I’ve been reading in the forums that the most important thing some people learn is how to set there defense. So, how do you set your defense and what does that mean? Really, I’m just asking for, if I have a really important game coming up, what do you look at and what actions do you do before the game? Thanks!

A lot of this depends on your defense you play. If you're running M2M, look to see who your best defenders are and match them up against the opponents top scorers if the position change allows it. (Don't put your best defending PG on his PF that leads the team in scoring obviously). Picking your +/- setting each night is important. Look at the opposing teams 3pt attempts... whos taking those 3pt shots? How good is their percentage? If they shoot a ton of 3s as a team, maybe you want to run a + defensive setup up to guard the perimeter. If they only have one 3pt shooter on the roster, maybe choose to double team him instead of playing a + defense.

Many many options here. And alot is based on the defense you run with your team, and maximizing the strengths of what that defense is best at.

I don't think setting defense is the most important thing. Deciding on tempo has a MUCH bigger impact.

But even more important than those 2 things is roster construction.

I’d go 3-2, with -2 defensive setting as your default. Your personnel is begging for 3-2, IMO, and it’s generally a better defense against most teams anyway (the exception being humans who don’t shoot any 3 pt).

I’d move Hendrickson out of the starting lineup, have him as #2 at both C and PF, he should get around 15 mpg from there. I’d move Matheson in as your SF, Zawlsky up to PF, Russo up to C. Nunez should be backing up PG, SG, SF, and getting ~20 minutes per game to keep them more fresh. Thomas can be your emergency big, Zakes your emergency guard. Smith is bad, don’t play him unless absolutely necessary.

So 3-2, -2; fatigue set to fairly fresh, except as noted
C - Russo (fatigue set to getting tired), Hendrickson, Thomas, empty
PF - Zawlsky, Hendrickson, Thomas, empty
SF - Matheson, Nunez, Zakes, Smith
SG - Aaron (set to getting tired), Nunez, Zakes, Smith
PG - Tang, Nunez, Zakes, Smith

Now you have a good 7 man rotation, with 3 emergency guys available when needed. That’s a very solid zone rotation, IMO.

To answer your question specifically, what I look for in defensive gameplanning is where I expect my opponent to try to score points. If perimeter, I move my defense out to 3-2 at 0 or even +1 (rarely go beyond +1 with 3-2). If the paint, I move it in as far as -5 (and then I usually slowdown to avoid fatigue issues from foul trouble that seems to result the farther in you move).

I will sometimes double a guy if leading scorer, if it looks like hes’s leaning hard on a guy, or if, for example, a guy only has one 3 pt shooter, but that guy is also the leading scorer (go -4, double that guy). Zone gives you lots of options. In 3-2, you’re playing 3 guys on the perimeter, and they work together as a unit, so your not targeting or locking down a guy (unless you double).