What is a 2-1-2 Press?
A 2-1-2 Press has two players up putting pressure on the ball. There is a single middle defender who will roam in the middle of the press and decide where and when to go trap the ball. The final two players are back. The 2-1-2 press is normally a 3/4 court press. This puts the front two defenders between the 3-point line and half-court, the middle defender right at half-court and the two back players around the 3-point line.
The 2-1-2 press is a more passive press. The trapping is going to come only from the middle defender. If the middle defender does not see a good spot to trap, then they will not trap. However, if the middle defender does leave the middle to trap, then the other 3 defenders rotate towards the ball to try and get a steal. A trap might only occur in half the possessions in a 2-1-2 trap because it can be difficult to get a trap in this press.
What is a 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press?
A 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press is a very aggressive trapping press. It is a press that attempts to create as much chaos as possible leading to offensive turnovers. The 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press has a defender guarding the inbounds pass. Two players are on the elbow looking to trap the entry pass with the inbounds defender. One player is at half-court and one player is all the way back.
The point defender is guarding the ball out-of-bounds. They are trying to get a deflection on the entry pass. If the offense is able to make an inbounds pass, then the point defender and the ballside elbow player are trapping. The backside elbow player is rotating to the middle. And the middle defender is rotating to the ballside sideline. The back defender is looking to steal any long cross-court pass.
The 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press is aggressive and tries to put the offense in spots for them to make mistakes against the press. The 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press does not read and react to the offense. It tries to dictate to the offense what they can and can not do. The press is going to trap as soon as the ball in passed into the floor and continues to trap until the ball crosses half-court.
Best Team Personnel for a 2-1-2 Press
The key to running a good 2-1-2 Press is the middle defender. This player must have a high basketball IQ, anticipate well, and be fast. All three of these skills are necessary from the middle defender in order for the 2-1-2 Press to work. No other press relies on a single defender as much as the 2-1-2 press relies on the middle defender.
The middle defender must have a high basketball IQ. They need to understand and know where every player is on the court and why they are there. They have to know where the offense is trying to take the ball and the passes coming out of those areas.
A bad rush by the middle defender leaves the defense down 2 players. If the offense sees the trap before it gets there, then the offense has easy passes out of the trap and the offense is able to attack the back two players with numbers.
The middle defender must know exactly when and how to rush the ball to get the trap. Not many players have a high enough basketball IQ to understand and read what everybody is doing and to know the exact moment to rush.
The middle defender must be able to anticipate well. The ability for them to get an extra step or two before anybody else can be the difference between a trap and almost a trap. By reading the game well, the middle defender can anticipate and start to move where the trap is going to be rather than where the ball currently is at. Those 1 or 2 steps can make all the difference for the defense.
Finally, the middle defender must be fast enough to get to the trap when they decide to rush. A slow defender will not cover the distance quick enough to catch the offense unaware. The middle defender must be at the trap faster than the offense is able to see them coming. Basketball is a fast-paced game so having the speed to be at the trap the moment before the ball handler sees it coming is an absolute must.
The middle defender is the key to the 2-1-2 press. They have to be a special kind of player. And simple put, there are not too many high school basketball players that possess all the necessary traits to make this press work. The handful of players that are able to execute in the middle defender’s spot are going to be the best players on the court more often than not.
Best Team Personnel for a 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press
The success of a 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press comes down to mainly two defenders. The first is the point defender who is guarding the in-bounds pass. The second is the middle defender who starts at half-court. These two defenders are a big reason why the 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press is either succeeds or fails.
The point defender in a 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press is the initial defender guarding the in-bounds pass. They are wanting to create pressure even before the offense gets the ball into the court. They are also half of the first trap that traps as soon as the ball is passed in. The more active this point defender is, the more likely the defense is going to get a steal.
The point defender can also benefit from being a long defender. The taller this point defender is, the harder the in-bounds pass will be and the better the first trap is going to be. The ideal player for the point defender is a quick, stretch big(4). A player who has the size of a post player with the speed and quickness of a guard.
The 2nd most important player in the 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press is the middle defender. This player should get most of the steals on bad passes out of traps. They need to be able to move sideline to sideline. They also need to be a very smart player who can anticipate what the offense is going to do. The ability of the middle defender to be in the right spot at the right moment can make the 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press a turnover machine.
