#MicroSkills Michael Jordan | Episode 5: On-Ball Defense

What's going on it's NBA skills coach Drew Hanlon back with another episode of my micro skills Michael Jordan breakdown series. Today in episode 5 we're going to take a look at the other side of the ball and we're going to look at Michael Jordan's on-ball defense. You guys have seen in episodes 1 through 4 all the reasons why he was so talented offensively so I thought we'd do a deep dive on the other side of the ball. First thing that we'll talk about is deflections. You can see right here he is in a great stance he's really close to the offensive player that he's guarding. He's up under them we always talk about getting into the ball he's into the ball and then he's just trying to get his hand on the ball to disrupt the offensive player's rhythm. You can see right there two different swipes in the same possession which leads to a steal. Here's a little reach around all he's trying to do is get a hand on the ball. A sweep through was never easy with MJ because he had active hands. You can see him right here rotate on another offensive player and again disrupts it with a reach in but look at him right there reaching reaching and getting good kind of positioning so that he could get a hand on the ball. Same thing right there you notice a lot of times he disrupted the rhythm and then he would get the steal on the second reach in obviously leads to a ton of the you know highlight dunks that you guys see. MJ one of the best defenders all time still diving on the ground for loose balls right there you know defensive rebound doesn't matter he still fights for possession and gets it back. The other thing that he was great at was disrupting passing lanes. You guys hear coaches all the time talk about you know no easy passes make sure that you disrupt the offensive timing and look at him right here as an on-ball defender you know constantly using active hands to make passing lanes really really hard to do. Again these are a lot of the transition dunks easy baskets that you see a lot of times with defense led to offense. Ball pressure we've already seen a couple clips of him active he was a defender you see the offensive player just always kind of in trouble. MJ constantly trying to beat players the spot you can see him just always right there reaching in trying to get you know chest stops right there again look at this arm bar right there but again he was always into the ball. One of the other things he did great was look at this clip and I love rewinding this clip and going through it but he was able to get chest stops because he's in great position so right now instead of being backwards which a lot of bad defenders are you can see his shoulders are over his knees so his feet are behind his shoulders so that when the offensive player comes into him he's able to really wall up they call that walling up right there and you see it again same thing walling up so in that good position so he's always on balance. Now this is the thing that I thought he was most elite at which was beating to the spot so if you know the offensive player was driving left he was able to jump to the spot and beat them to the spot so they could get these steals. He was unbelievable at this this is one of the most talented things that I've seen any defender do but MJ was you know such a kind of a pest on defense because he was able to always you know run to the spot where you wanted to go beat you to that spot and then pick your pocket. Again over and over again you can see just running to the spot right here he rotates off of his primary defender you know now he goes to another offensive player and again gets you know that poke steal that we talked about. In transition you see him picking up full court and still getting those pick pockets picking up guys in the half court at the half court line you know offensive players didn't even want to face up against MJ because he was so aggressive he was able to get into the ball and was constantly trying to beat them to the spot. Look at look at how offensive ball handlers just you know don't even feel comfortable handling the ball and these are NBA players obviously. Again look at this one this was just unheard of really. Look at MJ's close out he gets beat but still is able to kind of hop over and pick it. Now we look at hollowing out. Hollowing out is a concept that basically means dropping off the ball. So you can see John Stockton you know getting pressured by MJ but now he does a good job of kind of driving him to MJ's hip. A lot of defensive players get stuck right here and then it's going to be a foul. What does MJ do? He hops off of them which is hollowing out right there and has high hands so now the ref can't call a foul. So let's go back right here you can see instead of just getting stuck or trying to kind of you know apply pressure what does MJ do? He hops off that way John Stockton gets off balance instead of MJ getting off balance. Here you can see the active hands you can see the ball pressure but again instead of getting a foul what does he do? He throws his hands back and out so he gets chest stops and then beats him to the spot and then swipes down because again he's always trying to have active hands. So being able to kind of run to the spot if you can't pickpocket them just hopping backwards hollowing out is a great skill that that you can add to your defensive game so that offensive players get off balance instead of you getting off balance as a defender. Change