At John Balin's University of Michigan, film sessions were painful.
Beilein, who coached the Michigan men's basketball team from 2007 to 2019, had a long tradition of criticizing players who did not accept charges. When there were instances where a charge could have been made but was not, the coaching staff first identified it on film. The players were then sent to a practice court with team staff holding pads to recreate the exact scenario.
That player has to step up and get run over.
“That was the result,” said Dallas Mavericks guard Tim Hardaway Jr., who played three seasons under Beilein.
It has never left him. Moritz Wagner of Orlando, who also spent three years at the University of Michigan, said that until he arrived in Ann Arbor, “he had no idea what sin was.” Under Beilein, Wagner not only learned that responsibility, but held on to it. He has 20 charges this season, the fourth-most in the NBA, behind Hardaway, who ranks third.
The charge is one of the most famous whistles in basketball. It is taught from a young age purely as a hustle play. Sacrifice your body for the team! That's what my middle school coach might have exclaimed. Beilein literally made his players prove it.
But in the NBA, charging has evolved into a defensive action that requires more than just a hustle. Players who do it well rely on precise body control, timing, and internalized film study no different than shooting or passing.
“It's definitely a skill,” Mavericks center Dwight Powell said. “It doesn't just happen.”
Hardaway no longer practices charging like he did at Michigan, but one teammate tried to argue otherwise. “While the guys are taking extra shots, Tim is going to practice charging,” guard Josh Green said. “He's getting young players to come at him at the layup line. He should get five charges.”
Hardaway laughed and said that was “a complete lie,” but like Wagner, Hardaway internalized Balin's harsh lessons and still stands by the technique. This season he pulled 21 whistles.
Other top charge takers began honing this skill at an even younger age. Oklahoma City Thunder guard Isaiah Joe, who has drawn 16 charges this season despite only playing 18 minutes per game, participated in charge-draw drills with his high school team. I remember when I did that.
“This is something you probably wouldn’t pick up if you hadn’t been doing it most of your life,” Joe said. “Even if I go to the game (and not try to win the game), I'm still going to take the charge. It's second nature at this point.”
Golden State Warriors rookie guard Brandin Podzemski is the league's current charging leader with 34 tied games this season. His success comes from his realism.
“I'm not going to jump with somebody at the rim and block them,” he said. “It’s also a form of rim protection.”
Wagner, who is 6-foot-10 but averaged less than one block every three games over his six-year career, came to the same conclusion.
“That comes from a lack of athleticism and trying to build an edge on defense,” Wagner said.
Golden State rookie Brandin Podzemski, seen absorbing a hit from Utah's Lauri Markkanen here, says receiving charges is “a form of rim protection in and of itself.” (Chris Nichol/USA Today)
According to Wagner, the first key to becoming a skilled charge taker is deciding when to actually make the charge. Despite his own admitted limitations in his athletic ability, Wagner does try more traditional shots when warranted.
“The real art of being attacked is warming up your opponent and picking and choosing the moments when you want to contest a layup,” he said.
Once that decision was made, all of the prolific chargers interviewed for this article said the real skill behind successful charge is prediction. For athletic dunkers, it's best to set up a few feet outside the charging circle in the paint. “Make sure you don't put yourself on the poster,” Hardaway said. For a guard on the move or an athlete with long limbs, it's important to know not only where you are, but where you'll be in the future.
“(I) try to look at it from their perspective,” Podzemski said. “What would I do if I were an offensive player?”
Podzemski does much of his offense in transition, finding space on the court and trying to beat opponents there. He “has to expect a side step,” Hardaway agreed. To do this, you need to identify and predict the tendencies of your opponents, especially your star players. Podzemski recently used one of Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo's ticks against him.
“(Giannis) likes to spin when he drives to the left,” Podzemski said. “I was in the corner and he was running to the left, so I ran there in case he spun right.”
It's not foolproof. In this instance, Podzemski was called for a blocking foul, but he displayed a different technique in that sequence that he believes has helped him draw many other charges this season. Traditionally, players are taught to cross their arms across their bodies. Instead, Podzemski will keep the raise.
