DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EACH DISC

I purchased all Better Basketball DVDs, R&R Offense, and R&R Clinic.  I have implemented the R&R offense in high school and youth levels and found them very useful in teaching kids/youngsters to become complete basketball players.
 
Zone defenses are dominant in Hong Kong and we previously have had to work on many rotations with countless options against different zone defenses.  After teaching the R&R offense, I only need to work on a few simple rotations WITHOUT the need to go through the options.  Players now would run the simple rotations but react to the actual game situations naturally with the R&R habits.  Still, the skills from your Better Basketball DVDs, especially on shooting, are important against zones.
 
For example, with the pass and cut read (layer 3), the cutter usually gets so much attention that it would open up the rotating players for a good shot (Better Shooting).  If the defender tries to recover and challenge the shot, the player would fake and slash (Better One-on-One Offense) to the hoop for a direct layup, or pitch out (layers 1 & 2) or dish (layer 4).  These Better Basketball skills and R&R habits fit seamlessly.  My youth team, after learning the first 5 layers, together with their already familiar rotations, can play against any zone defense and are consistently winning against more experienced teams!!
 
Thanks so much for producing these DVDs.

John Li
Hong Kong

I recently purchased the Read & React video set and studied it over the holiday break. I love the concept and am currently in the process of teaching layer 1 to my team. I coach Varsity Boys at a small high school in a Native American village called Hoonah, Alaska. We scrimmaged in practice using layer 1 yesterday and I noticed it has immediately made my players more aggressive. I wish I had this system back in my playing days. What a fun way to play basketball. Here are some other benefits to the offense that weren’t mentioned in the videos.

1. It allows a coach more flexibility in substitution because players don’t have to learn positions; everybody is just a player.
2. It fosters a more aggressive mental mindset because players with the ball aren’t thinking about cutters & plays, but focusing on what they should; “How can I attack my defender?”
3. It allows for more scrimmaging in practice (my kids’ favorite part of practice) because you don’t need 10 kids who know the plays to run a productive scrimmage.

I have a lot of basketball tapes and DVDs; yours are the best produced and explained of any I have ever seen, regardless of the content.

Coach Arne Eriksson
Head Varsity Boys Coach
Hoonah, Alaska

I just have to tell you, I love the system. One layer was enough to raise the offensive performance
of my 7th graders to a new level. Immediately, more kids are scoring, getting the ball into easy places to score, and are seemingly indefensible. I had one opposing coach say, “Gee, we usually stay within 8-10 points of your team, but we lost by 31 today, what was going on?” I gave him the web site. All this was after literally two practices.

Here is why the system is so important in today's world; kids (at least in the suburbs) don't play pick-up to any degree like we did (remember spending literally 6-8 hours in a gym playing endless games of 11, winners stay on the floor?). And, when the committed kids play, it is done in organized settings all the time, like AAU. So two things are (or aren't) happening. One, they do not learn to read defenses and their teammates' movements, an ability that becomes subconscious when you play the game (unstructured) for long hours, and two, the pure fun is gone, because you play only under the watchful and all too often critical eye of a coach, who is constantly barking out what to do from the sidelines, as if the players are puppets on a string.

Read and React restores the pure joy of the game because it is fun, it gets everybody moving, plays aren't called out, and players get the ball in better positions to score than ever before.

And, it takes the guess work out of moving without the ball and reading the defense, by simplifying those and setting down a couple of simple rules.

I assume once the players get used to it, they will rapidly learn the instincts that come with those hours of play on the playground.

I also love the instructional tapes. I played in High School and College, and thought I knew a lot, but I had never seen the game broken down before so completely and so simply.

Thank you,
Christopher S. Ciaccio

First off, let me say, “Thank you very much” for your Read and React offensive system. I purchased the DVD set and have been “blown away” by how simple and obvious these “correct basketball principles” are explained. It’s so obvious, in fact, that we (the coaching staff) were left scratching our heads thinking, “Why didn’t any of us think of this ourselves???”

Truth be told, we were already implementing a few of the principles as strict “rules” (e.g. fill opposite corner on baseline drives and players must cut/fill on passes into post). We were implementing these because we knew them to be “correct basketball principles”; however, we certainly came nowhere near to designing a system as comprehensive or as seamlessly integrated as you have managed to achieve.

