NADA: The Antifragile Defense

NADA: The Antifragile Defense is not a drill book or a specific system. NADA is flexible, a philosophy, a way to view defense in the modern game. The objective is not to memorize strict rules or create a black-and-white system, but to develop intuition and decision-making around a simple philosophy and rules of thumb. NADA aims to defend space and disrupt offenses, reducing big and small advantages to neutral or no advantage, while seeking defensive advantages. NADA develops players and a playing style that thrive in disorder: An antifragile defense. I conceived of NADA (No Advantage/Defensive Advantage) shortly after publishing SABA: The Antifragile Offense, but the details have evolved and progressed. Truthfully, these ideas have percolated in the recesses of my mind since I first coached AAU and read about Ralph Miller’s system at Oregon State, but everything coalesced while coaching multiple teams at different competitive levels with different personnel in over 120 games in one season. Offensive basketball evolved over the last decade, with teams at every level embracing advantages and .5-second offenses, but defensive concepts, drills, and instructions remain stuck in the 20th Century. Coaches have popularized specific presses, ideas (no middle), and systems (pack-line), but the general concepts and skills have changed little. All defenses use the same basic skills — everyone moves laterally, closes out, denies passes, plays help defense, and more — but NADA updates these basics to combat modern offenses. NADA is more of a philosophy than a system, flexible ideas to implement with a coach’s own personnel. NADA moves beyond rigid rules and predictability to focus on minimizing advantages. The book outlines the basic philosophy, the rules of thumb to teach the defensive philosophy, and different ways to employ the philosophy in various game states, and includes links to over 40 videos demonstrating the ideas and skills. NADA: The Antifragile Defense is my 27th book for basketball coaches, and the first to focus specifically on defense. Much as SABA presented a new way to view offensive basketball, NADA presents a new defensive approach to combat 21st Century offenses.