Drills and Practice

02 May Cow Killers: Simple Layer 1 Read & React Warm Up

A few months ago, I wrote a post on killing Sacred Zombie Cows - getting rid of those drills that may be dear to your heart, but have long since lost their usefulness. I'm looking at you three-man weave! Anything that can be used to replace...

15 Apr The “We Don’t Play Backwards” Drill

Inspired by TJ's emphasis on not playing backwards, Blue Devil came up with a creative drill and posted it in the forums. Thanks to both of you (and to MJL23 for adding to it). And, of course, I've added some additions as well (I couldn't...

28 Feb Rebounding Responsibility Drill

Since the Read & React promotes spacing, player movement, and ball movement, some suggest that a team can't rebound well amidst the constant shuffling. Of course, we disagree. But, due to all that movement, sometimes rebounding responsibilities can get lost in the continual mix of players.
Here's a drill that can clarify those rebounding responsibilities for you and your team. Rick explains this drill completely in the audio portion below, but I thought a diagram or four might be helpful. And, for more audio from PGC Basketball's interview with Rick, you can check out this post and this one. 3:15 - Rick Torbett on Rebounding Responsibility The best part of this rebounding component is you can attach it to the end of any 5 player drill. That way you can work on whatever actions you need to while still getting in your rebounding work. In this instance, we used a simple 5 player Circle Movement Drill.
Start with any player driving North-South to the goal. This forces the other players to Circle Move one spot. Here, 1 drives North-South right causing Circle Movement right.

14 Feb 5 Steps to Introduce Post Screening Action (even if you don’t have post players)

We often hear (from coaches that don't know the offense very well) that the Read & React doesn't promote screening. And, that couldn't be further from the truth - you just have to emphasize it. Here are 4 steps that will train your players to spot some of the screening opportunities within the flow of the offense. Step 1: Start with the basics. If you have a post player, try this simple 5 on 0 drill. Place 4 players on the perimeter running though Pass & Cut. Tell your post player to screen for cutters coming into the lane and leaving the lane. And, just like the Post Screening layer says, have the post player set a screen, then shape up for the ball. Set a screen, then shape. Screen, then shape. The only way to score in this drill is to hit a cutter (following a screen) for a lay-up or to feed the post on the shape up. After the score, just rotate the post - it wouldn't be a bad idea to rotate guards through the post as well. If you typically run a 5 OUT, start with 5 players on the perimeter running through Pass & Cut. At random each player must stop in the post, set some screens for cutters, then shape up after a screen. Following the shape up, they can vacate the post and return to the perimeter. In this version of the drill, the only way to score is a post feed to a shaping up post player. After the score, simply grab the rebound, pass it back to the perimeter and continue the drill until every player has stopped in the post, set screens for cutters, shaped up, and scored. With those drills, you get to work on Layer 1, feeding the post, scoring in the post, setting screens, and using screens. Step 2: Building on the basics.

03 Feb Read & React: Post & Perimeter Drill

Here's a drill that Randi Peterson developed and shared at last year's Beyond the Basics Clinic in Cedar Rapids (her team is currently 18-2 and ranked #23 nationally, by the way). If you're interested, you can watch full Coe College Women's games here. Coach Peterson has a knack of integrating the Read & React Offense into as many facets of her practice as possible in fun, imaginative ways. This particular drill is designed to train Post Moves, Post Cuts, Perimeter Shots, Post Feeds, and several other key aspects of the Post and Perimeter game. All of that work in a single drill - that's how you make the most out of practice time! There are two things that I want you to notice specifically. First, with only slight variations, this drill's framework can be used to work on specific post moves, specific post feeds, and specific post cuts. It's all about what you teach and what your team needs to work on. Second, Randi doesn't dictate the rotations; she lets the players figure it out. Not only does this save her office time because she doesn't have to conceptualize the perfect drill complete with perfect rotations, it also forces her players to be proactive and empowers them to make decisions. Just like they have to make in game situations.

15 Dec Send Your Players Through the Gauntlet

This is a drill that we picked up on our last visit with Point Guard College. It can certainly be used as a stand alone drill to add toughness to your finishers, but as I'm sure you've already guessed, I prefer it attached to the...

08 Dec 2 Line Read Line Drill: Expanded

A couple of days ago I posted a two line drill for training the Read Line. As I was diagramming it, I couldn't help but think of all the possibilities that drill had to offer - you could change its formation from 4 OUT to 5 OUT, you could use all of the spots instead of just 3, you could... well, I stopped with just those two, but you could tweak it even more if you want. So, here's an expanded version of that original 2 Line Read Line Drill. Let me know your thoughts in the Comments.
Start with all spots filled except the point. Put the ball on a wing, and a defender on the opposite wing. 5 must fill the empty spot.

06 Dec 2 Line Read Line Drill

This drill was posted by bshutter in the forum and it was so good that it needed to see the light of day on the Tribe. So, I pulled it out of the forum, shined it up a bit, added some diagrams and now here it is. Thanks bshutter and if you want to see the original forum thread, check it out here. This is a great drill to train the Read Line. Even though the Read Line can be simple to teach and simple to learn, players could begin to cheat by cutting to the basket whether or not the defender is over the Read Line. Emphasizing a drill like this will help clean up that slippage. You can use this drill as it sits or you can use it as an idea generator and tweak it to your own needs. For example, in this version, a player is the defender and the rotation acknowledges that, but you could easily make the defender a coach and have players only focus on offense. Just a thought. And, by the way, the blue shading simply represents the 4 OUT spots. If you like this drill, check out the Expanded version here.
Start with two lines - one on the right guard spot, the other on the left wing spot. Put the ball(s) in the right guard line. 5 must fill the empty spot.

02 Dec Pace of Practice

This is a quick video taken from the Read & React Clinic in Atlanta this past year. TJ talks about the pace of practice - what pace to practice at and how quickly to get there. The pace at which your team practices will of course...