Prior to the late 1960’s, defense was split between zones and man-to-man just like it is today. However, the uniqueness of man-to-man defense was the fact that it was NOT zone. Some coaches might switch on picks while others didn’t and some would play tighter and tougher than others, but for the vast majority of [...]

Over the past several years of designing, testing, writing, and finally editing the Read & React Offense, as well as speaking at clinics and just talking with R&R coaches, I’ve compiled a list of what I consider the benefits to running the Read and React. I’m sure there are more – some I haven’t thought [...]

The question still comes up time and again: If a guard from up top, say on the right side, drives right handed toward the goal, will a player in the right corner cutting to the opposite corner foul up the guard’s ability to finish at the basket? Is this bad timing? Does this mess up [...]

Let’s pretend your team has learned all of the reactions to the ball necessary to run the Read & React from any formation. But your players don’t yet understand all of the types of basketball actions that can occur depending on their own formation and defensive schemes that they’ll encounter. In other words, they don’t [...]

A close friend of mine let me know through an email that he was buying the Read & React. Having known him since the early 90’s, (he was coaching a college men’s team at the time), I replied with the “prep” below:
As you watch it, keep in mind that the goal is to train the [...]

In order to be an effective coach/teacher, I must be able to tell every player whether his movement at any time is correct or incorrect. Set plays make that possible. It is more difficult or even impossible to do with a principled offense. R&R is a principled offense that enables the coach to tell each [...]

Some teams get to a level of expertise where their FORMATION (or SET) changes each possession depending on how they mold themselves around the defense. On the other hand, some teams change their FORMATIONS by which offensive players are in the game. Simply stated, the players are not forcing themselves into a FORMATION; instead, the [...]

I wrote this for a couple of teams just recently after watching them play:
1. Each “counter” in the R&R is designed without regard to size and strength. Most games can be defined by which team can force their style of play on other team. Instead of allowing a bigger or stronger or otherwise more physical [...]