Read & React Offense Diagnostics: Testing Layers 3 & 4

Subscribe to the NEW Better Basketball Channel at New videos coming soon! - The video below was taken from our new 5 DVD set, Read & React Clinics: Planning the R&R Practice. This set develops five practice templates to help you implement the Read & React Offense as your season and your players progress. This question comes up from time to time: How do players distinguish between a Dribble-At (which forces a basket cut) and a Penetration Dribble (which forces Circle Movement)? Well, the textbook answer is that the Dribble-At is any East/West dribble (other than the Power Dribble). Fast, slow, intentional, or mindlessly drifting, any East/West movement by the ball handler should trigger a basket cut. And, naturally, any North/South dribble where the ball handler is attacking the basket should trigger Circle Movement. But, unfortunately, in a game setting, it’s not always that easy. With a live defense interfering with the ball, it’s a bit harder to distinguish whether the ball handler is heading North/South or East/West. That’s why in practice, it’s extremely important to emphasize readable actions by the ball handler. Since she is orchestrating every player on the court with her decisions, it’s up to her to make those movements as clear as possible by being deliberate and crisp with both her decisions and her actions. Of course, it requires drilling as well. In the video below, Rick Torbett explains a simple diagnostic test for putting these concepts into your basketball practice. Inside this drill you can not only test how well your team is combining Layers 3 and 4, but you can also get your players used to what a Dribble-At and a Dribble Penetration looks like when done by each of her teammates. You can even have your team call out the proper reaction like the girls do in the second clip. Obviously, once players get into the heat of battle there will be game slippage and not everything will go as smoothly or look as pretty as they do in practice. As much as we want perfect reactions every movement of the ball, it’s not always practical. If a player Circle Moves instead of Basket Cutting, that’s ok (for a while at least). It’s easy to recover from those mistakes - just find an open spot on the court and wait for the next action.