Defensive miscommunications had JJ Redick questioning his own instructions after one preseason game as Lakers coach.
“We maybe executed it less than 10 percent of the time,” he said after Los Angeles struggled with its switching against Minnesota in October 2024. The Lakers had practiced the coverage. Redick had reinforced it before tipoff. Yet his players kept missing the exchange.
“Am I not making this clear?” he asked, according to the Associated Press’s account of that opening week.
Two years later, his Lakers offer a more encouraging October picture. Against Sacramento this preseason, Ziaire Williams crowded Darius Acuff Jr. while teammates switched some actions and chased through others. The Kings ran out of shot clock, as Raj Chipalu detailed in his October 8 film breakdown for Silver Screen and Roll.
Nobody had to abandon a shooter to rescue a teammate. Each defender handled his part.
That possession captures the appeal of switching. Five players absorb the action without giving the offense an opening. The trouble starts when two defenders see the same screen and make different decisions.
By the time they point at each other, somebody has already reached the rim.
The Rules Of Engagement
“Switch” sounds like a complete instruction. Try executing it against an approaching screener, a retreating dribbler, and a cutter disappearing behind your shoulder.
Does the exchange happen when the screener approaches or only when he makes contact? Should the guard follow a slipping big man? What changes when the center enters the action?
Players need those answers before the possession starts.
A perimeter exchange might ask two similarly sized defenders to trade opponents. Switching a center onto a guard creates another problem: a smaller teammate must handle the big rolling toward the basket. The other three defenders need to know whether to help and where that help should come from.
The Lakers’ opening sequence against Sacramento showed why those distinctions matter. Williams supplied the pressure, but his teammates still had to recognize which actions required an exchange.
Defensive miscommunications often start with an exception. Someone remembers the general rule, encounters a screen his team handles differently, and pauses. The offense doesn’t.
When The Screen Never Comes
Bam Adebayo makes the problem easy to understand. His skill set presents several threats before he even touches a defender.
An approaching Adebayo can set a screen, take a handoff, or cut toward the basket without making contact. That last option attacks the moment when defenders expect to trade assignments.
Say his defender steps toward the ball while the guard keeps chasing. Both now follow the dribbler. Adebayo cuts behind them, and a teammate near the baseline must decide whether to leave a shooter and stop him.
The defense has turned a routine action into an emergency.
That explains why defensive miscommunications can produce an open corner three far from the original screen. The last defender arrives waving an arm, but the opening began with two teammates chasing the same player.
A missed shot might spare them on the scoreboard. It won’t make the film any prettier.
Make Them Decide Twice
A re-screen gives the offense another chance to find that hesitation.
The screener turns around and changes the angle. Now the defender who expected to release the ball must decide whether to switch again or fight through.
A ball handler like Luka Dončić makes waiting dangerous. Give him time to turn the corner, and the nearest helper must choose between stopping his drive and staying attached to a shooter.
The useful question comes before the finish: did both defenders make the same decision?
A tough jumper can beat a well-executed switch. An uncontested miss can hide a blown one. Coaches need to recognize both.
Help Has To Go Both Ways
Amen Thompson described the comfort of knowing a teammate waits behind him after Houston’s October 15 preseason win over Oklahoma City.
“If he blows by you, we can get to the peel switch,” Thompson told the Houston Chronicle’s Varun Shankar in his report from the Rockets’ preseason finale.
The maneuver repairs a beaten defender’s mistake. A helper takes the driver, while the original defender leaves the ball and picks up the helper’s man.
That second movement makes the rescue work.
Suppose Thompson pressures a guard who gets past his hip. Once a teammate steps across to stop the drive, Thompson must recognize the takeover and find the newly uncovered assignment.
Keep chasing, and Houston sends two defenders after the ball while somebody else stands alone.
Defensive miscommunications don’t always begin with silence. Sometimes a player sees the help arrive and still cannot bring himself to leave. He wants to recover, contest, and finish the job he started.
His teammate needs him somewhere else.
That takes trust. The defender who gets beaten must believe the helper can handle the drive. Behind him, the helper must believe somebody will collect the assignment he just abandoned.
The Switch Isn’t The Finish
Bronny James supplied a useful example of the next problem during the Lakers’ preseason.
