How To Make 2024 The BEST Year Of Your Basketball Career (So Far)

Right now, I'm going to tell you exactly how you can make 2024 the best year of your basketball career yet. Regardless of how your 2023 was, whether it was a year of massive success for you or if you really struggled, as cliche as it sounds, 2024 is a chance for you to redefine everything. I've seen it myself with countless players. One year can literally change your entire life if you use it correctly. Right now, we're going to go through three things you absolutely need to do if you want to make this the best year of your basketball career yet. And I guarantee if you commit to doing these things, you'll be a completely different player and different person probably a lot sooner than you even think. Let's get into it. So the first thing that I think is crucial if you want to make this your best year yet. And I think this is a point that doesn't get talked about nearly enough, but it's really what separates the best players from everybody else, and that's just having an understanding of the game. So you have to find a way to challenge yourself to learn the game on a deeper level. And I think this is one of the biggest things that holds players back, because I see it a lot with players that I'm around. Do you really behave like a student of the game? Right. Everybody knows the basics, and everybody loves to go out and play and run around. And if you're watching this, you probably like working out and you enjoy the process of getting better. That's obviously a super crucial aspect of becoming great as a player. But I think what's also important, and I think even at times more important when it comes to, like, taking another step forward, is really having a true expert understanding of the game and all the actions behind the game. Right. Do you really understand the why behind what you're doing, or are you just kind of out there doing things and hoping that it works for you? Because if you don't really understand what you're doing and why you're doing it, it's going to be hard to really take continuous take steps forward over and over again. And you're never going to reach your ceiling as a player if you don't have that understanding of why you're doing what you're doing and whether or not what you're doing is the best way of doing things. Right. Having the ability to think critically when it comes to that. Right there. So I think when we talk about an understanding, what I really mean is, like, the actions behind the game like, do you understand these things? So let's take some in common. You probably know what a ball screen is. Most players understand what a ball screen is, but do you understand the different reads to make when it comes to different ball screen coverages? So if your defender plays over it and maybe they don't really get hit by the screen, do you understand what, why you, like how or why you would flip that ball screen, right? Do you understand that read right there? Let's say you're playing as a blitz coverage or a double coming off a ball screen. How would you, how would you go against that coverage, right? What are the, what are the options? What are the reads when it comes to that? How about if that defender plays over and they play drop coverage, right? Then, then what is your re. What is your decision making there? Do you understand how to read the tag defender so that you know, if you have the ball in the slot, screener comes at your screen, you have a teammate in the corner. Do you know how to read that corner? Your teammate in the corner's defenders, you know how to read them. The tag defender on that ball screen, that will tell you, hey, am I going to the role or am I going to guy in the corner? Like, do you understand that concept when it comes to the action of a ball screen? Every player knows what a ball screen is. But does every player understand what I just went through when it comes to the action, the different reads out of the action? I would say no. A lot of players don't understand that and they don't understand the why behind things. So let's take that same action, right? Do you know, do you understand how to be that, like we talked about that, that corner guy? Do you understand how to be that corner guy? Do you understand? Okay, well, when do I lift on a ball screen, right? Like, how do I create a good angle for my teammate to get a pass to me? When do I not lift, right? Depending on how my. How the screener plays it, when am I staying in the corner? Like, these are certain things that you have to be able to understand as a player. And you know, we can get into like the screeners role right there. So if you're someone who sets ball screens, even if you aren't, you should understand these things, right? When am I looking to roll or short roll or pop or flip that ball screen as that screener? Like, do I understand those sorts of things? And all that goes into one sort of action, which is a ball screen. So do you understand those things as a player, right? There. How about, let's talk a different action, a closeout. So do I understand how you create closeouts both for myself and for my teammates? And do I understand why I should be hunting those closeouts right there? Like, do I understand the why behind that right there? How about going with that? How do you know how to create shots for your teammates effectively through driving kicks or knowing when to make the extra pass? Or again, creating closeouts for them with the way that you're driving and the passes that you're making, do you understand how to do those things as well? Do you understand how to read and use different cuts on pin downs? So if your defender chases you over a pin down, like, how do you read that? Like, what's the read right there? If they go under it, what's the read right there? If they overplay it, what's the read right there? Do I understand those things? How about what to do as a screener in those pin down situations? So if the teammate you're sending the screen for, if they tight curl it to the basket, what are you doing as a screener? Or if they flare out to the wing, what are you doing as that screener right there? Those are all important things to understand what those actions as well. And then going along with that, like how do you move out the basketball? So when do you cut? Like