#MicroSkills Michael Jordan | Episode 6: Off-Ball Defense

What's going on NBA skills coach Drew Hamlin back with episode 6 of my micro skills Michael Jordan breakdown series Today we're going to talk about Michael's great ability to play defense off the ball You guys saw in episode 5 how great he was on the ball But he was just as good and just as active off the ball, which is what we're going to go over today So the first thing we're going to talk about is fighting in the post He was not one of those people that just allowed, you know easy post catches You can see him right here swimming around constantly battling in the post. He did this every possession You also see a ton of poke steals. So right now, you know, he's not just quarter fronting He's actively trying to get steals trying to get in that passing lane at all times same exact thing right here There was no such thing as an easy post entry against mike You see right there does a good job of getting that, you know outside hand in the passing lane right here. He swims around So again, he's just one of those guys that you know, he was never going to allow something easy He loved to shut down opponents and one of the ways he did that was by fighting around in the post making sure he made it Super, you know tough for the passer to get it post entry pass and for the offensive player to catch it where they wanted Second thing that he was really really good at was shooting a gap. This just means basically Anticipating passing lanes and getting steals you can see him right there break the passing lane get a gap steal right here You can see way before even the pass happens So they're still fighting for a rebound mike's in the paint look at him start anticipating where the ball is going next Some of this is just iq obviously he was really athletic but iq put him in the right position at the right time You can see right there, you know didn't fight through and try to go around He ended up shooting a gap right there and you can also see that he always had his eyes, you know on the ball He was able to see both the ball and his man so that he was able to anticipate what was going to happen next You can see over and over again just him jumping that passing lane here as a gap defender staying home Being able to anticipate where it's going No, such thing as a cross court pass against him. This one's super impressive. You can see, you know right now He's not even in the frame. He's all the way past half court ball goes Can't throw a bounce pass against him just as athletic as he was right here He ends up getting beat on a back door still shoots the gap But really he was like a great defensive back and football was always Anticipating what was coming next and was trying to put himself in position to to force a turnover force a steal rotational steals This is something a lot of players do not like doing a lot of players, you know Kind of have a my man philosophy look mike's not even in the picture What does he do? He rotates over and gets a steal same thing different clip same result You can see him all the way in the paint, but still helping out his teammates I know that a lot of coaches preach this and a lot of players think that you know They're too cool to help their teammates out. But mj was one of the best at zoning up So right now you can see he's responsible for two guys. He's guarding the corner shooter But also he's helping out you see his player, you know is all the way on the other side of the lane So what does he do? He zones up and guards two and ends up coming up with a steal Right here. You can see him just in the right, you know position at the right time He sees a you know a split of a trap and he rotates up and is able to get a steal Active hands we talked a lot about this in the on ball episode five But look at his active hands as soon as a player got their hands on the ball He was able to disrupt that by getting deflections So good at swiping up to ideally you're swiping up It's harder for the refs to call foul if you swipe down Sometimes you end up, you know hitting players on the arms if you swipe up a lot of times You're not as likely to get a foul. So he's really good at that as well You can see as soon as the ball goes up, you know, he's trying to hawk the ball again pops it up Here this time he does swipe down but gets his hand on the ball Look at him sprinting back in transition. So look where he's at. He's behind half court He's you know, a couple strides away, but he sprints back in transition is able to get his hand on the ball as well Again, he just played hard. He played with that intensity He wanted to take the ball away from his opponent every time he was on defense, which just made him special Jump in the handler. This is something super impressive. You can see him, you know on the right side of the screen right here Looking as soon as he saw that, you know, he could get a steal He was always sprinting up and trying to make that happen Right here again anytime an offensive player turned her back. He was able to hawk them down and pickpocket him right here You know a front trap which is even harder to do because they have vision of you And then this one was really special. You can see he's leaving a player that's you know open under the rim But because he saw he could get a steal he made it happen getting through screens This is something super impressive first one. He's getting skinny and getting narrow So you see him trailing behind getting skinny right there? You can see him getting low dropping through really kind of lowering that shoulder so he could get around the screen Instead of getting hit by the screen gets through three screens right there and then is able to block the shot from the side This one right here. You can see him shoot the gap. So just like we talked about earlier Look what he does. He doesn't get hung up on the screen instead. He shoots that gap and turns it into a transition dunk So again, a lot of you guys have seen that highlight dunk But you probably didn't know that it was because he was able to get through screens on the defensive end right here Look at him get skinny again So he never gets hung up on screens He gets skinny was able to shoot that gap and then end up getting a dunk on the other end shot blocking from help side positions Again, he was such a team defender. Look at him right here rotating over blocking shots And obviously he was super athletic, but he was always in the right position. He was always rotating look at right here He's guarding the ball So again, he's pressuring the ball and then what does he do? He drops down comes down and helps out Drop into the level. The ball is such a big key on defense If you're trying to play good team defense, he was always rotating towards the ball always helping out his teammates Right here. You can see him blocking another shot MJ was just such a good help side defender because he was always aware of where the ball was and where it was going to Go next You can see him jumping before the shot even happens. So Look right now He starts jumping up And then the shot happens. He's already up over he was able to hang so long which was You know super impressive as well Look at all these rotating shot block abilities Again, they're they're trapping him. So he's got two of his teammates that are already, you know occupied with the post But here comes mj out of nowhere to block the shot Same exact thing right here Didn't matter what his teammates were doing. All he was trying to do was help and try to get the job done Again, look at mj Rotates over and is able to block the shot Such an active defender here. He is on the weak side rotates over. He's never afraid of getting dunked on He was always trying to make things happen. So right here He does his job, you know, he sprints back in transition A lot of defenders would have said okay He's got an easy kind of two-on-one scenario where he's probably going to dunk it anyway But what does mj do not afraid to get dunked on he jumps up gets a block rotates down right there. It gets a block Here look at him look at his eyes this whole time So even though he's got a cutting defender He feels his cutting defender But he still his vision is on the ball and is able to rotate over trap and then get the block shot Chase down blocks is what we're going to finish up with. He was so good at sprinting back in transition. Look at the frame right now mj two hands block Right here. Look at him sprinting back And you can see you know Offensively you think you've got an open layup in transition you see the offense player speed up right here stockton sees him It's an uh-oh moment mj gets it off the glass same exact thing right here comes from behind and blocks a shot Again rotating back sprinting back leaping up helping out He was so good at cleaning off the glass. This one's the most impressive clip Look at the offensive player. I mean the offensive player has their elbow over the rim mj still down What does mj do he's not worried about getting dunked on he jumps up and swats it before he's able to dunk it Same exact thing blocking shots off the glass See his hustle back this is something a lot of you know, elite players don't don't do I mean they're just You know too cool for it. Maybe or or they just don't uh think it matters But mj always made a priority to never let that team get a bucket Right here sprinting back Really good at timing up to This one obviously a famous play he sprints back he gets a steal turns the ball over doesn't give up on it Instead sprints back and hawks it down whether that's a steal or a block shot. It doesn't matter to me You guys can see the energy that mj played on defense I know that you guys know how gifted he was offensively But now hopefully after watching episode 5 of his on-ball defensive presence and episode 6 with his off-ball defensive presence You guys see how truly gifted mj was on both ends of the floor