Q: I love the R&R. I am curious as to what the CONE GAMES are. Could you give me a detailed description of the games?

A: The CONE GAMES are meant to introduce the spacing and basketball actions of the Read & React to youth players. They are also designed to be competitive games that teach the habits of the offense without the kids knowing it. There are two main basketball actions that form the backbone for the R&R offense: 1. Passing and Cutting (Layer 3) and 2. Dribble Penetration Circle Movement (Layer 1).

Pass & Cut: Place 5 cones on the perimeter - top of the key, wings, and corners. Place 5 yellow tennis balls on top of each cone. Place two containers (like a milk crate) under the basket. In one of them, place 5 tennis balls of another color – like pink. Give any player a basketball (or any ball for that matter. If it’s illegal to be using a basketball, then use a volleyball).

When the player with the ball passes, she must pick up the yellow ball on her cone and place it in the empty basket under the goal. At the same time, she must pick up a pink ball, look for the empty cone on the perimeter, and go place the pink ball on top of that cone.

Why would there be an empty cone? Because, when she passes and cuts, her cone will be empty. This means that the next closest player on the perimeter must take her ball from her cone and place it on the empty cone. This creates an empty cone that must be filled, etc. The Passing & Cutting continues until all of the yellow balls have been replaced by the pink balls. You can make this competitive by timing how long it takes to replace all of the balls.

Circle Movement: This game has a similar set-up, but it is a “knock-out” game or “elimination” game. Again, 5 cones on the perimeter; add two containers on the baseline short corners; place only 4 tennis balls on 4 of the cones. The player who is standing on the outside of the cone without a tennis ball is the player who will be given the basketball and asked to drive to the goal for a lay-up.

This player must go around her empty cone either right or left. If the player misses her lay-up, she is “knocked-out” of the game. The other players are allowed to have a hand on their tennis ball, but the ball must still be on top of the cones until the ball is driven to the goal. At that time, every player without the basketball must “Circle Move” correctly to the next cone and place their tennis ball on top of the cone BEFORE the ball goes through the basket. If they don’t, they’re “knocked out”. The tennis balls must be placed gently enough to balance on top of the cones. If the ball falls off and basketball has gone through the basket, then that player is “knocked out”.

If the kids learn to Circle Move correctly, then it’s pretty easy to do. (If they sprint.) If the kids hesitate or Circle Move the wrong way, then that’s when they’ll get knocked out. The lay-up shooter then takes a place on the perimeter. Her cone will probably be empty, so make sure she gets a ball on top of her cone. Someone different drives the next time and turns with the ball are rotated until only one player remains and is the winner.

Two details:

1. The player who is going to drive to the goal should remove the tennis ball from their cone before driving. In fact, they can give it to the previous shooter who has filled out to an empty cone.

2. The corner players who must circle to the other corner will never make it in time if they have to place their tennis ball on the cone in the other corner. So instead, the corner players who run the baseline must place their ball in the container in the opposite short corner. There’s no balancing that has to be done, but they have to sprint to get there in time. You can adjust the distance of the containers in the short corners to make it fair.

The coach tells the player when to drive. This way, you can make sure everything is set up properly before the drive. By the way, it gets fun when the player with the ball learns how to fake one way and drive the other way! But isn’t that how it happens in the game?

Full Court Transition: On one end of the court set up the 5 cones on the perimeter just like the previous drills. Place two containers under the goal; one empty and one with pink tennis balls. In 5 evenly spaced spots on the half-line, place 4 cones, leaving one spot empty. Place 4 yellow balls on top of the cones.

Underneath the other goal, begin your rebound and transition in any manner that you wish. Whoever dribbles the ball up the court must dribble it through the empty “hole” on the half-line, proceed to a cone on the perimeter, stop in front of the cone and keep dribbling the ball. Everyone else must pick up a ball at the half-line, place it in the empty basket under the goal, pick up a pink ball, and place it on one of the cones on the perimeter. Once everyone has filled out to a cone and placed a pink ball on a cone, the ball handler can either drive right or left to the goal for a lay-up, initiating Circle Movement by everyone else (see the second drill above), or the ball handler can pass the ball and cut, pick up a yellow ball from the yellow container and continue this game until all of the pink balls have been replaced by yellow balls (see the first drill on Pass & Cut).