How to Exploit Your Opponent's
Weaknesses to Your Advantage

This article falls under the category of "playing smart".

Exploiting mismatches and player weakness to your advantage can go a long way to helping you improve your level of play.

Many players and coaches focus almost exclusively on "playing hard" (level of effort, making the 2nd effort, hustle, follow-through, etc.). But the mental part of the game is incredibly important too.

As a private coach, I focus on both parts of the game: the physical and the mental aspects of becoming a great player. Working on both parts of the game gives you the edge over your opponent, and is really the best (if not only) way to truly become a great player.

A lot of people shy away from using the NBA as a case study for player improvement. After all, the NBA isn't exactly the best place to see fundamentally sound box outs, defense, and the like. But I do believe there is a lot to be learned from watching the best players in the world play the game. And this article is a case in point.

One thing that NBA teams and players do very well is to exploit mismatches and player weaknesses. This article will explain what that means, but more importantly, how you can use this concept to your advantage, and to make you a much, much better player.

If you happen to watch NBA basketball, and really pay attention to what's going on in the game, you might notice how NBA players constantly look for mismatches to use to their advantage. A good example of this would be an inside player that's guarded by a much shorter and weaker defender, or a quick guard being played by a much slower player that has trouble guarding a player on the perimeter.

In these cases, you'll notice that NBA teams not only quickly realize the mismatch situation, but they then hammer on it as often as they can. You'll see them go to the mismatch over, and over, and over again until the other team makes an adjustment.

This is where the mental part of the game comes into play. You, as a player, have to realize when you or a teammate have a mismatch (when a player is just not able to guard another player), or when you are being played by someone with a major weakness in his game. You then have to keep hammering away at this mismatch and weakness take advantage of it until the other team makes a change.

You also have to have the ability to spot weaknesses in your opponent, and take advantage of those as well. This is where the mental aspect of the game comes into play. To become a better player, work on having the ability to spot weaknesses in your opponent. Work on being able to quickly spot what your opponent does well, and what he doesn't do well.
For example, is the guy guarding you a bad on-ball defender? If so, don't settle for a long jump shot. Take it to him on the dribble and exploit his inability to guard you.
Is the guy guarding you always looking to block shots? This is a weakness. Pump fake him, get him off his feet, and drive him to the basket. Or pump fake, get him off of his feet, and get him to foul you.
Is the guy guarding you so slow and such a bad defender that he backs way off of you when you have the ball on the wing because he's scared you'll drive past him? If he backs way off, knock down the jumper. Make him pay for being a bad defender and giving you room to shoot.
These are just a few examples. But you get the idea. The point is, if you really want to become a great player, you not only have to focus on each play, and executing well, but you have to have the ability to step back a little bit and see the big picture. You have to have the ability to say to yourself: OK, I've driven past this guy 3 times so far, he obviously has trouble sliding to his left, so I'll use this to my advantage. Or, this guy is a few inches shorter than me, and can't really jump, so if he backs off me just a little, I've got room for the jump shot.

You see, one bad habit a lot of players get into is trying to do things they do well, without regard for the strengths or weaknesses of the opposition. It's the thought process of: this is what I do well, and I'm going to use these moves no matter what the defense does. Well, that doesn't always work.

For example, if I'm great driving to my right, but the defender is a great on-ball defender, I might have a problem. That move, even though it's my best and favorite move, might not work if that plays right into my opponent's strength.

That's why you have to be a multi-skilled player. If the D is great at guarding your drive to the right, adjust and go to your left. Or fake to the right and pull up for the jumper. If you want to be a great player, you can't get into a situation where you have one or two moves you do well, and only use only those moves. What happens if they D is good at stopping your two moves? Then you'll probably have a pretty bad game.

Spotting weaknesses in teams and players is one reason people watch game film, and scout opponents. So use these to your advatange as well. If you've already played a team and there is a tape of the game, watch is over and over again. Study the opposition, learn what they do well, and what they don't do well. And once you spot a weakness, tuck it away in your brain, and use it the next time you play against that team and player.

This is what NBA players do. This is what big-time players do. And if you start to do this, your game will improve dramatically.

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