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 team to force you into playing their game, choose the correct counters in the Read & React layers to negate their defensive strength. Force does not have to be met with MORE force. Instead, counter their force with your skills. That’s what the Read & React offense is set up to do.

Example: You’re being denied on the perimeter. The counter is not to be stronger and more physical than the defense. The counter is to REAR CUT and turn the game into a foot race. Any offensive player moving forward can outrun a defender moving backwards. So, don’t get caught up in the physical game. Use the smart skills in the R&R to counter physical aggression.

Another example: If the post defender is bigger and stronger and can keep you pushed off of your “scoring position” in the post, then don’t fight it. Instead, receive your pass from the perimeter and let the cutter create a scoring opportunity - either the cutter can score or the post will have an opportunity to score after the cutter goes by.

Another example: If you’re trying to dribble penetrate and the defender is stronger and pushes you off the line of your drive, then depend on the player in the natural pitch position to Circle Reverse and create a different basketball action.

If the other team has great help position defenders, then don’t try to beat them by attacking 2 or 3 defenders. Instead, Pin & Skip, Pin & Skip, Pin & Skip.

2. Anytime ANYONE has the ball, they need to focus on making READABLE movements with the ball. The ballhandler is the MOVER in the R&R offense. Everyone else must be able to read what the ballhandler is doing. So the ballhandler must resist “playing around” with the ball. Do something that has been clearly defined by the R&R offense. There are plenty of movements that fall into this category:
    a. Drive right or left
    b. Pass right or left
    c. Speed dribble right or left
    d. Power dribble right or left
    e. Feed the post and cut
    f. Shoot

3. The secret to getting better as a team is not adding more and more in terms of complexity. The complexity will come as the team coordinates more of the layers together in seamless sequences every possession of the ball. In other words, every practice and every game should seem simpler to the players as every basketball action becomes more familiar and more of a habit. Every practice and every game should be characterized by greater 5-player coordination. By now, your expectations can be high enough to punish players with substitution if they don’t react correctly. As an example, if a teammate drives the baseline and no one is in the opposite corner for the natural pitch, then someone’s got to come out of the game. The players must see their reactions as important enough for substitution and never as an option. In my humble opinion, this is how your team gets better even while they are winning.