First understand the concept of shading:

Key Concept: If you aren’t doing something, do something.

Don’t just stand there waiting for things to happen to you. This is a concept in most all sports and video games. In basketball, it’s called moving without the ball, and you might have heard that’s what makes Stephen Curry so hard to guard.

1. By detaching and “cheating” to the kitchen (walking up early to mid court) as the off-ball player, you save yourself less running and can walk up and get to the kitchen where the ball will land without having to run in.
   • When you run in, and stop, there is momentum in your body that you have to wait for to stop to. If you are already close, there is a lot less momentum because you just need to walk up, thus you are a lot more ready for a hands battle if they do decide to speed it up or attack a high drop.
2. Because you already up close to the kitchen, your opponent can’t really reach in far to roll it or let the ball bounce and speed up with paddle facing up because that’s an easy counter for you.
   • It would be like if you are at the kitchen and they step back to speed up or roll it up upwards to you, you would be able to kill it. Even if the drop a little high over the net and your opponent can hit it flat forward if they really reach in, it’s still not good for them because you can counter it back and catch them leaning in.
   • Only if it’s high enough that they can hit it hard downwards at you will you be at a disadvantage. So that means you just gave your partner who is dropping, a ton more margin for error. They no longer have to hit the perfect drop an inch above the net in order to come in. Any decent drop allows them to come in.
   • And if it’s a little high you can just step back a few steps and reset. Trust in your hands for reset and hand speed at the kitchen.
     • Quick Q&A:
       • Q: “What about rec play? where you don’t know if your partner will drop good or not?”
       • A: That’s a bad argument because you are giving your partner even less margin of error and less confidence by staying back waiting for the perfect drop. Now they have to hit the perfect low drop in order for you both to get in. And you wonder why they hit into the net? Because if they do one slightly high, it’ll get rolled back at them by the opponent.
         • Also if you are playing at rec, playing with people not as good, that’s when it’s perfect time to practice your mid court resets if your partner pops the ball up too high on their drop.
       • Q: “When I play they never hit it to me, only to my partner”.
       • A: Then why would you stay back, if you stay back they’ll keep hitting it to your partner who can’t drop it in. Stay forward so they hit it at you and you can reset it to the kitchen. If they aren’t hitting to your area, use your “forcefield” to cut off more angles and make it harder for them to hit it to your partner. It makes it a lot easier for your partner to come in.
         • If you are the better player, you would want the opponent to hit the ball at you right? Then stay up so they attack you and you can reset it. Or if they don’t attack you, because you are upfront, you can cover more angles and poach it.
3. Game theory: if the ball is too high, you are losing position anyway and would’ve likely lost either way whether you “cheated” and was up at the kitchen. But by “cheating”, you turn all the conditions where ball is a little high that they can still flick upwards into favorable conditions with advantage towards you. Instead of still being at severe disadvantage for those situations.
   • By “NOT cheating” you are basically ruining the chance on points where you should have a high chance of winning in order to increase your chance by a tiny bit on points that you have basically lost. And you are doing this on third shots where you are already at a disadvantage and want to take more risk (same logic behind bigger serves).
   • And if it’s just a little high over the net, there are only so many angles they can hit hard to because they have to reach in. They basically can only hit the ball fast straight forward (+ or – a few degrees). Every other angle, there is not enough force. So you would be right there at the kitchen, cutting off even more angles.
   • And if it’s way too high, people still prefer to hit it at the open space instead of to you because you at mid court. Because even if they hit slightly downward to you, you can still have a chance to get a paddle on it via prediction and deflect right into them. So you being at the mid court cuts off so much space and so many angles that it makes it easy for your partner to be able to reach the smashed ball and reset it back. VS you both at the back and have to cover all the angles
     • See transition zone movement
4. IF you hit a decent drop and your opponent is hitting up on the ball (flick, roll) from the kitchen. And your partner is not right there at the kitchen putting pressure. You should be pissed at your partner. That’s your partner’s fault. They just fucked up and ruined a perfect drop.
   • And vice versa. IF your partner hits a decent drop and your opponent is hitting up. BUT you are not at the kitchen yet. That’s your fault!
5. Remember: It doesn’t matter how good a drop is if you never move in. If you never move in, it turns a good drop into a bad drop. You will be hitting drops forever if you just stay back.

This is why pros basically detach and “cheat” almost 100% of the time

Great game where Parenteau does high arc top spin drop, Jack Sock cheats forward and then running shuffles for a poach winner. He does it over and over again. And Ben can’t roll the third shot low enough to prevent him from doing it:

Straddling the Kitchen Line

• If your partner does a good third shot, get to the kitchen and Straddle the kitchen line in front of the ball with your foot spread greater than shoulder width apart.
  • (Really even if your partner hits a bad drop, you should do sread foot wide to maximize reset coverage because it helps you get low).
  • This is to cut off as many angles as possible so your partner only needs to cover the wide dink after dropping in. If your partner has to cover middle, and far side line, it makes it a lot harder for him to come up.
    • So it’s very much worth the risk to leave a gap open to your line, rather than leaving the middle gap open.
      • If you leave middle gap open, they can just speed it across for easy winner. ESP if your partner drops to the person directly in front of him instead of the middle or person in front of you.
        • If your partner drops crosscourt to the line in front of you, cover the line and also as much of middle as possible.
          • Of course it’s best if partner drops middle BUT sometimes other team is just really good at hitting forehand in the middle so it’s better for him to drop crosscourt and have you cover line and a smaller middle.
          • If your partner drops middle, you can risk it and cover a lot more middle. Because if they hit out to the gap you made between you and your line, they can only dink wide. Anything else will likely go out. So how far should you gamble covering middle? Basically if it’s 50/50 odds or greater that if they hit it wide, it goes out, you should do it. You should keep shifting middle until it becomes less than 50/50 odds for you.
          • Why 50/50? If you partner is back dropping, that means your team is at a disadvantage (lower than 50/50 state) so any thing that will get you to 50/50 is increasing your chance of winning and is worth it in the long run.
• This applies for when your partner is doing a 2nd shot return and you are at the kitchen. Although you will gamble less across the kitchen line because you are typically at an advantage. UNLESS: your partner’s return was short. Now essentially the situation is reversed and your partner has to do the “3rd shot drop” on the 4th shot. So then you would immediately do the kitchen straddle just like in a 3rd shot situation. This will help them come up to the net.

Off-Ball Movement – When Your Partner is Hitting the 2nd Shot Return

• You see pros do this thing they stand to the side or even off the court when their partner is returning. Even when they aren’t switching.
  • Advantages:
    • It gives their partner more depth vision to see the baseline of the crosscourt.
      • Like playing with one eye covered vs both open.
    • If you want to return to the server (let’s say server is a strong poacher but not good at third shot drops, you can keep the back by returning deep to them). Easier for your partner to aim at the server’s baseline if they want to keep the server back by making the server hit the 3rd.
    • Creates an illusion of an opening. Makes it harder for opponent to judge how big the opening is compared to if you just start already straddling the middle at the start.
      • If you ever see magic tricks, you know the human brain is really bad at keeping track of where everything and everyone is. By being on the move rather than standing still, that’s one more thing the opponent has to keep track of.
        • Selling the fake jab step to the middle
          • It also helps you sell it better because you are walking/running in towards the middle. So the opponent’s brain would continue the path. But because you started at the sidelines, it just looks like you took many steps and would continue to do so.
          • So you can double back, cover line and they attack you at the kitchen when they should be driving to returner coming to the kitchen. Esp on a shorter return.
  • Disadvantages:
    • The trade off to this is that of course you have to move your feet slightly more instead of resting.