Analysis: Full court press defense

The rankings above display the four teams that are using a full court press on the defensive end most frequently this season. Teams use full court pressure for a variety of reasons and in a variety of situations, but teams that do so regularly present a unique challenge for opposing offenses. Forcing teams to work deeper into the shot clock and disrupting the typical tempo of a game, full court pressure tends to be pretty effective in the ABA League with the average possession producing 0.92 points per possession—just below the league average of 0.93 points per possession.

Digging Deeper

At the professional level, some teams press full court frequently and some teams do not press at all outside of desperation situations late in games. When teams choose to press full court they are taking a calculated risk. Opposing offenses often turn the ball over more frequently against pressure, but also find easier shots and shoot a higher percentage when they are able to break pressure. It is not easy to stay in front of guards at this level over the length of the floor, so most teams play something a bit more complex than normal man-to-man.

Six teams in the ABA League press full court on more than 10% of their possessions and four press on less than 5%. The league tends to have a lot of variety when it comes to defensive strategy, but this season, 9% of all possessions are again a full court press—up from just 5% last year. That rise can be traced across the league as nearly every team is using full court pressure more than they did a year ago—some by a significant margin.

Mega Soccerbet is the interesting exception to all of that as they have pressed on only 6% of their possessions, down from an ABA League leading 15% last year and ABA League record 28% the year before.

In contrast, Krka has nearly quadrupled how often they are pressing and have found quick a bit of success in doing so, but not because they have forced a lot of turnovers. Using an extra defender to make opposing ball handlers worry about a potential trap, Krka has affected the timing of opposing offenses. Among the other teams pressing frequently, Borac Čačak, Igokea, and Crvena zvezda mts have all forced turnovers at an excellent rate when dialing up pressure.

As with many things on the defensive end, it takes a team effort to make things work, and that is also true of an effective press as well—especially this season.

Insights and Statistics Provided by Synergy Sports Technology