My apologies for the “gushing”, we are just so excited about the system. We have been dissatisfied with our “set plays” where 1 player missing his assignment / getting confused will mess up the whole set up. We’ve also been dissatisfied with our motion offense which takes so long for players to master (and some never do!). Your system is the answer to all these! We have of course begun implementing it.

Coach Khor Loke Yew
Head Boys Varsity Coach
Universiti Malaya, Malaysia

We started teaching our boys the Read & React Offense this year.  I just wanted you to know that we feel this is the perfect system for our boys.  We have implemented the first 6 or 7 layers with excellent results.  We played in our first tournament this past weekend, went 4-0, finished first and averaged almost 20 points a game more than last year.  The kids found that with a little patience, we got a lay-up very frequently.

Best of all, the kids LOVE IT, and are really having fun.  One of my parents said to me "What did you do to these kids?  I've never seen them play this way before."  Thank you, and we'll keep reading and reacting.

Jon Williamson
Coach 7th Grade Boys
Sparta, WI

The Read and React Offense has done wonders for our program and has rejuvenated me as a coach. It is the offense I have been searching for and wish I had played in. We are implementing it in our feeder schools and are excited about the future of our players. In fact, we are implementing the pass and cut layer into an instructional league we offer to 5 and 6 year olds. I feel a lot more comfortable in what we are doing offensively and have already seen a tremendous difference in our players basketball IQ just 4 weeks into the year. I look forward to receiving the clinic DVDs so I can learn more and plan on attending the next Read and React Clinic.

Coach Ryan Smith
Warren County HS Boys Basketball

The fact is simple; your R&R Offense is everything you said it would be - and then some! We have two AAU Girls teams running it right now, a 12U and a 13U.

A couple of coaches had seen us early on in a competitive league. When we ran up against them in an AAU tournament, they thought they had figured us out. In fact, one coach told me he “was going to shut down that spread-out offense” we were running.

Sure enough, they spread their zone way out (didn’t go man-to-man) so we made one simple adjustment and beat them by 16 points!

Nobody can figure out what we’re doing, but they’re all guessing.

I could go on and on, but the main point is to let you know - you’ve done it Rick! With the right push in the right places and in the right direction, I’m sure you’ll become known in the basketball future as the guy who innovated and unified the way basketball is taught to players from ages 8 to 80!!

Thanks for a great system and for all the other training programs you’ve put into our hands!

Greg Coates
Executive Director
CFL Hoopsters, Inc

The Read & React System is the best tool for teaching kids not only how to play individually (habits) but also how to play together. It saves time in practice by making the shell drill another opportunity to run the offense.

On the defensive side, my kids have never jumped to the ball and denied the basket cut better because the offense forces a basket cut EVERY time. This offense is the perfect challenge for modern, pressure defenses as it really puts pressure on the help-side defenders. It also lends itself to depth, as there is so much movement that many more kids can find themselves involved in the game.

Our guards’ turnover rates are down because they always know where at least one guy is open. I could go on and on but after 13 mostly winnings seasons at the high school varsity level with some hardware in the trophy case, I’ve never been this psyched about an upcoming season.

Thanks so much,
Coach John Wiley,
Redmond, Washington

As soon as our season was completed last year, our players wanted to know when we would start our individual workouts for this season.  They realized that in order for us to be successful in using the Read & React offense, they needed to dribble, pass, and shoot at a higher level. While I was pleased to see their enthusiasm, I was concerned that we only had one player who had ever started in a varsity basketball game.

We opened the season 0-2 and quickly realized that there was much work to be done if we were going to end the season with a winning record.  We realized as a coaching staff that the Read & React offense offered us a daily road map for offensive improvement if we would not panic.  Day after day, we opened our practice with the drills and ultimately we saw the things that we did on the practice floor transfer into game situations.  Although the skills did not transfer all at once, we saw enough along the way for us to realize that we were on the right track.

As we approached the end of the season, the transformation was nearly complete.  Instead of playing as a bunch of individuals, we played like a team. Our confidence level was high.  It did not matter if we saw man-to-man or zone, we knew that we could run the Read & React offense and get the shot that we wanted.  The highlight of the season was going on the road in the first round of the state playoffs and defeating a number 1 seed.  Our season ended in the Sweet 16, but, as you can imagine, we were pleased with our journey this season and with the Read & React offense.

