Offense or Defense: Which is easier to learn?

[wildbill2u]

Lots of times players come to the league that have different aspects of the game in their skill set. Some (like Williams and Mahimi?) have better defensive skills than offensive skills. Others, (Bonner) are primarily known as shooters with defensive liabilities.

So assuming the player wants to work and improve, which is it easier to do? Take a defensive specialist and teach him to shoot adequately or take a natural shooter and get him to play defense adequately?

[Mr.Bottomtooth]

I'd say offense since not many teams in the NBA play great defense.

[exstatic]

It depends. A lot of teams have very unstructured offenses, so those would be easier to learn than, say, SA's motion off. or the Triangle or whatever Larry Brown is pushing for his team. OTOH, you have defenses like SA's that can be very tough to learn.

[polandprzem]

IMO defense is much tougher to lern even though people got different skills I think defense demends more from a player.

[duncan7721]

It is easier to learn offense but i think defense is more useful.

[timmy21_4rings]

o over d

[lefty]

During the 1993-1994 season, Olajuwon said : " It's much, much harder to play D"

[mystargtr34]

D, by a long way. Unless you play for Phoeonix.

[exstatic]

D, by a long way. Unless you play for Phoeonix.
:lmao You think that Phoenix's offense would be difficult? How hard is it to learn to ignore your man on defense and leak out on the break? If they are forced into the half court, the offense consists of "pay attention to Steve Nash and wait for a pass".

[T Park]

Not hard to figure out Phoenix's D either.

stand and get ready to run to the other end.


With the Spurs its actually a toss up. The offensive and defensive schemes supposedly have been labled "very hard' to pick up.

Udoka has not had much of a problem so far. But look at how long its taken barry. Oberto and others to get comfortable.

[Dex]

I would say offense.

You can learn both if you are taught and develop the fundamentals, physics, and positions.

However, I think offense is something that can be perfected more easily through practice and repetition, as well as putting that into gametime situations.

Defensive instincts seem to come more naturally. People either seem to have them, or they don't...and the only thing that seems to develop that is experience.

[SRJ]

On an individual level, I think defense is easier. But when it comes to integrating a player into a scheme, I think defense is harder.

[Joe Schmoogins]

Well technically offense is "easier" to learn, but not everyone can do it. Defense is much harder to learn simply because it takes a tremendous amount of busting ass. However, I'd say that anyone can become a great defender with enough hard work, but not everyone can learn to have a silky J.

[Slomo]

Learning the skills of defense is actually easier. To learn how to shoot properly, proper ball release or moves under the basket is much harder. Offense needs a lot of work to be learned correctly and then requires a lot of practice to keep it sharp.

But to actually play defense is much harder. The tendency to play offense comes naturally, while defense requires concentration, will power and tenacity (look how many times we've considered Bruce's defense bad in the first quarter only to see him totally destroy his opponent in the fourth). Add to this a structured/tactical team defense and you need to use your brains - We've had our share of players who never really figured how to play D in our system even after a year or two on the team.

In my opinion motivation is the biggest problem. It's almost impossible to get recognition for D in the NBA and in today's NBA a good O player will get a better contract than an excellent D player - so why bother?

[slayermin]

As K-Mart would say, if you can hoop, you can hoop.

Defense is much harder because it's about commitment, effort, and heart. It's like that old saying offense sells tickets but defense wins championships.

[wildbill2u]

Some posters have taken the question as whether a player can learn an offense or defensive scheme.

Actually, I wanted to know if there is a concensus on the development of individual players skills. Is it easier to draft a shooter and teach him defensive skills or can you take a defensive player and teach him to shoot? Which are the easier skills to develop with effort and practice?

[Texas_Ranger]

Offense.

[Darkwaters]

Defense is much easier to teach than offense. Much of offensive ability is based upon natural skill. Shooting, ball handling, speed, etc. While these things can be improved upon, often times even a herculian amount of work might not net results. Defense, on the other hand, is mostly mental and a result of effort. If a player can stay focused and motivated they might be a succesful defensive player. Obviously the difficulty of a teams offensive or defensive scheme can change the players' ability to learn it well, but we're not aruging systems but rather fundamentals.

Hence, I attest that defense is easier to teach than offense.

[Brutalis]

Any coach will tell you defense.

[remingtonbo2001]

For me, it was defense. I relied on my toughness. I would throw elbows, pull on players jersey's, ect. :lol I was a dirty player. I was also tall, long arms, and fairly quick. Too bad I couldn't dribble! :spin Defense requires physical, and mental toughness. Offense could be either, but usually requires some type of finesse, and/or paticular skill, i.e. dribbling, passing, shooting. Now, if were speaking of defensive schemes, that can be complicated sometimes, especially if it's a scheme in which your switching on a consistant basis. Some get confused every now and then, even myself.

[wildbill2u]

could we agree that the peculiar talent of shooting depends upon the God-given attributes of execellent eye-hand coordination? You can improve shooting ability. That's why they have shooting coaches who work to perfect bad technique--but some guys just can shoot the shit out of the basket naturally.

On the other hand, G. Gervin who was the ultimate shooter used to practice shooting hundreds of shots every day.