when's a good time to make a cut? Like a good opportunistic time for you to hunt those, those cut opportunities. And you know, when do you slip screens or dive to the basket? And you know, when do you seal or post up having that understanding of just that off ball movement as well. And obviously we can talk defensively to like, do you understand how to take away options, right? Do you understand, first of all, hey, this guy has this strength and here's how I can take that away, enforce this. I think a really important thing is off ball defense. So do you understand how to play good gap help? Do you understand how to be good on like weak side help and rotations right there, do you understand those things as well? Because that's really, really important too. So I've linked videos above throughout this that have kind of gone through a lot of those things that I just mentioned right there. So make sure you check those out as well because again, they'll help you if you're lost right here. You have no idea what I'm talking about. Those videos will help you to have an understanding and it's really, really important that you know these things if you want to be a great player and continue to take steps forward right there. And like I said, a lot of players feel like they have a grasp on the game, but yet a lot of things that I just mentioned are foreign to them. Right. And so if that's the case for you, like, you have to commit this year to really increasing your understanding of the game. And not just the what, but also the why, why am I doing this? Why is this the right decision in the situation right there? And so when we talk about how do you actually learn these things, right. How do you actually start to understand the game on a deeper level? I think the first thing is you need to continuously ask questions, right? Be obsessed with learning and figuring these things out, be willing to admit when you don't know something and use the resources that you have available to learn these things. Right? So obviously when I say that you have your coaches that you're around, right? But also you have the Internet. Like, you have so many different things out there that can help you to be able to learn these things. A simple search on YouTube or Google is going to come up with a lot of answers for you and a lot of, you know, stuff that's going to help you to be able to learn those sorts of things. And there's a ton of people on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok who have a good understanding of the game, who share a lot of really, really good knowledge. So there's no excuse to not know these things if you really, really want to. And so that's the first thing to understand is just be a learner, like have that learner's mindset. Something we'll touch on in a second here as well. But the second thing is play and be purposeful. So you want to start to recognize these things as you play more, right? So, you know, can you focus on adding off ball movement when you're playing in your pickup games or whatever the case may be, Right. Maybe that's something that you've been studying a lot. And then, you know, you go into that, into those situations, purposeful, saying, hey, I'm going to try and hunt these situations. Like, I've seen this work, I've studied this. So I'm going to try and be purposeful. When I find myself in that situation, I'm going to try and make something happen right there. Eventually, as that starts to become more of a habit, you start to figure out just kind of intuitively when to do those things. Okay, well, now I really want to focus on closeouts. So creating closeouts, hunting them, attacking Those closeouts right there. That's another thing that you can start to add in and be purposeful by trying to get to it and add that to your game right there. You know, then maybe after that you go with ball screens or whatever the case may be. But it's, it's important that you are purposeful with doing this because you can study as much as you want to and I'm gonna, That's how we started off. It's important that you do those things and you can spend all the time in the world doing that, but eventually you have to go out and do right, because it's different when you're actually the one on the court doing those things versus watching. So you want to do both, but you have to make sure that eventually you go out and you do those things. But you're not just going on the court and just existing. You've got to go out with a purpose, trying to get better at something, trying to add something to your game right there. You got to put yourself to be that right. And really as simple as it is, it's committing to doing these two things right. Going out and asking questions and being a learner and then going out and doing and being purposeful. Doing that two step process over and over and over and over again is how you really develop a true deep understanding of the game which is going to allow you to excel at a whole new level and it's going to open up so many different things for you in every area of the game. So really, really important that we start off this year with that focus in mind. The second thing that's really important when it comes to making this your best year yet is you need to put yourself in learning mode as much as possible. We have two different modes when it comes to basketball and I think the, you know, these two modes are learning mode and performance mode. I think the best way to describe this is to think about your mindset when it comes to how you approach a game, right? A game like a real game where there's a scoreboard and records are being kept and like, you know, things actually matter there. You know, the goal is to win that school goal was to win the game by any means necessary. And at the end of the day, whether you win that game by one point or you win it by 60, it's another, it's just another plus one in the, in the wins category. That's all that it is. And it doesn't matter if it was an ugly win or a great win. It's A plus one in the win category. If you. If you get that w. If it's very surface level, where all that really matters is the. Is the win or the loss. You know, if you have a season, you go 200 in that season, that's a successful season, because all that matters in those moments is the. Is the wins. That's the mindset you're in