NABC On the Court Open Practice with Jeff Depelteau: Skill Development, Team Defense and Transition

with Jeff Depelteau,
Berkshire School (MA);
formerly at Christ School (NC);
advanced to the 2018 NCISAA State Final Four in 2018 and the State Finals in 2019;
was at Suffield Academy (CT) for nine seasons:
qualified for the NEPSAC Tournament each year (advanced to the Final Four 6x and the New England Prep Championship 3x - 2013, 2015, and 2017 - won the State Championship in 2013);
2x New England Prep Coach of the Year (2013, 2017);
2015 Nike's "America's Got Basketball Coaching Talent" contest winner

A rising star as a high school coach, Jeff Depelteau takes you inside practice at Berkshire School. In this on-the-court video, you will get the chance to see how Coach Depelteau builds his team's defense and transition game while also giving his players a chance to work on individual skill development.

Building Defense

Practice begins with Figure Eight Slide, a drill designed to teach defensive footwork. Next, Coach Depelteau review his team's defense off the ball when it comes to defending ball screen continuity. In Shell Concepts, he reviews the hard hedge that his team uses when defending against ball screen action. He also reviews the defense needing to push the ball to the sideline and to the baseline and the appropriate help and help-the-helper concepts.

Individual Skill Development

With the emphasis of "Great players don't get bored with the basics," Coach Depelteau teaches ball handling and footwork with his USA Pivot to Passing drill. To develop offensive passing skills, a game of 4 on 6 Keep Away is utilized. The numbers advantage gives the defense the chance to trap the ball. Meanwhile, the offense cannot dribble or shoot the ball in the 30 seconds the game is allowed to be played.

Skill development places an emphasis on post play. In teaching post play, a coach will shoot the basketball and the two post players will rebound. Whoever gets the rebound is on offense and will throw a pass out to the coach who shot the ball. From there, the offensive player looks to post up against the defensive player. Post defenders should look to work with their feet and show their hands to avoid being called for a foul.

Shaka Shooting teaches shooting on the catch and the importance of good passing to set up shooters. Shooters change their spots every 30 seconds and work to extend their range during the sequence.

Transition Offense and Defense

A point of emphasis on offense is to make the defense defend multiple efforts. In running his secondary break offense known as Wildcat, Coach Depelteau covers getting to spots and running action out of Wildcat, which includes ball reversals and a dribble hand-off leading into a ball screen continuity offense.

Build-Up Transition Defense is an effective drill to teach transition defense starting with 1-on-1 defense and building up into 5-on-5 situations. Critical to this drill are the concepts of not picking up the ball where the offense can score, and to pick up the ball early.

For any coach who wants insight into how a winning high school program practices, this video from Coach Depelteau is the one for you!

85 minutes. 2021.