Q: I just received the R&R videos and I have really enjoyed the concepts. I think it is going to be an effective offense for our collegiate program. One question I have is this:

I didn’t really see any down screen (or screen away action) in the layers. Do you see a way to integrate this idea into the R&R? I believe that, if done correctly, screening away can be very useful. Any ideas on how to implement it? I know that there are a lot of staggered screens, but I didn’t see any 2-player screening action away from the ball.

A: I have two separate answers for your question.

The first one is that when you begin to introduce “Back-Screening your way out to the perimeter” and “Post Blocking” you’ll find that the angle of the screens can turn into cross-screen angles and down-screen angles. You’ll also find that when the screens are on the weak side, they meet your criteria for “2-player screening action away from the ball” (see the three layers Back-Screening, Multiple Staggered Screens, and Post Blocking).

My second answer involves an aspect of the R&R that I did not make clear enough on the DVDs.

I glued 5-player coordination together with 2-player reads and reactions. I used only the reactions that were NEEDED to keep the offense together. This means that there are lots of good and effective basketball actions that are not used as reactions to the ball; not because I don’t think they are effective, but because I didn’t NEED them.

This is intentional on my part.

I wanted coaches like yourself to have as much freedom as possible to implement and emphasize actions that are effective for your team, your philosophy, and your style of play.

As an example, the only thing that Post Players MUST do is react correctly to dribble penetration. Otherwise, you can do pretty much ANYTHING with your post players. If you want them to set down-screens, up-screens, cross-screens, or ball-screens, then go ahead. I’ve already tested all of them. They will not screw up the R&R. For instance, if you tell your post player to step out of the post at some particular point in time and screen the ball (pick & roll – which, by the way, is not in the R&R), everyone else will react with Circle Movement and when the post rolls to the basket, he/she is simply a basket cutter and can continue reacting as any cutter would (assuming he/she didn’t receive the ball when rolling). More importantly, if the pick and roll didn’t work, all players can continue to attack without setting up – the same way the team would continue to play if you began the action with a Power Dribble.

Many coaches use this freedom to add Quick-hitters in front of the R&R. You might start your action with a double down-screen. That’s fine. Notice that I said START YOUR ACTION, because if you get nothing from the double down-screens then your team can continue to attack and pressure the basket with the coordination and continuity that the R&R affords you. As long as your players know that these are EXCEPTIONS; temporary aberrations to give a certain player the first look (or something like that), they will not destroy the habits of reaction that you’ve built through the R&R.