Written by Rick Torbett on April 10, 2009 – 10:15 PM
Q: Thank you for the R&R offense; it has certainly helped some of our youth learn how to play basketball properly. My question for you is how I can implement the zone section in the beginning. I know the kids can’t do pin and skip, but I know that we will face a lot of zones. We only have a short amount of time to implement the Read & React and can’t wait until late in the season to have a workable zone offense.
A: The one zone adjustment that you can get the most out of in the shortest period of time is in the Pass and Cut Layer. When the passer cuts, instead of cutting to the basket, cut into the seam of the zone and look for the ball. Stay in the seam until another pass is made, look for the ball again, and then move out of the seam and into one of two places: (1) Any open spot on the perimeter, or (2) the short corner on either side of the goal. When a player is in the short corner, he or she can move to “anywhere” after the next pass or they can remain where they are. When I say “anywhere”, I mean to either an open spot on the perimeter, the other short corner, or the posting area (the open spot in the seam of the zone).
If the ball is passed to the short corner, then the other four should react as if a baseline drive has occurred and fill the opposite corner, 45, 90, and safety valve positions.
Dribble penetration does not change vs. a zone. If there is a gap, then penetrate and score or look for teammates sliding where they’re supposed to (Layer 1, 2, & 4). Combine dribble penetration with pass & cut and you’ll have a fine zone offense even without the pin and skip. By the way, experiment with all 3 formations to find out what’s best for your personnel: (5 Out, 4 Out, or 3 Out).
I have just recently accepted my first high school head coaching job and I am excited about implementing the Read and React Offense with my new team. I’ve got a couple of questions with implementation, however.
The first is how quickly should I move to add new layers when I have just 8-9 practices before my summer team camp games start? Secondly, do you recommend giving the players an overview of the offense the first practice session and then starting with layer 1, or to start with layer 1 and go from there? Third, my initial thought is that I need to get layers 1-5 and layer 12 in before we play games to have a good working offense with the personnel I have, so what is your thought on skipping ahead to a layer? Finally, when attacking from a 3 OUT set, if the top player passes to a wing and makes his basket cut, with the opposite wing filling the top spot, who fills the natural pitch on a baseline drive? From watching the Clinic DVD with the college team attacking a zone in 3 OUT, there were several times on a baseline drive where nobody filled the opposite corner due to the cut and fill action.
David,
I just posted the response to your comment as a Blog Post in the “Pass & Cut” and “R&R Basics” categories. It’s titled “Starting Out with the Read & React” and here’s the link, http://www.betterbasketball.com/read-and-react-offense/read-and-react-basics/starting-out-with-the-read-react/.
After looking at the zone offense section, I was curious to see if other offenses used some of the R&R layers. On the Hooptactics website, they show a”clock” offense. Any thoughts on how this could be evaluated it in terms of R&R principles?
Gary,
Your question was so interesting that I put my response into a full post. You can find it in the “Zone Offense” or “Assorted” categories and it’s aptly titled, “R&R versus Clock Offense. Here’s the link, http://www.betterbasketball.com/read-and-react-offense/zone-offense/rr-versus-clock-offense/.