Hey Coach,

We did something different on The Hours this week.

Instead of another deep dive, Mark and I ran a 16-action single-elimination bracket to crown our favorite offensive action for the RDS system. It was part chalk, part chaos, and way more useful than I even expected.

If you don’t have time to watch the full episode, here’s a rundown:

Why we did a bracket

When you’re building offense, most choices aren’t “good vs. bad”—they’re “good vs. good.” A bracket forces clarity. It makes you articulate why one thing beats another in your context, with your personnel.

Big takeaways

Reads beat actions (train reads first).
Our final four exposed a truth: the “reads” we want players to make—like Burn (backcut on pressure) and Reject (refuse the ball screen early)—almost beat everything. If all you did was space well and teach timely burns and rejects, you’d be hard to guard at any level.

Simplicity scales.
A lot of coaches love the idea of a huge playbook. In reality, they don’t love coaching it. We showed that with just five actions × five formations, you can create millions of unique looks without bloating your teaching. Fewer core actions = more reps on what happens most.

Space → Advantage → Shot.
In RDS, actions only fire when you’re neutral. If you already have advantage, play it. That simple lens kept our debate honest.

A practical decision filter: Often → Simple → Never.
When two solid options clash, ask:

• Often: Which situation happens more often in our games?

• Simple: Which is simpler to teach, learn, and execute?

• Never: If we could never run one of these again, which loss would hurt more?

Use that filter and your choices start making themselves.

The bracket highlights

• Early favorites: Fingers, Fan, Step-Up, High Ball Screen, Zoom, Ghost Screen.

• Cinderella run: Reject made a deep push because it punishes pre-set coverage and keeps the defense honest.

• Most undervalued: Back Screen—it forces a rim cut (we hunt 9s first), then flows naturally into advantage catches for shooters.

• What won it all? We argued hard at the end, but the edge went to Burn—because it happens a ton, it’s simple to cue (“open rim/back of head”), and if you took it away forever, your offense would lose a foundational pressure release.

How to run this with your team (or by yourself)

1. List your pool.
   Start with 12–20 actions you actually run or want to run. Keep them as single actions (save the combos like Spain for later).

2. Seed honestly.
   Top seeds = actions that happen often, fit your personnel, and complement your philosophy.

3. Debate with the filter.
   For each matchup, use Often → Simple → Never. Keep score on a whiteboard so choices are public and explicit.

4. Crown your Top 3 and install in order.
   Teach #1 first (it should be the simplest, highest-leverage action), then #2 and #3 as direct counters or natural follow-ups.

5. Convert actions into reads.
   Script them first. Once players show timing and spacing, “set them free” as reads. Then add sequencing (e.g., Zoom → Grenade; Fan → Step-Up; Reject → 45 Burn).

Want to see the whole thing play out?

We also warmed up by bracket-fighting vacation spots (Beach vs. Urban Nightlife got heated 😅), then built the actions bracket live and argued every matchup—useful and fun.

👉 Watch the full episode (and steal the framework for your staff)

Stay SAVI,
Tyler

P.S. We’re dripping the RDS Offensive Course inside SAVI Basketball: layers 1–5 are up, 6–10 are next.

It’s designed to be anti-fragile—you’ll know the why behind your actions, so nothing “breaks” when opponents take something away.

Join SAVI Basketball on a 7-Day Free Trial, and you can hop in and check it out now.