Coaching the Read & React

13 Dec Ball Handler is your orchestrator

The Read & React is based around the premise that the ball handler has the freedom to do anything he wants (almost) and the other four players on the court have one and only one reaction based on his choice. So, in effect, this makes the...

24 Nov 5 Steps to Teach the Read & React

How should I teach the Read & React?   That question finds its way to me a lot. And, my frustrated answer is this:   You have to run the Read & React in order to improve at the Read & React.   Period. You can’t get good at something that...

08 Sep Read & React Terminology

One of the advantages of the Read & React is that it can ease communication between coaches and players. It can also ease communication between coaches and other coaches (as long as they are in the Tribe). So, with that in mind and as an expansion of our previous post, A Cut By Any Other Name, here’s a list of Read & React Terminology. Natural Pitch – This is an air pass. It is the most natural pass to make when a player drives to the basket and is stopped and looks to pass. Dish – This is a bounce pass, typically thrown to a cutter. Circle Movement – When the ball drives “North-South” to the basket, perimeter players and even post players (Advanced Post Slides) must move to the next “Spot” (as defined by the offense) in the same direction that ball is driven. Ex: If the ball handler drives around their defender using their right hand, then those without the ball must move one Spot to their right. If the ball drives left, then everyone else “Circle Moves” one Spot to their left. Safety Valve – When a player circle moves behind the driving player, he becomes a “safety valve” if the driving teammate gets in trouble. North/South – This is when a player with the ball goes directly to the basket no wider than a “V.” Some R&R coaches call this a “Penetration Dribble”. East/West – This is when a player with the ball moves laterally to the basket. Some R&R coaches call this a “Perimeter Dribble”. This usually occurs in one of two circumstances:

A player tries to drive north/south, but is stopped and pushed outside the lane; this then becomes an east/west movement. This creates a “U”shaped drive rather than the intended “V” shaped drive.

A player deliberately dribbles the ball at another teammate on the perimeter (east/west) creating a dribble-at or a power dribble (see below).

30 Aug 5 Ways to Use Your 5 MAN

In the Read & React, the Post Player's only requirement is that he react correctly to Dribble Penetration. So, coaches and players have a lot of freedom in how they handle the Post game. If you love Cross Screens, put them in. If you want...

30 Jul A Cut By Any Other Name

Juliet famously declares in Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, “that which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet.” Of course, she is talking about Romeo’s name and all the trouble it creates for the couple, but the same could be said about the Read & React. That’s right! Literature and the Read & React; where else could you get this stuff? There is a recent forum thread titled, Changes to R&R Terminology where coaches are discussing what terms they like in the R&R, which they’ve switched out, and which they’ve found most successful. Every coach is different. Every team is different. And players will respond to different terms - the trick as a coach is to figure out which terms your team relates to the best and use those. For example, some coaches have struggled using North/South Dribble Penetration as a term. Instead, they use Penetration Dribble. They’ve changed East/West Dribble to Perimeter Dribble. Any of those are fine and changing the terms doesn’t hurt our feelings. Well... maybe a little, but we get over things quickly.

19 Jul I Want Your Players to Be Selfish

Not what you would expect from me, huh? But it's true. I want your players to be selfish - not in life or as people - but at least while running the Read & React. And you should too. Here's a quote that puts words to why that assertion makes you uncomfortable.

“There is a tension, peculiar to basketball, between the interests of the team and the interests of the individual. The game continually tempts the people who play it to do things that are not in the interest of the group. On the baseball field, it would be hard for a player to sacrifice his team’s interest for his own. Baseball is an individual sport masquerading as a team one: by doing what’s best for himself, the player nearly always also does what is best for his team. “There is no way to selfishly get across home plate,” as Morey puts it. “If instead of there being a lineup, I could muscle my way to the plate and hit every single time and damage the efficiency of the team — that would be the analogy. Manny Ramirez can’t take at-bats away from David Ortiz.” from an article on Shane Battier

If you understand the tension in the above excerpt, you’ll understand some of the reasons behind the structure of the Read & React Offense. Wherever I could do it, I built the actions of the players on the baseball premise above.

13 Jul Quick Note for Cutters

MESSAGE TO PLAYERS: Those who cut the lane must treat the lane with respect; the lane is the #1 killer of the defense; if you can receive the ball or get the ball into the lane more times than your opponent, then on a percentage...