Transcription
You're in the gym every day. You put in more work than most players that you know, but deep down, you're still asking yourself, "Why is this not working?" You're not getting the minutes. You're not playing with confidence. You're not seeing the results that you expected, and it starts to mess with your head. I know that feeling.
And if that's you, I want you to know that it's not because you aren't working hard enough. It's because no one's ever taught you how to train the right way. So, let's break that down right now. In this video, we're going to talk about three reasons why you're not getting better.
The first reason you're not getting better is because you don't have context for the skills that you're training. Now, let me explain what I mean by this. Now, I had a really good conversation yesterday with Corey, who runs the channel The Mid-range. Some of you guys might know him. But one of the things that we talked about is how backwards social media is when it comes to basketball training, and how a lot of the people who are very, very popular, who a lot of players gravitate towards, are actually giving bad advice. A trainer will post a video about "add this drill to your game," or "add this move to your game," or "do this." So players will go and do that thing, and then they wonder why they get back into games and they don't know how to do, how to execute it. They aren't playing any better. And it's because they're actually looking at the problem backwards. Players are doing all these drills, all these random workouts and learning all these moves without actually asking themselves, "What do I need to be better at?" And then, from that point, going out and finding drills and workouts that are going to actually help them move towards that goal. It's all about having context for what you're doing. So, if you're out working really, really hard, you're training, doing all the things right seemingly, but you're not seeing the results, a lot of it probably has to do with the fact that you aren't training in the right context, and you don't have context for how you're actually going to apply the things that you were training.
Forget everything you know about the word "skill." When we talk about what skill actually is, there's three parts to it. Number one is the perception. So, what do you actually see when you're on the court? What do you see in that situation? The second part of it is the decision. So, you have to make the decision to do that or to do that. Do I drive left? Do I drive right? Do I pass the ball? Do I shoot the ball? You have to be able to make that decision in any context that you might be in. And then the third part of that skill is the actual physical action. So shooting the ball, making the pass, dribbling the ball, whatever. The problem is most players only work on that third part. You spend all your time working on the action. And that's why when you get to games, you can't apply it because you don't have the full context. You haven't worked on two-thirds of what actually makes up the skill. This is probably the biggest reason why players are working really, really hard, but they're not seeing in-game results, is because they aren't actually prepared to apply the full skill because they're not training the whole thing. For example, maybe you shoot 500 shots a day. That's great, but then you get into games and then when there's pressure and the pass isn't perfect and a bunch of different factors are there, you have to shoot off of different actions, whatever. You aren't making shots at a high level. And it's because you've only trained part of the skill. You didn't train the beginning context of it.
So, if you're working on a skill or you're doing a drill or a workout that you get from somebody, make sure you ask yourself first, "What is my goal here? What do I want to be better at? And how exactly is this going to apply to what I need?" And then when you're actually in your workouts, you be very purposeful and very mindful. You want to do your best to stay off of autopilot, which usually you see it when players are doing like shooting workouts. They just get in the gym and they basically shut their mind off for an hour and just shoot. Or while they're shooting, probably more commonly, they're thinking about what they're going to eat for dinner. They're thinking about what their friends said to them earlier. They're thinking about what they're going to do after the workout. They're not actually focused and present, and they get into a game and they have to actually be present and they struggle to lock in and be successful then.
So, a couple of ways for you to be able to get off autopilot and add context to your training. First of all, I think it's important to add pressure, especially when you're shooting. So, instead of just shooting to a certain number, give yourself a challenge. So, you have to make three in a row. You have to make four out of five. You have to make six without missing two in a row. Something where you have to actually lock in and feel the pressure that comes along with going after a goal, which is the exact same pressure you're going to feel in a game. Another great way to add some of that context to your training is to use visualization as much as possible when you're training. Just simply visualizing yourself being in different game situations. Maybe you're doing a ball-handling drill and you're envisioning that there's a defender who's pressuring you, or you're doing a shooting drill, you're envisioning that you're in a game and you know your teammate just may have passed you, or a defender's closing out to you, or whatever. Mentally putting yourself in those situations is going to help you to be able to apply that way better in a game because visualization is such a powerful tool that we can use.
