Does aggressive ballscreen defense work in the NBA?

A deep dive into the ballscreen coverage from the Trailblazers and if aggressive ballscreen defense can still work in the modern NBA.

When Chauncey Billups took over the PortlandTrailblazers this season he made a change in their defensive philosophy to go away from the drop coverage with Nurkic and play a more aggressive style of ballscreen defense. NBA offenses in 2021 are designed around the ballscreen (unless you are the Golden State Warriors), so the primary focus of any elite NBA defense has to start with how they are going to defend the ballscreen attacks of the other team.  As NBA offenses have evolved to center around the 3 point shot, the aggressive defense has slowly decreased as the most popular way to defend as teams went to take away the 3 point shot and layups and forced the opponents into tough 2 point jump shots.

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In this breakdown, we are going to look at how the two types of aggressive ballscreen defense works, the pros and cons of them, and whether or not aggressive ballscreen defense has a place in the NBA. Shoutout to Kevin Oconnor who created a great YouTube video talking all about the Blazers and their struggles - check that link out below:

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Full Video Breakdown:

What are the 2 main types of aggressive ballscreen defense?