Lockdown Newsletter: The Blueprint to Averaging More Steals
Averaging 4 steals a game has never been done in NBA history. But after breaking down over 437, we have the blueprint!
Welcome to the Lockdown Newsletter!
Thank you for being part of this community—coaches and players committed to mastering defensive technique and development.
New Video: How to Average 4 Steals a Game (The Steal Blueprint)
Averaging 4 steals a game has never been done in NBA history. In fact, only 10 players in league history have even averaged 3. That’s how rare this is.
But when I dug into the film, I realized something: steals aren’t random. They follow a rhythm. The way you get them in the first quarter looks completely different than the way you get them in the fourth.
So I went back and charted every steal from the three best steal-getters in college and the NBA last year—437 total steals. And a blueprint started to take shape:
Q1: Punish Routine. Offenses are scripted, passing lanes are open, and ball handlers are cold. Great defenders rack up their most steals here.
Q2: Ambush. Once teams adjust, steals come from deception—blindsides, stunt-and-recover, surprise outlets.
Q3: Chess Match. After halftime, it’s all about adjustments. Gap punches, digs, anticipation of plays you’ve already scouted.
Q4: Instinct & Risk. Late-game steals aren’t about gambling, they’re about timing and feel. The on-ball pounce, the blindside strip, the one play that flips momentum.
That’s the Steal Blueprint: get one steal a quarter and suddenly, what seems impossible starts to feel realistic.
And when you frame steals like offensive moves in a “bag”—on-ball swipes, gap punches, blindsides, digs—you start to see how the best defenders build their arsenal.
Today’s video we cover it all. The film, the categories, and the quarterly life cycle of steals that every elite thief lives by and the techniques behind them!
👉 Watch the full video on YouTube
Video Spotlight: Coaches Roundtable
In this conversation, we first set the right framework for defense. Before diving into techniques and drills, I wanted to zoom out and talk about why defense matters, especially in the context of a season. Every team faces nights where shots don’t fall — shooting variance is inevitable. The real question is: are those games automatic losses, or can your team still find a way to win?
That’s where defense comes in. It can turn those poor shooting nights into winnable slugfests instead of automatic L’s.
The second part of the framework is confidence. When an opponent hits a tough step-back or fadeaway over a defender, most players can shrug it off. In fact, they usually see it as a challenge — “Okay, give me the ball back, I’ll answer.”Scoring against them doesn’t shake their belief, it fires them up.
But when that same player gets stripped in the backcourt, blocked at the rim, or smothered on the wing so badly they can’t even see the floor — that’s different. Now, instead of asking for the ball back, they’re looking to give it up. Defense doesn’t just stop a play; it the quickest way to take an opponent’s confidence, and that changes the whole game.
With that framework established, the rest of the conversation focused on how to actually build defenders who can create that kind of impact and we also broke down the teaching drills & progressions along the way.
👉 Watch the full breakdown on Substack
From Social: This Week’s Defensive Highlights
The most popular breakdowns and ideas from Twitter/X this week:
Brad Stevens Approach to Stunts — three stunts on every catch. (link)
Use the Gap to Defend Actions — how jumping to the ball can help your off ball screen coverages. (link)
The Gap Strike — one of the most aggressive defensive techniques in the gap. (link)
The Stunt Steal — my favorite technique in the gap. (link)
Coach K’s Message to Duke’s Team — create moments, practice moments, and let your voice show in those moments. (link)
👉 Follow along on Twitter/X for daily defensive concepts and teaching points.
Featured Resource: The Lockdown Academy
Most gyms are stocked with finishing pads, shooting machines, and offensive skill trainers.
Very few offer step-by-step drills to build slides, closeouts, ball screen coverages, or reads.
Defense is a skill — but it rarely gets trained like one.
That’s why I built The Lockdown Academy. It’s the most complete defensive training system:
100+ hours of lessons & breakdowns
Workout progressions covering footwork, strength, balance, and reaction
Film sessions that teach players how to anticipate, rotate, and make plays
On-ball, closeouts, ball screens, off-ball, and post defense — all broken down step by step
Players inside the Academy have:
✅ Become their team’s best defender
✅ Earned varsity minutes
✅ Elevated their recruiting profiles — even up to D1