And then the biggest key to this is to play more. You learn the best about the context of how to apply things when you actually are in those situations. So, I always say if I could go back to when I was a player, I would have at least one day a week where I would play one-on-one for an hour. Like, I would I would get a teammate or a couple of teammates and we would just go to the gym and play one-on-one. Now, we would do it with constraints, just meaning that there would be rules. So, we might say, "All right, we're going to start on the wing. It's going to be a 5-second shot clock," or "going to start at the top of the key. You have four dribbles," or "we're going to play full-court one-on-ones and there's a shot clock." Whatever. We would make it very game-like with those constraints. But that's how you really build skill because we can work a lot on those first two pieces, the perception and the decision. And then on top of that, we can also work the action in those moments. So get a teammate, get a friend, play one-on-one for 30 minutes, 45 minutes, an hour, once, couple times a week, whatever you can do, and then go play more five-on-five. That's where you figure out how to actually apply those things that you're training. But again, it all goes back to when you select things to work on, be purposeful about it. The problem with social media and training specifically is that a lot of the people in it are in it for followers and they're in it for clicks and they're in it for views, and it's much easier to get views with flashy drills and gimmicky workouts, and all that stuff might seem well, but when you really dive into it and say, "Is this going to help me with what I need to get better at?" A lot of times the answer to that is no. So be purposeful with what you choose to do, and that's going to go a long way in making sure that the work you put in actually translates into in-game results.
The second reason why a lot of times players put in all this work and they don't see results in games is because the way that they're training is not preparing them for their role or what they're going to be asked to do in games. I just gave this example the other day about Mitchell Robinson, who in the offseason was playing pickup shooting these step-back threes, but then gets into the playoffs and can't make a free throw to save his life. And so that's kind of what I mean by this. And players do this on a much bigger scale. For example, a lot of players are going to train like their Kobe Bryant in the offseason, or they're going to train like their LaMelo Ball or their Trae Young, and they're going to take all these difficult, crazy shots, but then they get into the season and their coach needs them to be able to make catch-and-shoot threes, consistently finish around the rim, and be good with straight-line drives, and they haven't worked on those things and they haven't prepared themselves to excel in the role they're being asked. Now, I'm not telling you to not try and expand what you're capable of doing and expand your role, but the first step of it is if you're given a role, you've got to be able to execute in that role. And then once you once you excel in that, that's when your role can expand. But you have to make sure that you you're taking care of those things first.
So, you need to make sure that you're training for the role that you actually are going to play, and you're not training based on highlights that you see online. You have to ask yourself, "What does my coach actually need from me? And what's my role when I'm on the court?" Now, if you don't have an answer for that, maybe you're on a new team or whatever, you don't have an answer for it, then you need to focus on developing the most high-leverage skills, meaning skills that are going to give you the best bang for your buck. No matter what team you're on, what system you play, and what position you are, these things are going to be asked of you, and you need to be able to do them at a high level. So, these are things like spot-up catch-and-shoot threes. So, coming off of driving kicks, coming off of extra passes, coming off of pin downs or transition, handling ball pressure. If you're a point guard, then being able to handle pressure in the full-court one-on-one is important. But even if you're not someone with the ball in your hands a lot, being able to handle pressure in the half court is a super valuable skill to have. So that should be a staple in terms of the things that you're training. Going back to what I mentioned about the one-on-one stuff earlier, this is a great way to develop that ability to handle pressure: get a teammate, play one-on-one. One of the the versions I love to use is that you have to start off with a foul. So you're just kind of dribbling in place. The defense has to foul you, and you have to play through the foul and go try and score. That's a great way to work on being able to handle physicality, handle pressure. Other high-leverage skills are being able to play good team defense. So, being able to play help defense in the gap on the weak side, being able to close out successfully, and then being able to make quick 0.5 decisions. So, not overdribbling the basketball every time you touch it, but catch it. Do I have a shot? No. Do I have a drive? No. Okay, I'm moving the ball. And being really good at playing good team basketball on offense is another area that you really need to focus on because it's a very high-leverage skill. These are the skills that will get you on the court, that will get you more minutes, get you more opportunities, and are ultimately going to make you way more successful. So ask yourself, "Am I spending a lot of time developing these skills?" The players who succeed know who they are, and they train like it, and that's why they're successful.
