Peel Switching Defense
Aug 24, 2024 3:42 pm
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Coach Will Voigt knows what it takes to adapt and win at every level.
He has coached in the NBA, G-League, FIBA, Europe, China, NCAA Div I & NCAA Div II, ABA and currently lead assistant at BYU.
Coach Voigt led the Nigerian National Team to their first-ever African Championship in 2015 and the Rio Olympics in 2016.
Coach Voigt implemented Peel Switching in his defense due to the advanced abilities of offensive players in today’s game.
Peel Switching is a creative defensive concept where you peel off to a new player after getting beat off dribble, baseline drive, or if there is any other breakdown in the defense.
Peel Switching is a simple way for teams to be more efficient in coverage, better defending the three-point line and allows a team to be more active defensively.
It helps avoid teams getting into long closeouts.
It can be described as a domino effect. As one domino falls, the next domino has to fall -- when one defender switches, the other defender peels off to a new player.
Scenario #1 -- Slot Drive Peel
The slot drive peel is an all-out commitment.
On a slot drive, each player has to rotate and switch when getting beat off the bounce.
The advantage of doing the peel switching in this scenario is there is no confusion on any crackdown/back situation.
In the video example below, the big will fully commit to the guard driving the basketball.
The weak side corner defender will become that crackdown/back defender but fully committing to a switch.
The defender that started on the ball peels off to the next offensive player.
And then that defender that he/she takes over for then switches to the corner offensive player.
He explains here:
(Click Image to Play Video)
Scenario #2 -- Baseline Drive
Part of the Peer Switching philosophy is not giving up any middle drives.
This will allow the peel switching to be easier and more effective.
In a baseline drive situation, it forces the ball handler to attack the baseline and doesn’t give up a middle drive.
By doing so, this sets up the rotations for the peer switching.
The help defender coming over will usually be the big defender; therefore, creating the domino effect of the peer switching.
In the example video, the big is the main first peel switch player.
The big has to be ready to defend and move their feet because, in that situation, they will mainly be switching on to a guard or wing.
The bigs in the videos do a great job of being active and ready to defend.
Scenario #3 -- Corner Peel Switch
Most basketball teams do not help off a corner player on slot drives.
They do this because usually, offensive players are good enough on the help to make the pass for a wide-open 3 point shot.
However, the corner peel switch makes a perfect type of a switch against a team that has a player that cannot shoot who is the corner player.
On a slot drive, the defender who is guarding the corner player would take on the ball handler.
The player who got beat on the drive would then peel switch to the corner player.
If done properly, this is an easier way to switch and an effective way to draw charges because the ball handler will usually be driving on a straight line drive.
Peel switching is a concept that could be really effective at any level of basketball.
There are not many teams attempting to use these types of switches. Therefore, it could be a defense that we see teams trying out in the near future.
The concept turns a basic man defense into more of a zone-like defense which creates havoc for an offense.
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