Useful tips learned over the phone? Impossible? Not according to PGC Basketball. They are conducting a series of Coaching Clinic Telephone Calls hoping to get valuable tips into the hands of coaches just like you. And, other than the fact that no one uses the word telephone anymore, I think it’s working quite well, especially since Rick was their first guest.
If you missed it, you can listen to the first part of that call here. Today we’re moving deeper into the call.
In this first 4 minute clip, Rick discusses a question we get all the time.
“With set plays, I can control shot selection since there are specific scoring options for specific plays. If the Read & React Offense gives players freedom (to a point), how do you control shot selection?”
The answer is partially what you would expect. Control it through role identification and communication – just like you would in a motion offense or a continuity offense. But, there are ways to control shot selection within the Read & React using indirect techniques. Rick explains how.
3:50 – Rick Torbett on Shot Selection
Three principles make up successful offense: good spacing, good player movement, and good ball movement. Great offenses have all three of those principles. Good offenses have two. And, ok offenses have one. This is important to remember in any offensive system, but the Read & React is specifically designed to force you into all three.
At the end of this 3 minute clip, Rick adds one more: attacking the rim hard on every action (cutting, rolling, or driving). Let’s see… spacing, player movement, ball movement, attacking the rim… sounds like the R&R to me.
You are going to get in games what you drill in practice. That’s why 2-line lay-ups and suicides don’t make a whole lot of sense – that stuff just doesn’t translate into game situations.
So, how do you transfer drills into games?
By integrating game situations (game shots in game spots at game speed) into as much of your practice as possible. Don’t waste your practice time. That’s the gist of Rick’s message in the 2 minute clip and in this article about Sacred Zombie Cows.
Every team in every state has limitations on practice time and the number of players you can work with simultaneously based on the time of year (we can debate whether those restrictions are good or bad another time). Because of those limitations, you might be in the gym with only one or two players. The R&R can be taught in those situations and Rick explains how in this 2 minute clip.
And, in the final 4 minute clip, Rick talks about attacking zones by changing lightening cuts into hooks, emphasizing the Pin & Skip, identifying seams, and working the short corner. This concept is broadly painted in 4 minutes, but if you want more, here’s an article on attacking zones and of course, we do have a DVD for that.
There’s one final topic that was discussed on this Coaching Clinic Call, but that will be another post. But, I know you’ll be excited because it will have… hold your breath… diagrams! I know how you guys love diagrams.