when you're in performance mode, right? All that matters is, like, the surface level outcome. Did I win or did I not? So it's not. It really, in those moments, is all about just performing the best that you can. So don't turn the ball over, right? Make every shot, finish all of your layups. Like those are like, that's what leads to those outcomes happening right there. If you make it through a season making all of your shots, that's a successful season right there. However, if you take that same mindset, that performance mindset, and you bring it into the offseason with you, you're never going to make as much progr as you could, and you're never going to become the player that you could be, because that's not conducive to you actually improving and taking your game to a new level. So instead, we have to flip that switch and be in learning mode. And this is where the. The. Those surface level outcomes don't matter. Right? It's different than it is when we're talking about an actual game where that surface level win or loss, like that's all that matters. And in the off season, when we're trying to get better, the surface level win, loss in the moment actually doesn't really matter at all to us. So a workout can't just be judged by how many shots we made or what percentage of shots you made or how many times you didn't lose the ball. At least that can't be the only thing that we judge our workouts by, right? A drill isn't. Wasn't good just because you made every layup. And instead we have to judge how successful a workout is. A drill is a pickup game is based on how much challenge we faced in that particular workout. Drill, pickup game. So I meant this before, but an important thing for you to understand is what's called the Goldilocks principle. All that it means is that you want to essentially be in. In a situation where you're only succeeding in your workouts or your drills about 40 to 80% of the time, maybe 30 to 70% of the time, right? You want to be kind of in that middle area, right? 30 to 70% of the you're successful. And the rest of the time. So that opposite, you know, on the. On the flip side, right there, there's 30 to 70% of the time where you might be unsuccessful. You might fail, you might miss the shot, you might miss the leg, you might turn the ball over, you might lose the ball, right? We want to be in that kind of middle area because at the end of the day, it's a simple reason. Skill is a mental thing, right? Your brain becomes more and more efficient at something as you become more skilled. But your brain is only going to respond and become more skilled if it's forced to. If there's no challenge, if your brain isn't being challenged or forced to get better, then it has no reason to improve, right? Why? Why would it? Because ultimately, the number one function of your brain is to keep you alive. That is the number one function of your brain. So why would it waste energy getting better at something unless it's forced to do it? Because it could use that same energy to figure out how you're going to get your next meal, which you need to survive, or how you're going to escape the bear that's chasing you in the woods, right? What you need to do if you want to survive, or you know how to build a shelter to protect yourself from the elements, right? What you need to survive. Like your brain is going to save energy for moments like that unless it's forced to improve at something. And that only way it's going to happen is if you put yourself in challenging situations, right? And so you have to force improvement. If you're succeeding most of the times in your workouts, then you're. You're not going to be getting better at the rate you could be. Because why, why, why would your brain waste that energy on doing that when it's already being successful at the tasks that you're asking it to do? So you have to ask your brain to do more difficult things, and that's going to force that improvement to happen. So the mistake that a lot of players make is that they think that they want to go into workouts and get as close to 100% success as possible. Obviously, that should be your goal, but the stuff that you're doing should be challenging enough that it's not a realistic thing that you're going to go in there and be successful 100% of the time, or even 90 or 80% of the time. There should be a lot of mistakes, a lot of failure, a lot of Mess ups a lot of challenge throughout all of the things that you're doing when it comes to getting better, and when you stay in that Goldilocks zone where you're only succeeding 30 to 70% of the time, your brain realizes that it isn't being successful at the rate that it should be. Therefore, it forces adaptation, and that's how you actually get better. So how do you prioritize being in this learning mode as much as possible? Number one is seek challenge, right? So go find the best players you can and play against them. Even if it means that you're losing a lot, even it means that you're never winning or you're getting just destroyed, like, that's okay, because that's going to be significantly better for you when it comes to improvement than if you're going and playing as people that you're always beating. Right? Because again, even if you are in the moment struggling and not feeling like you're playing very well or feeling like you're, like you're really bad in comparison to those. Those other players, by you struggling and you being challenged, you. Your brain is going to find ways to force improvement. So if you really want to get better, if that's your main goal, you want to put yourself in situations where you're going to be uncomfortable because it's going to be challenging, that's the best place you can possibly be in right there. So that's the first thing. Second thing is you want to start to challenge yourself more in your workouts, right? So if most of your drills have you succeeding, 80%, 90%, 100% of the time, that you need to find ways to make those drills challenging, make them harder, so that your brain is forced to improve and going with that, start judging your workouts based on what percentage of the time was I in that Goldilocks zone? Right. That optimal zone of improvement is another way of putting it right there. How. How much time did I spend in that optimal zone of improvement? And if I was able to spend 90% of my