Rebounding Responsibility Drill

Since the Read & React promotes spacing, player movement, and ball movement, some suggest that a team can’t rebound well amidst the constant shuffling. Of course, we disagree. But, due to all that movement, sometimes rebounding responsibilities can get lost in the continual mix of players.


Here’s a drill that can clarify those rebounding responsibilities for you and your team.

Rick explains this drill completely in the audio portion below, but I thought a diagram or four might be helpful. And, for more audio from PGC Basketball’s interview with Rick, you can check out this post and this one.

3:15 – Rick Torbett on Rebounding Responsibility

The best part of this rebounding component is you can attach it to the end of any 5 player drill. That way you can work on whatever actions you need to while still getting in your rebounding work. In this instance, we used a simple 5 player Circle Movement Drill.

Start with any player driving North-South to the goal. This forces the other players to Circle Move one spot. Here, 1 drives North-South right causing Circle Movement right.








The penetrator chooses an option ending with an outside shot – Natural Pitch or Safety Valve. In the diagram, 1 chooses the Natural Pitch to 2 for the shot.

If you are using the 5 OUT formation, the penetrator and the baseline cutter will be in or near the lane on the shot. (There will always be two rebounders near or in the lane regardless of formation; however, which ones may differ slightly.)

One of those two players (preferably the closest to the spot) yells, “Weak Side!” and sprints to the weak side of the lane. The other yells “Middle!” and gets to the middle of the lane in front of the rim.

That leaves two other players besides the shooter. One of those must sprint to the Free Throw elbow and yell, “Elbow!” and the other must yell, “Back!” and get back on D. When you’re finished, you will have formed a perfect rebounding triangle and still have a player back.

And, you’re right, this player won’t always be your Point Guard, or even a guard at all for that matter. In fact, you won’t be able to predict which players will be in any spot after the shot goes up, but there is a benefit to that.

Your players will get a lot of practice rebounding from a variety of positions on the court rather than being pigeon holed into one and this will make them better all around rebounders.



Have your players retrieve the board, put it back in for the score, pass it back out, fill all the empty spots, and start the drill again.

Hopefully, after an appropriate amount of repetition, your team rebounding responsibilities will be clarified. And, you’ll be getting some Circle Movement, some shooting, and your rebounding work in all at once. Feel free to try it attached to any drill from any formation, the basic principles remain the same.

Do you have a rebounding component to your R&R drills? Let us know in the comments.

The above diagrams were powered by FastDraw.