Chipalu’s breakdown highlighted James defending a post mismatch. Sandro Mamukelashvili came to double, Jake LaRavia rotated toward the post, and Adou Thiero covered the weak side before intercepting a pass.
Several teammates helped solve the size disadvantage. James couldn’t erase it alone.
A defense can also remove a smaller player before the entry pass arrives. During a scram switch, a larger teammate takes the post assignment and sends the guard back toward the perimeter.
The timing leaves little room for uncertainty. Move too late, and the big already has the ball. Leave without a teammate recognizing the exchange, and a shooter gets free.
These defensive miscommunications punish the whole lineup. A guard battles underneath the rim while a teammate wonders whether to intervene. Across the floor, another defender starts drifting toward the paint because he can see trouble coming.
Now the passing lanes open.
Even a contested shot doesn’t finish the work. Defenders must box out their current assignments. Looking for the player they guarded at the start can surrender inside position and waste everything they just survived.
The Veteran Beside The Rookie
Some of the education happens between possessions, away from the whiteboard.
Thiero said this preseason that Matisse Thybulle had helped him understand when to attack and when to hold his position. “Pick my spots when I want to be aggressive,” he told reporters after the October 6 game against Golden State, as Jackson Frank reported for Silver Screen and Roll.
That advice matters for a young defender with the speed to chase almost anything. Reaching the action doesn’t guarantee he belongs there.
One aggressive step can shut off a drive. The same step, taken without reading a teammate’s position, can expose the corner.
Veterans know how ugly those mistakes feel when the game matters. After New York’s Game 1 overtime playoff loss to Indiana, Josh Hart offered a blunt admission.
“I just fell asleep defensively. And Nembhard got a layup,” he said in his postgame remarks. Asked about Aaron Nesmith’s open threes, Hart added: “Some of them was just lack of communication.”
That admission gives October’s teaching points their sting. Players can spend a possession fighting through screens and crowding the ball, then surrender a layup because someone looks away. The teammate underneath the basket has to collect the ball and inbound it.
Thybulle’s advice belongs in that space between aggression and awareness. Chase everything, and you can leave someone uncovered. Recognize when to stay home, and your teammate can trust the help behind him.
What Has To Survive Opening Night
The revealing preseason footage begins before the breakdown.
Watch the screener approach. Does the defender behind him speak early enough for his teammate to react? Follow the cutter after the exchange. Has somebody actually taken him?
Then watch the same lineup handle the action again. Improvement should look familiar: an earlier call, a cleaner exchange, fewer players racing to repair the damage.
Defensive miscommunications deserve patience when unfamiliar teammates learn new rules. Repeated confusion demands a harder conversation. Coaches must decide whether the group needs more practice, clearer instructions, or fewer exceptions.
Personnel belongs in that discussion. Several mobile wings can exchange assignments that a lineup built around a paint-bound center should handle differently. Asking both groups to respond identically can create the hesitation a coach later condemns.
The cost reaches beyond the two players beside the screen. Their disagreement forces another teammate to abandon his man, absorb contact, or sprint toward an open shooter. After enough rescues, defenders start anticipating disaster instead of trusting the coverage.
October offers time to stop that cycle. A coach can replay the possession, explain the missed call, and let the same group try again.
Redick’s old question still holds up: “Am I not making this clear?”
Opening night will demand an answer before the screener arrives.
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FAQs
What causes defensive miscommunications in the NBA?
Defenders can read the same screen differently, miss a call, or misunderstand an exception. That confusion can leave two players guarding one opponent.
Why do NBA teams switch on defense?
Switching lets defenders exchange assignments around a screen. A clean exchange keeps someone in front of the ball without forcing another teammate to help.
What is a peel switch in basketball?
A helper takes over when a driver beats a defender. The beaten defender then picks up the helper’s original assignment.
What is a scram switch?
A larger defender takes over a smaller teammate’s post matchup before the entry pass arrives. The smaller defender moves back toward the perimeter.
What do preseason switching mistakes tell coaches?
They show whether teammates understand the same defensive rules. Repeated mistakes can signal a need for clearer instructions, more practice, or fewer exceptions.
