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Why waste valuable practice time jogging around the court or doing two-line lay-ups? Integrate the Read & React reaction drills into as much as your practice as possible. And, be creative. TJ Rosene shows you two warm up drills that he uses every day before his team stretches, but these examples could easily be tweaked for your players, your gym, the layers you want to emphasize, or even the layers you are about to teach.

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).

This is our first guest post on the Tribe and it's a great way to start. Mike Largey wrote the beginnings of this article in the comments section of the post New Layers: The Ball Screen and I asked him to expand upon it to make sure no one missed out. Fun fact: in the 80's Mike played international ball against the likes of Drazen Petrovic and Vlade Divac. Have an idea for a guest post? Let me know. And, no, it isn't a requirement that you competed against Vlade, just a bonus. Thanks again, Mike. The Circle Reverse is an excellent pressure relief move to a failed North/South penetration. But after viewing that layer of the offense I had a number of observations "circling" in my head.
  1. A player reversing direction and receiving a pass from a teammate that just failed on a North/South penetration attempt is an effective way to open up scoring opportunities. Why does there have to be a "failure" first before we get the benefits of this movement?
  2. When viewing the Circle Reverse layer on the DVD I wondered why the player flipping the pass side steps out of the way of the receiver's defender. Why not just come to a jump stop and set a screen after flipping the pass - similar to a Dribble Handoff action?
  3. If we want to intentionally perform a Circle Reverse with the added screen can it be as simple to read as the Speed Dribble and Power Dribble? Will this new read aid or hinder the development of a "true" Circle Reverse read (an honest attempt at North/South penetration flattened out into a more East/West direction)?
  4. If we develop something that intentionally triggers a Circle Reverse with an added screen should it be considered part of the Sprint Ball Screen layer or an adjustment to the Circle Reverse layer?
  5. Can "it" be considered an offensive principle?
The result of these observations together with my team's performance led to the development of the Intentional Circle Reverse.