Post Slides: Player Development

Read and React Review

The season ended on Friday with a bit of a whimper, along with the very strange experience of being ejected from my first and only game in 12 years (without a warning, or any time between the first and second technical foul - and no, there was no profanity involved - it was...inexplicable). We faced the top seed in our playoff bracket, a team we had lost two games earlier in the season by an average of 36.5 points, and were down 24-17 halfway through the 3rd quarter when it happened. So while I'm pleased with the way the team had played, it certainly didn't end the way I wanted. C'est la vie.

The real reason for this post is to review my first season with the Read and React offense. Hit the jump to read more about our offensive transformation.

RnR Offense Installed

It has been almost exactly one month since the Read and React offense made its way into my playbook. I have a lot of things to say about it, but only one statement sums it up. I'm never looking back. This is the most dynamic offense I've been able to teach. And the thing that I'm going to discuss in this post is something I was never expecting.

The RnR is the most coach-friendly offense I've used. No contest.

Installing the Read and React Offense

Where to start. My formative years in basketball were in high school, when I finally (like most boys) learned to harness my athletic skills into a more productive set of abilities. The varsity and junior varsity coaches at my school had the most to do with that. Our philosophy was simple. We ran motion offenses (multiple versions, including flex) against man defense, and flood type offenses against zone defenses. And this was the way I taught offense since I started coaching right after I graduated.

I scrapped that this week after a loss on Friday, but my dissatisfaction with my offensive philosophy is a long time coming. I consider myself a strong coach in terms of teaching and strategy, especially concerning defense. My teams generally improve their defensive scoring average in my first year. Last years team reduced defensive scoring average by 5 points on the season, and this year we gave up 43 points in our first game. But my teams also seem to struggle scoring, averaging between 40-46 ppg year in and year out. I attributed this (and somewhat rightfully so) to the disease of AAU/Summer League ball taking the place of practice and skill development. We got great shots - but we just didn't make them. Recently though, I've been thinking that this problem wasn't fully to blame.