[Mregor]

I had a situation last week where during pre-game I discussed this with my partner. I work ball side like Chuck does and have done it for a few years now even though this just became and "ooficial" mechnanics change this year. NASO has been promoting this in their mechanics book for a while now. He insisted that he would not go ball side until the ball was already there. I tried to explain to him that by then it's too late. The whole purpose of moving ball side is getting the proper angle. You know when there are 2 guys fighting for position and the point guard is biding time and not driving, that the ball is coming in to the low post. That's when you need to get there-before the ball gets dumped in to the low post. That way you have the angle to see any contact from pushing off by the offensive player, to displacement by the defense. Knowing when to move back is more difficult. If the shot misses, usually I'll stay where I'm at unless there is a long rebound or the rebound is to my normal side. I guess it's more of an instinct than planning whereas on the feed to the low post, you'll see the players jockying for position and you can have time to think to yourself "hey, the ball could be coming into the post. If the PG is looking for it, I'm going ball-side (or something along those lines)".

Mregor