The middle defender is supposed to stop any passes going up the sideline after the initial in-bounds pass. That means they have to be able to get to the sideline fast enough to stop that 2nd sideline pass. However, a smart defender who can read the offense can time the sideline pass and get steals by arriving just in time for the pass to be stolen.
Aside from the sideline pass, the middle pass also defeats the press. An exceptional middle defender will be able to anticipate and guard both the sideline pass and the middle pass until one of the front defenders is able to drop back into the middle. This kind of reading, reacting and anticipating is hard to find in a player. The defenders who can do all three make the 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press extremely hard to play against.
When to Use the 2-1-2 Press?
The first thing to have when running the 2-1-2 Press is the middle defender as I stated earlier. After that the 2-1-2 Press can be used at any point in time during a game.
The 2-1-2 press is a more passive press in that it should be used to control tempo rather than trying to get steals and turnovers. It is going to make the offense slow down to break the press. It is going to take the transition game away from the offense. This will turn the game into a half-court game rather than a full-court game.
The middle defender can trap when the time is right but they do not have to ever trap the ball. They can stay in the middle and the defense can do a slow retreat out of the press. The 2-1-2 press can be shown and slowly retreated to make the offense stop their transition and get into a press offense.
Then the defense can retreat back to a half-court defense and force the offense into a half-court game. This is when the 2-1-2 press is being used to its fullest advantage. And with this strategy the middle defender can be anybody because they are not leaving to trap the ball.
When to Use the 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press?
The 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press is best used in two situations. First, it is a great press to use to change the tempo of the game from a slower pace to a faster pace. Tempo can have a huge effect on the game. The ability to change the tempo can be a major reason for why a team is able to win a game. If the tempo of the game is too slow, then the 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press is a great way to increase the tempo of the game.
The second great use of the 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press is to create more traps and hopefully more turnovers. The 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press can be used when behind an opponent to try and make a comeback. The aggressiveness of the press can cause the opponent to get trapped and throw bad passes. Bad passes can be stolen and steals can be converted into easy points. This is a great press to use to make a comeback late in a game.
Advantages of the 2-1-2 Press Over the 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press
1) Less Likely to Give Up Easy Layups
The 2-1-2 Press is designed more to give the appearance of a press rather than actively trying to press and trap. It is wanting the offense to have to slow down thus preventing any easy transition baskets. Easy Layups occur when the offense is able to transition quickly. The 2-1-2 Press helps to prevent the quick transition needed to get an easy layup.
The 2-1-2 Press is still able to give up easy layups if the middle defender gets too aggressive trying to trap. The middle defender must trap effectively. The middle defender trying to trap too much or trap in bad spots will open up the floor and give the offense the space it needs to attack the back two defenders for an easy layup.
The other additional benefit of the 2-1-2 Press is having two players on the back line. Even if the front 3 defenders are beat, the offense still must get past two more defenders for a layup. This dual rim protection makes it hard for offenses to ever get a clear route to the basket. The passiveness of the press along with having multiple defenders make it difficult to get easy layups.
The 1-2-1-1 Press on the other hand is very aggressive and plays 4 defenders up the floor in an attacking mode. Any time the 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press is unable to get a good trap, the offense has a good chance to get an easy layup on the back end. This is the risk-reward of the 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press. When it works, the defense can get steals and easy baskets. When it does not work, the offense has a chance for easy layups by effectively passing through the trapping defense.
2) Can Trap from Different Angles
One of the biggest advantages the 2-1-2 Press has over other presses is the ability of the middle defender to roam and trap when and where they want. This freedom gives the 2-1-2 Press the ability to trap in ways that are against the norm. The middle defender can trap anywhere on the court and at any time.
This lack of structure can be a major advantage to the 2-1-2 Press because the offense can not prepare for all the trapping circumstances. The middle defender can trap over the top on one possession and then trap coming from around the back on the next possession. The different angles the middle defender can trap from can confuse the offense and keep them unaware of how to beat the press.
The 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press traps the initial in-bounds as a standard setup. The defense knows this. The offense knows this as well. The well-known structure of the 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press has offenses prepared for what is going to happen during the press and traps. The offense can setup in ways to prevent the traps from occurring or at the least minimize the ability of the traps to get turnovers.
The 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press is not looking to confuse the offense as much as overwhelm them with pressure. The 2-1-2 Press is subtle in its execution and trapping whereas the 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press is all about maximum pressure.
