned. Another trick is to lean on your man, see how Rodman would defend the post. He was only 6'7 and about 210 and was constantly having to defend guys who were 5+ inches taller and 50+ lbs heavier. Rodman would lean way into his man, I mean just watch what he does and the guy is almost at a 45 degree angle, because he's leaning so much.