“I make the initial contact, but when I actually fall, the contact seems more fluid,” he said. “Over time, I realized it made sense.”
Body control is also an important element of attack. Players use it to stop properly, anticipate contact, and absorb contact in ways such as: Appearance It's like a charge and the referee is more likely to side with them. Next, you need to fall without getting hurt.
Both Podzemski and Joe say charge-taking isn't harmful if done correctly. “Every now and then you can catch a good one,” Joe said. Podzemski recalled the accusation when Los Angeles Lakers star Anthony Davis elbowed him in the face, but explained it was an isolated incident.
Other influential leaders disagree. Hardaway still remembers the pain of being charged three times against the Lakers in December after missing the previous game with back spasms. “(His lower back) didn't help me at all,” Hardaway said after the game. “But I have to put my body on the line for the team.”
“You know it's going to hurt,” Powell added. “I see it coming, and I just have to stand there and find out what’s going to happen.”
Knicks guard Josh Hart claims it hurt his ego. “I'm not going to press charges because I don't want my offensive players to feel like they're stronger than me,” Hart said. When told that his best friend and college teammate, Jalen Brunson, had 28 ties this season, the second-most in the league, Hart said: something. “
Green, who was a teammate of Brunson in Dallas, said in a separate interview. “There's a difference between getting charged and failing,” he said. Brunson does most of his duties as an on-ball defender, rather than providing off-ball assists. They aren't easy, but the same expectations are needed, Wagner said. It also helps that league rules state that the charging circle (the dotted line near the basket where defenders cannot legally charge) does not apply to primary defenders.
“The main defenders (Charge), it's easy to miss them,” Wagner said.
Orlando's Moritz Wagner, who played against Brooklyn's Mikal Bridges here, said the first key to being a good charge taker is “warming up and figuring out when you want to contest a layup.” . (Photo courtesy of Elsa/Getty Images)
But even with some embellishment, collisions can hurt. As almost every player we interviewed pointed out, knowing how to fall back properly is also a necessary skill. “Learning how to fall on your back without breaking your wrist or hitting someone else,” Wagner said. The pain caused to the charge-taker can sometimes pale in comparison to the danger to an aerial attacker who collides with a floor-bound defender and loses control, especially an attacker attempting a dunk. Antetokounmpo and Memphis' Ja Morant were both injured on such plays during the opening weekend of last postseason. This season, Minnesota's Anthony Edwards also missed three games with a hip injury after falling hard on a defender's charging attempt.
Although there is no indication that the league has considered changing the rules, the topic has regularly surfaced as a hot-button issue, with two writers recently addressing the issue. The Athletic. Zach Harper suggested banning the charge because it was “not really a basketball play,” but John Hollinger argued the other side.
Podzemski believes it is the responsibility of the charge taker, not the attacking player, to avoid such collisions. “Obviously it can be a dangerous play if you don't know how to take it,” he said. But he wants the Charge to stay in the game. That's because “he's good at what he does,” and because he believes Charge can make a lasting impact throughout the game.
“From a spiritual standpoint (for them), they know I went there once and got (one),” he said. “Now, when I’m out there, it’s not just free roaming to the rim.”
Wagner, known as an on-court provocateur, likes the accusation for related reasons.
“It causes frustration for the players,” he said. “You're always trying to achieve it when you can, even if you're not actively doing it. But obviously it's all about love.”
Most of these prolific accusers offered support for this rule. “How are you going to take away something that's part of the game?” Hardaway asked. But Wagner has a more stoic perspective.
“Every time someone falls, it’s dangerous,” he said. “But players adapt to the rules. If it wasn't the rules, they wouldn't do it. I don't really have an opinion (on whether it should be legal or not).”
For now, like many others, he will continue to attack them. Because charging is a skill. This is because players have spent time honing their skills to create powerful plays on the court.
As Powell said, “We can bring players up in a good way.”
(Top photo shows Tim Hardaway Jr. charging: Jerome Miron / USA Today
