The 2 foul auto-bench
I have frequently seen criticism of the 2 foul auto-bench strategy
recently. I’m not a complete believer in the auto-bench in 100% of
circumstances, but I certainly understand why a coach would do it. It feels to
me like the argument against the 2 foul auto-bench has become like the argument
for fouling when up 3 at the end of the game, in that people argue that it is clearly
they best strategy when it’s not clear that it is. They also seem to ignore all
the good reasons to bench the guy, and assume nothing bad will happen. They seem
to think the player will get their normal minutes and be their normal
productive selves with the 2 fouls, and even if they get a 3rd, they
are still unlikely to foul out. If this were true, it would be a no brainer to
leave the player in with 2 fouls, but here are some considerations as to why
this is not always the case.
1) If a player has 2 fouls, they can’t really play
defense well, because they have to protect themselves. Most often the auto-bench
criticism comes when a good offensive player is sat down because the team needs
his scoring. This ignores the fact that the gains in offense by keeping him on
the court are offset by worse defense because they can’t play the defensive
scheme correctly in order to not risk the 3rd foul. This is compounded
in the team defense because the other players on the court can’t count on the 2
foul player to do what the system dictates they should do, and can put every
other defender on the court in bad positions.
2)
Auto-benching is a tool to teach the player and
the team not to foul. Coaches don’t coach to win 4 minute segments, they coach
to win games and championships. If you have a defensive system that is based on
not fouling, you can’t tolerate players racking up 2 fouls each half. Fouling puts
other team in the bonus and makes your other fouls hurt more. Many teams
defensive scheme is based on minimizing fouls at the expense of ball pressure,
creating turnovers, etc. If this is your philosophy, then you can’t tolerate
players fouling 2 times in a half. A great coach once said, “Coaching is more
about what you accept than what you say”.
3)
Sometimes a player committing fouls too frequently
just isn’t playing all that well. If they’re not moving their feet in the first
10 minutes, why would a coach think that is going to change in the next 10. If
a player is shooting poorly, is 0-5, and coach sits him to think for a bit, you
don’t hear the same criticism as a coach benching with 2 fouls because a player
is playing defense with his hands instead of his feet.
Here are some other short considerations that play heavy
into the decision to bench the 2 foul player:
1)
Can you protect him? Can you stick him in the
corner in a zone, or put him on a non-offensive threat in man to man?
2)
Does your team play pressure on the ball? If so,
can you do so with this player on the court?
3)
Who are you coaching against? Are they a coach
that will recognize the matchup and can use iso on the wing or on the block
against them, or put the player in a pick and roll defense?
4)
Is it a player that commits a lot of fouls, or
someone that is not a fouler?
5)
Are you playing a team that draws a lot of fouls?
6)
Are you up or down a significant number of
points, and who is your opponent? Are they way better than you or way worse? Do
you need the player on the floor to compete?
7)
Who are the refs, and are they calling tons of
ticky tack fouls, or are the letting everyone play?
8)
Players that just got called for a foul are often
frustrated. Frustrated players seem to be more likely to commit another foul. (just
seems that way to me anyway)
I’m not an auto-bench lover myself, but I would like to hear
some of these considerations talked about when the auto-bench comes up. Seems
like the issue is over simplified. Too many assume that the low risk of a 3rd
foul is the only possible problem when leaving them on the court, when in fact there
are many other factors to consider.
I think the best reason to do it during the regular season is to teach players not to foul.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise I think a decision process should be used. Is this player foul prone, is there a difficult matchup making fouling more likely, are these officials calling questionable fouls, how badly do we need them out their now (are we falling behind by a large margin...). Also I would vary it (especially late in the season) depending on how likely we are to need to push every advantage. If we are likely in trouble take more risks, leave the player with fouls more exposed. If we should win even with them missing extra time, ok be more willing to pull them.
In general, I think coaches pull players much too often due to foul trouble. Unless the player is foul prone it seems they often pull the player with 2 fouls in the first half and they never even pick up a 3rd foul in the second half. That just makes it seem like a bad in game tactic. The one exception is for a season long strategy of teaching the players not to foul.
One way pulling a player earlier for 2 fouls in the first half or 3 or 4 in the second is to spread out the time of the reserve. If there are 12 minutes left in the first half and there is really 1 reserve that needs to take the time this player is out, pull them now, let the reserve get 4 minutes in and bring the player with 2 fouls back (maybe for 2 or 3 minutes). Especially if the reserve almost always plays in short 3 or 4 minute spurts don't create a situation where they need to play 12 straight minutes or something (protect, not just them getting tired but the other team figuring out how to exploit them).