Verticality is taught as a rule when it should be a read

Young bigs are told to keep their hands straight up on every drive, which turns a decision into a reflex and gives away layups.

Hands up. Jump straight. Do not reach. It is the first thing a fourteen year old centre hears and it is repeated so often that by twenty two it happens automatically, on every drive, regardless of what the drive is.

Automatic is the problem. Verticality is one answer among several and it is the right answer in a narrow set of circumstances, roughly when the driver has a full head of steam, has beaten his man, and is arriving at an angle that gives you no chance to meet him early. In that case yes, take the space, go straight up, live with two points and no foul.

Change one variable and the answer changes. A driver who is off balance and gathering wide can be met at the shoulder before he leaves the floor. A guard who has picked up his dribble a step outside the paint does not need contesting at all, he needs the space taken away in front of him. A hesitating drive by a bad finisher wants a big who stays down entirely and takes the shot fake off the menu. Standing straight up against any of those is a gift and it happens hundreds of times a season, by a player doing exactly what he was taught.

The reason the rule is taught as a rule is that it is safe. It keeps a young big out of foul trouble and it keeps a coach from having to teach judgement, which takes far longer and produces worse results for the first year. I understand the trade and I still think it is made too broadly and held too long.

Teaching the read is not complicated, it is just live. Put a big in the paint and send drivers at him at four different angles and speeds, and require a different response to each. He will foul. Let him foul, in September.

The best rim protectors in the league are not the ones who jump straightest. They are the ones who arrive early enough that the shot never gets taken.

Nobody drills arriving early. They drill standing still, correctly.