Q: In Coach Huggins’s Open Post Offense the player filling the point cuts to the free throw line dot and then either pops up to the point or basket cuts depending how the defense is playing him. Would that work in the Read and React Offense? Or would you just want that player to cut right to the point position? Looking forward to your response.

A: Coach Huggins’s wing to top cut via the FT line is the same thing that’s taught in Europe. “Making a corner” at the FT line (as they call it in Europe) is designed to allow a safe pass from the wing to the top of the key. If you want the ball passed to the top of the key, then this is a good move.

However, in the Read & React, I don’t really want the ball passed from the wing to the top. I want the ball passed to someone going backdoor from the top of the key. What would you rather have - the ball at the top of the key with all defenders in position, or the ball on it’s way to the goal “with numbers”, i.e., 5 offensive players against 4 defenders?

In the Read & React, we don’t deceive anyone about our intention to fill the spot at the top of the key. The intention is to lure the defender over the Read Line and then rear cut them. If it’s not open, then another player will be filling the top of the key. When teams are burned a few times with this rear cut, they tend to back off the hard denials and perimeter passing becomes easier. If they continue to deny over the Read Line, then your offense becomes a lay-up drill.

So, how do we teach the wing player to get open when filling the top of the key? Answer: by filling the top of the key well outside the NBA 3-point line. The further from the Read Line, the better. If the defender is inside the Read Line, then the pass is open. If the defender is over the Read Line, then our wing player will receive the backdoor pass and will be threatening the goal down the middle of the floor (the best look in the house), creating help and rotation from good defending teams and creating lay-ups against poor defending teams.

It’s all a matter of what you want. Do you want the ball at the head of the key - or, do you want the ball being taken to the goal down the middle of the lane with the defender left in the dust behind the ball?

PS: With the R&R system, if the wing really wants to get the ball to the top of the key and there’s a danger in passing from wing to top, then he/she can simply dribble to the head of the key. If someone’s at the top of the key, this will force a backdoor cut (Layer 5 Speed Dribble). Someone will fill the wing from where the ball was dribbled and we now have safely transferred the ball to the top of the key and even had a chance for a backdoor lay-up while doing it!

PPS: There’s another reason that I don’t want this V-cut made into the FT line/lane area. I want to keep this area as open as possible. If it’s 5 OUT, then there will be other cutters using the lane and if there’s a post player anywhere inside, the V-cut is going to compromise spacing. In other words, with a post player inside and the opposite wing cutting to the FT line, if the defender overplays and forces the wing to cut backdoor, there’s not enough space to catch the pass.