Frank Allocco: Defending the 10 Most Popular Offensive Actions in Basketball

National High School Coach of the Year, Frank Allocco, has a long history of success as a winning coach for De La Salle High School in California. All of the victories, championships, and awards his teams have earned are in large part due to his dominant system of man-to-man pressure defense.

In this video, Coach Allocco shows you the defensive strategies his teams have used to hold opponents to an average of just 38 points per game.

Coach Allocco shows you everything you need to get your squad ready for any offense you'll face. He teaches the footwork, technique and communication skills needed to defend 10 of the most common screen actions in basketball.

Defensive Breakdown Drills

Teaching screen defense is a challenge, but also incredibly important if you are going to be successful. Through a series of 3-on-3 and 4-on-4 breakdown drills, Coach Allocco explains how to neutralize your opponent's offense. For each offensive action, you'll learn the role of each defender involved in the play, teaching points, and how to maximize repetitions with each practice drill. All of these drills are demonstrated on the court, allowing you to see how Coach Allocco refines the execution of each strategy with his players.

• Ball Screens - Get your players to communicate with one another to hedge ball screens and fight over the top.
• Pass and Cut - Learn how to eliminate easy layups from basket cuts and screening away by jumping to the ball and beating screens by coming "up the shoot."
• Flare Screens - Two variations of this drill will challenge your defenders to fight through flare screens to cover shooters.
• Wheel Cuts - This drill can be progressively built up to teach players how to defend screen-the-screener actions that incorporate wheel cuts, down screens, and back screens.
• Dribble Drive - Teach your players how to fight through dribble hand-offs and contain dribble penetration with great on-ball defense and help support with two variations of this drill.
• UCLA Cut - Prepare your players to fight through consecutive screening actions by fighting through UCLA cuts, down screens, and back screens.
• Flex Action - Train players to defend the combined action of flex screens and down screens using 3-on-3 and 5-on-5 drills.
• America's Play - Prevent post players from securing great position by showing your players how to defend cross screens and down screens.
• Single Double Screens - Often referred to as "Floppy" action in the NBA. This 4-on-4 drill will teach players how to get "up the shoot" versus single screens and how to modify this concept for staggered double screens.
• High-Low Action - Use positioning and toughness to deter flashes into the high post and take away duck-ins from teams with strong post play.

Defensive Communication

Coach Allocco emphasizes that winning takes more than just great strategy. He shares his philosophy of demanding communication and obligation within your team's culture. Great defenses need players to constantly communicate with one another to remain in-sync throughout every possession. Players must also feel the obligation to their teammates to perform their role and not allow breakdowns. Coach Allocco demonstrates this constant attention to communication and to helping players do their job throughout all the defensive drills.

Coach Allocco covers all kinds of offensive screens, cuts and intricate offensive actions that your team may face. He not only gives you drills to use, but the insight behind each action to help your team be great on the defensive end. If you don't have a plan already in place for every offense you will see, this video is a must-have to fill in the gaps.

Produced at the Fall 2014 Omaha (NE) clinic.

66 minutes. 2016.