workout in that optimal zone of improvement, then that's a successful workout. If I spend a lot of my workout succeeding every single rep, right, you're doing the mic and drill, and you can, you can make a hundred in a row. That's not challenging. Like, you're not challenging yourself right there. So you're not putting yourself in that optimal state of improvement right there, but you find ways to maybe make the mic and drill harder. And okay, I'm, you know, going to add certain things that are going to make it so that, oh, the momentum is different, my angles are different. Now all of a sudden I'm starting to miss a little bit more. And now all of a sudden there is actual challenge. And now I'm being forced to improve right there, okay? Now I'm actually in that optimal zone of improvement right there. That's how you've got to judge your workouts right there. Not necessarily by how many shots you make or miss or how many layups you make or miss or how many times you do or don't lose the basketball. Think of it like lifting weights, right? If you want to get stronger, you have to lift a weight that's challenging. And as you get stronger, you have to continue to increase those weights so that you continue to get stronger. It's the same thing with building skill from a basketball perspective. You have to continue to increase that challenge as you get better so you stay in that optimal zone of improvement so that we force your brain to adapt and ultimately become, you know, help you become more skilled right there. So if you commit to being in that learning mode as much as possible in 2024, that will help lead you to having the best year of your basketball career thus far right there. And the last thing that it's important we talk about making this your best year yet is you want to get clear on what it is that you actually want. So what skills do you want to develop, right? Do you want to become a great three point shooter? Do you want to become a great ball handler? Do you want to earn a starting spot? Do you want to make the team? Right? Do you want to make it to the next level? Whatever it may be, write it down in as much detail as possible. What is it that you want for this year? When that can be a goal in terms of, hey, I want to, like I said, I want to make this team. Or it can be just for you, like, okay, I want to be better at this, I want to become great at this, right? But write it down in detail as much as you can. Write about it. Just write until you can't write anything else. Once we take that, we're going to go even deeper. So think about how we started off here, where we're trying to go deeper into having an understanding of the game. Not just the what, but the why behind it, right? So here we have the what in terms of what we want, but then we have to go deeper and ask ourselves, how, how are we going to do these things? So then after you have that what, how, what is it you're going to do this year that's going to push you towards those goals that you have. And when you're very clear about what it is that you want and how you're going to go after it, then at that point, you know, we're able to kind of clearly define what it's going to take to get there, and we can just go after it right there. And again, you have all these different resources at your disposal. And so the important thing is we have an idea of where we want to go, and then we start to build a roadmap for it right there. And as simple as it sounds, I think it's very, very powerful and it's going to help keep you focused right where a lot of players are all over the place trying to do everything at once. When you have a clear focus on what it is that you're trying to improve or what it is you're trying to go after, it's going to help you to stay focused and help you make more progress faster. And that's ultimately what we want right here when we talk about making this the best year yet. So if you do these things, there is a very, very good chance that this is going to be the best year of your basketball career. And it's going to also lay a solid foundation for years to come when it comes to these things. So the habits that this helps you build are going to transcend not. Not. Not just everything when it comes to basketball, but just everything else that you're going to do in life right here. So I think, honestly, this is probably one of the most important videos that I've ever made right here. And I think that it can be one of some important videos that you ever watch as well. Again, if you take these things and you apply them. Like I said, I've seen players completely transform themselves in a year just because they're focused and they do things the right way. And that can absolutely be you if you make a commitment to doing that right now. So hopefully this gave you some ideas on how you can take your what you do to that next level. I appreciate you for watching. Make sure you click that top link in the description down below. Get my free Elite Perimeter Score program, which is going to help give you the workouts that you're going to need to be able to take yourself to that next level. So make sure you check that out. A lot of really, really good stuff inside of that. Again, we talked right there about challenging yourself. These are going to help. These are really going to challenge you a lot, so make sure you check that out. Also, if you guys want my full programs, my scoring program, my ball handling program, shooting program, that'll be linked down below as well. Again, great ways to be able to challenge yourself. And a lot of stuff in that where we we were going through that first point. Okay, learning the game, just important IQ points for you as a shooter, as a ball handler, as a scorer. So a lot of stuff involved in that. So if you're interested, go ahead and check that out down below. Drop a comment, let me know what your goals are for this year. And drop a like subscribe if you're new. Got a lot of stuff coming that relates to this. So the stuff that I talked about, the beginning, all the different actions, if I don't have a video on that now or if I don't have an updated video, a lot of stuff coming on those things as well. So you guys want to learn the game at a deeper level. Make sure you're subscribed. If you are not, I appreciate you for watching. Talk to you soon. Peace.