of direction he wasn't one of those guys that was just overrunning every single time and then putting himself in vulnerable positions. Right here you can see a couple things one look at this hand out you always want on defense to be active with your hands but also you know clogging up lanes you don't want to be narrow you want to be wide so that you can really make the offensive player attack you know out and around you instead of through you and then as soon as he gets beat he cross steps so I know a lot of old school coaches talk about slide slide slide don't cross that MJ was great at running so look at this right here he knows he's beat so instead of trying to slide and get a you know a hip chuck right there which could have been a defensive foul he just sprints so look at that cross step right there that's totally fine to do and it's actually the smart thing to do then he's able to decelerate change directions and then again disrupt the shot blocking you know ability right there. Here we go again so offensive player gets a little advantage what does he do cross step beats into the spot and then again hawks the ball with active hands you can see that drop off right here that hollowing out so instead of getting stuck right there where the offensive player could you know draw contact and get a foul he hops off of him that way the offensive player loses balance because remember the offensive player is trying to lean on him and then he's able to beat him to the next spot again offensive player you know tumbles over instead of the defensive player being off balance altering and blocking shots he was really good with blocking shots really good at altering shots you can see him running right here with grant hill then he's able to jump up and look at that altar so grant you know this is a great altar right there you can see it ends up being off the backboard shot not what you want right here he's running with the offensive player what do you do as soon as the shot goes up and you can see he's the second guy off the floor offensive player jumps right there then mj jumps but he was such a quick jumper that he was able to always get up and contest again you can see the hand swipes that we talked about earlier so even when he's not getting it he's still trying to be active with his hands he's in a low stance you see one hand out one hand wide good chest stop right there again you see this little swipe so even after the chest stop he tries to get a swipe then he disrupts a shot right there and ends up blocking it here he gets beat on a little close out what does he do he sprints and runs gets a high hand so you can see his hands already high you see that low hand is already high so then it's easier to contest does a great job kind of walling up again a bad shot this time does a great job getting a disruption again look at that poke steal and then a block shot just so active on the defensive end and was so good at just getting to spots holding his ground remaining on balance and then making it really really tough for the offense player score if you ever expose the ball you can see the ball is exposed right there he's always going to get these swipe steals you can see post players just really struggled with this here off the ball screen magic johnson gets pickpocketed and it leads to the again highlight dunks that you guys always see so always had active hands if the ball was exposed or if the ball had a chance of being stolen he was able to get his hands on it he was also active in traps you know a lot of times you talk about body in hands up but mj was also kind of a little bit of a risk taker because he was so good at getting these steals you can see right there it's a big time steal and comes up with it right here doesn't give up you know offensive players you know getting out of the trap he stays with it ends up hawking him down and getting the ball right here again getting his hand on the ball he was just getting deflections at all times drops to level the ball right here so again he's guarding a corner shooter he comes in he sinks in instead of giving up a layup or instead of saying oh my guy's in the corner i'm just gonna hang out hopefully you know they take care of in the paint what does he do he comes down gets a deflection off the leg and gets a possession for his team you guys all know about the iconic pullback in utah well this is what led to that iconic moment he went over got a steal on carl malone and end up coming up with the ball so that it led to the offense possession that we all know about getting through ball screens is something i wanted to show you as well a lot of people struggle getting through ball screens mj was able to blow up screens by staying attached you see him getting staying attached and then was able to square up that's something not a lot of people do a lot of people are able to kind of stay connected but they trail behind mj was always getting through and then squaring up you can see right here look at his hands active get squared up again and then gets a chest stop and now is in a perfect position so defensively he was just as good as he was offensively some of the things that he did he was always applying pressure by getting up in the ball he was always on balance he was hollowing out or beating players or spots he was really aggressive with his hands active hands allowed him to get his hands on a ton of balls whether it was a steal or deflection didn't matter he was just disrupting the offense at all times