The third reason why you're not seeing those results in games, even though you're putting in a ton of work, is because you haven't developed your basketball IQ to a high enough level yet. All that everybody talks about is training your body, training the physical skills. There's a million skills programs out there. There's a million trainers out there who are all talking about how to become a better shooter, how to become a better ball handler. Like I said, you already have to be able to sift through a lot of that stuff because you have to know, "Does this apply to me or does it not?" And a lot of times it doesn't, but it looks good, it's popular, and so people do it. But while everybody's over there so focused on that, the most important part of being successful as a player, which is who you are, the way that you think, your decision-making, your confidence level, that stuff is the most important thing. And if you don't work on developing that, then it's going to be a very, very big struggle for you to actually get on the court and play.
One of the biggest mistakes that players make is that they put all this time in in the offseason to training their skills and they get back the next season thinking that they're going to be a completely different player, and they're not. And the reason for that isn't because they don't work hard. It's not because they haven't done enough to develop their skills. They probably are more skilled. Maybe they're bigger, faster, stronger. They've done all the right things with that. But they're still the same person, meaning they still think the same way. They still have the same level of confidence. And because of that, they aren't able to actually capitalize and use the new skills that they've developed. And I see this over and over and over again. I experienced it as a player. And it's a mistake that you have to avoid. You can't accomplish what you want to accomplish unless you change who you are at your core. You have to be able to do that. And that's why so many players, even the players who are super skilled, will get into games and they'll hesitate. They'll second-guess themselves, or they'll fade into the background and they'll just be super inconsistent with the way that they play because they haven't developed their ability to read the defense, to recognize advantages, to make good decisions on the court, and to understand what their coach is looking for in real time. That's what basketball IQ allows you to do. And the problem is that most players hit their ceiling with that. And so, no matter how much more skilled you get, you're stuck at the same level that you're at right now.
So, just like you would break down a move or a specific finish or maybe your shooting form, you need to break down the game when it comes to basketball IQ, decision-making, and the different reads associated with the game. Start asking questions like, "What should I be doing without the ball in my hands? What's my best option in this situation? How do I create advantages consistently?" Watch more film, not just random highlights, but full games or full possessions or clips of games of players that play like you or that have a skill that you're trying to develop as well. Watch your own game film back and pinpoint one or two areas that you want to improve on and just focus on watching those and figuring out opportunities you may have missed where you can be better. And going back to what I said earlier, play more basketball and look to apply these things. When you take the way that you train your mind and train your basketball IQ as seriously as you take the way that you train your physical on-court skills, that's when you become a completely different player. Your confidence becomes automatic, and you don't hesitate or second-guess yourself. You just play because you're confident that you're going to make the right decisions and you're going to make a high impact every time you're on the court.
Now, if you make these three things a focal point this offseason, that's when you're really going to start to see the work that you put in actually translate into crazy in-game results. You'll go from the player who puts in all the work and yet is still being passed up by players who don't work as hard, maybe even aren't as skilled as them, and you'll become the player who plays with unshakable confidence and performs consistently every time they play. Like I mentioned earlier, if you want to achieve something new on the basketball court, then the first step of that is changing who you are, the way you think about the game, the way that you view yourself—that's going to make a bigger impact than anything else you can do. And that's why I created the basketball IQ master class, which is a completely free master class. It's an hour long where we break down how to score more, how to create more, how to play with confidence, how to read the game, how to make better decisions. And when you just take the stuff in there and you apply it to your training, apply it to your games, it's going to make a massive impact for you. Like I said, it's completely free. It's the top link down below. Like I said, it's completely free. It's the top link down below in the description. Make sure you check that out. It's one of the best things you can do if you're serious about making sure that your work actually translates into in-game success. Hopefully this video gave you some ideas on how to make sure that you capitalize on the time you have this offseason. Appreciate you for watching. Talk soon.