The players are already knocking on my office door inquiring about individual workouts for next season.  We look forward to taking the next steps with the Read & React offense.

Carter Wilson
Varsity Boys Coach
Atlanta, GA

For more R&R Testimonials and Success Stories, visit the Read & React Blog.

Benefits to Running the R&R

1. The offense is a BASE from which players can play by principle. If a set play doesn’t work, then players can continue to play without resetting for another play.
   
   
2. The offense encourages players to work on their fundamentals of shooting, ball handling, one-on-one, etc. Even their off-season pick-up game skills would “sharpen the saw” for regular season.
   
   
3. The offense allows great players to play with not-so-great players. This allows the not-so-great players to learn from better teammates while not hindering or holding back the best players.
   
   
4. The offense can be worked on LEGALLY in the off-season. Two players at a time is all that’s needed. This opens up more practice time during season.
   
   
5. The system builds on itself year after year. A team might only use the first eight layers in the first year. Each consecutive year, they don’t start over. Instead, they pick up where they left off. In the second year they might understand all of the layers, but only master the first twelve. The third year, they master it all. The fourth year is basketball on a level that we haven’t seen!
   
   
6. The layered system is perfect for basketball organizations that have different age levels. New layers are added year by year as the player progresses through the organization.
   
   
7. The offense is ADAPTABLE to:
• The type of players,
• The style of play,
• The age or skill level of the players,
• Any kind of defense.
8. You don’t need 5 players to work on your offense. Example: The R&R can be used 4-on-4, 3-on-3, and even 2-on-2. Not only is this an advantage during season, but especially in the off-season.
   
   
9. There’s no need to teach a separate zone offense. The Read & React not only adapts to zones, but to ALL types of zones.
   
   
10. Set plays and quickhitters can be used “in front of” the Read & React. If the set play doesn’t work, no big deal – a coordinated 5-player offensive attack continues – called the Read & React.
    
    
11. Once the offense is “in”, a greater percentage of practice time can be spent on Player Development. And of course, the better the players, the better the Read & React becomes.
    
    
12. Defensive Development is a natural by-product of using the Read & React:
    • Those who defend the R&R cannot “play the play” because there is no “play” to defend. Defenders must defend HONESTLY, every day. The fact that anything can happen at anytime not only raises defensive intensity, but also trains defenders to focus for longer periods of time.
    • The R&R is developmental in nature. Each layer of the offense raises the offenses ability to counter the defense. If the defense is going to keep up, it must develop as well. As an example, being in good defensive position might work with the first level of R&R, but soon the defense must learn to change positions, close out, etc. As the R&R introduces higher levels of action, the defense must learn help, rotate, switch, etc. When R&R raises the offensive bar, the defense must rise to that level also.
    • Once the R&R becomes a working offense, the need for “offensive time” in practice decreases. This allows a coach to spend even more time on defense and usually during the latter part of the season – tournament time.
13. Without the need to micro-manage every offensive possession during a game, the R&R coach has more time to manage the game, i.e., manage momentum, match-ups, substitutions, defense, rebounding, etc.
    
    
14. Players typically develop their Basketball I.Q. through experience. Experience is a good teacher but how many of us can wait on players to build their B.I.Q? By the time their B.I.Q. is built, they’re no longer in our programs. The R&R builds the basketball I. Q. of the individual player in a step-by-step progression that can be controlled and quantified by the coach. Something as important as a player’s B.I.Q. is NOT left to chance with the Read & React.
    
    
15. If the Read & React is the “curriculum” for a program consisting of age or grade levels, then all of the coaches in the program will benefit from each other’s work. The Read & React allows coaches to be on the same page and most importantly to build on each other’s efforts. I often refer to this as “standing on each other’s shoulders.” An example would be: If a 7th grade school team runs the first 3 layers of the Read & React, then the following year, as 8th graders, they do not need to start over. Instead the 8th grade coach can begin with the 4th layer and continue to add the grade-appropriate layers. In this manner, the 8th grade coach is “standing on the shoulders” of the 7th grade coach and in doing so, can take the team to a higher level of development compared to the traditional method of coaching.