3) Easier Transition to Half-Court Zone Defense
This has more to do with the overwhelming weakness of the 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press than a strength of the 2-1-2 Press. One of the major problems of the 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press is the transition from the full court press back to a half court defense. The 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press does not have a good half-court defensive setup. Usually, the middle defender in the press is the point guard who would be out front in a half-court defense.
This leaves the 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press in a predicament of when to transition. A late transition will give the offense more chances to attack the defense and get an open shot or layup. An early transition will prevent easy shots but will lose more chances to trap in the press.
Once a decision on when to transition is made, then what half-court defense will be used. Can the players go from a zone press to man defense? If not, then what half court zone defense will be used? How does the point defender, usually the big(4), and the middle defender, usually the point(1), rotate from their positions in the press to their positions in the zone? All of these questions make the 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press a bad press to half-court defense.
The 2-1-2 Press can transition much easier depending on who is the middle defender. The position of the middle defender in the half-court zone will help to decide which zone defense to use. A 2-3 Zone can have one of the front 3 slide down to the block to transition. A 3-2 Zone or 1-2-2 Zone can slide the middle defender up to convert the press to a zone. These three zones are defenses that are better half-court defenses to use when the 2-1-2 Press is being ran.
Advantages of the 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press Over the 2-1-2 Press
1) More Trapping = More Steals
The 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press is an aggressive press that is actively trying to get as many traps as possible. The more traps the defense is able to put the offense into, the more times the offense has to make bad passes leading to more steals. The 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press is wanting to the offense to react to the defense. When the offense is reacting to the defense, they will be more unsure of their movement and passes.
The 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press wants to dictate the game to the offense. This puts the defense into a more advantageous position. The more aggressive the defense can be in getting traps will lead to more steals. More steals mean easy layups for the defense. Easy layups will help the defense build a scoring lead making the offense play even more defensively which leads to even more steals.
The 2-1-2 Press is only going to get steals at the most opportune times. If the offense is good, then they can stay out of the danger areas of the 2-1-2 Press. Without the offense putting the ball into trapping areas, the defense should never extend into bad traps. While this does not give the offense an advantage, it also can prevent the defense from gaining an advantage as well.
2) Does Not Rely on One Player for Success
The 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press is a total team press. The 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press must have all defenders working together to work. A single player being out of position will cause the defense to breakdown and give the offense the ability to break the press easily. All defenders in a 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press must move and work together to be an effective press.
The 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press does not have to have any certain players for the press to work. Players can be tall or short, fast or slow. The defense can have multiple type of players and still create an effective press.
The 2-1-2 Press relies on the middle defender to make it work. The middle defender has complete freedom to move and trap as they please. The effectiveness of the press is completely dependent on the middle defender knowing when and where to be before the offense gets there. Most players and therefore most teams do not have a defender capable of this so the 2-1-2 Press will not work.
3) Better Tempo Influence
One of the keys to winning games at the high school level and under is the ability to control the pace of the game. Most teams can only play one type of tempo. When they get outside of that tempo, the quality of play goes down greatly.
The 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press will speed the tempo of the game up. An opponent has no choice but to play faster. If an offense tries to play slow against a 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press, then they are making themselves more susceptible to traps. The 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press will create an up tempo game. This will put the defense into a good position to win by forcing slower tempo teams to play at a faster pace.
The 2-1-2 Press does very little to dictate tempo. The offense will control the tempo by how fast they chose to attack the press. An offense can quickly attack the 2-1-2 Press and keep the tempo faster even if the 2-1-2 Press is trying to slow the game down. The 2-1-2 Press will play at the tempo the offense choses for the game to be played.
Which is Better? The 2-1-2 Press or the 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press
The 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press is the better press. It is more player friendly. It gives the defense more chances to create advantages for itself. While the 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press may not be the best press at certain points in games, it is more widely usable versus the 2-1-2 Press.
The 2-1-2 Press is so dependent on the middle defender being the smartest and best player on the court that most teams can not use it. This lack of availability brings the 2-1-2 Press significantly down as a quality press.
The biggest difference is how many teams can run each press. The 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press can be used by almost every team. The 2-1-2 Press can be used effectively by only a few teams. Most teams are going to waste their time practicing the 2-1-2 Press. Whereas the 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press can be widely used in most game situations.
