If You Don’t See the Game Like This…You’ll Keep Getting Passed Over

Players are so skilled, so athletic at younger and younger ages and the game is rapidly progressing. So when you look at it from that perspective, it's never been harder to make it as a basketball player. But the great news in all of that is that it actually opens up a massive opportunity for players who are paying attention. Because while the game is more skilled and athletic than ever, the level of basketball IQ is lacking significantly. And that has not progressed the same way that those other things have. I talked to high school coaches, college coaches all the time and they reiterate the same thing. Players are so talented, but yet their understanding and their IQ when it comes to actually playing the game and making the right decisions consistently is severely lacking. So if you want to stand out, you want to get ahead, and you want to compete in a world where basketball has never been more competitive that you have to make it your mission to become a high IQ player. High IQ players see the game in a completely different way than most. The average player is so focused on the short term, they want to get on TikTok and learn a new move. They want, they want to go to the gym and practice all their dribble combos and step back threes. The high Q player has a much bigger and more long term view of how to develop themselves as basketball players. They're going to work on the things that actually matter. They're going to prepare themselves mentally to take advantage of the situations that they're going to see in games. It's like they're playing chess and most players are playing checkers. They know how to create advantages and spot defensive weaknesses. They know how to time their cuts perfectly. They understand spacing where they should be, where their teammates should be, and they control the entire flow of the game, all without needing crazy athleticism or a crazy deep big bag. And as a coach and somebody who watches a ton of basketball, the players who are like this stand out so much. This is the best opportunity that there is right now in the game of basketball. So if you want to become that high IQ player, I'm going to tell you exactly how to start seeing the game that way and exactly how you can train yourself to make sure that you're the best at this. A player who doesn't have a high basketball IQ, who doesn't see the game the way that a high IQ player would, they see very surface level. They see who has the ball, they see, they see who they're supposed to be guarding and they see whether or not they're open. But they miss the most Important part of the game on offense, and those are potential advantages to exploit. A high IQ player is constantly scanning the floor to look for potential advantages. There's different types of advantages. So we have what I call momentum advantage, meaning a closeout is coming. A defender is bringing their momentum towards you. They're in a vulnerable state. A high IQ player understands the best time for them to drive is when they see that. So they're constantly scanning and hunting every time they catch the ball. Do I have that momentum advantage to attack you? They recognize when a side is empty or there's no gap help right next to them. And they know that all they have to do is get a step on the guy in front of them and they put their head down and drive. They're probably going to get fouled or get to the basket. And they also recognize when there's no help defense. So they know same thing. If I can get a step on my first defender, I have nobody else to be. And that's the best time to drive. A low IQ player is probably going to try and drive into gap hope. They're going to try and drive into good weak side help. And so it's going to be really hard for them to be consistent, no matter how skilled or athletic that they are. There's a term that's called affordances, which just means opportunities to act. And a low IQ player or an average player isn't going to recognize opportunities to act. They're not going to see opportunities to attack an advantage. If you want to become a player who consistently performs on the court, you need to expand your recognition of different affordances and your understanding of opportunities. And by doing that, you're going to see way more and you're going to be able to capitalize on that and be way more consistent and perform at a higher level going along with more advantages. We also could have a turtle or a mouse situation. So turtle just meaning a defender who's slower than you get switched onto you or is guarding you or a mouse. A defender that's smaller than you. And they see those situations not just for themselves, but for their teammates as well. So their teammate sets a screen, the defense switches, and all of a sudden we have a mouse situation. And they know to get their teammate the ball right there because that's the advantage that we want to attack. The biggest thing that high IQ players do is see the game from the standpoint of advantages and disadvantages. And if you start to look at the game that way, the game is going to become very simple and you're going to perform way better, way more consistently kind of going with that High IQ players recognize defensive rotations and they're able to exploit that. The most common form of this is making a quick extra pass. So you see the ball gets kicked out to you and there's one defender who's rotating to you, but you know that there's nobody to rotate to the guy who's next to you. So you make that quick extra pass to your teammate who's wide open. They have a shot or they have a drive and, and so they understand the numbers. Is it a two on one on this side, do I have a defender who's coming to me, meaning it's going to leave my teammate open. And that type of advantage really helps set them apart on the court. The third thing is timing and spacing and this is huge. This is probably the biggest differentiator that I see on a day to day basis, along with the lack of recognizing advantages is that players who are average struggle to understand the importance of timing and spacing when it comes to performing consistently. A high IQ player knows when to cut. So they know, hey, if my defender turns away from me and is looking at the ball when they're in help, that's going to be a time where I want to try and cut to the basket. A good cue that I've seen is that if you can see their back, you want to attack. So if your defenders in help and their backs turn to you, you want to cut to the basket, they're not going to be able to see you. And you can, you can steal easy points doing that just by hunting that situation right there. Being purposeful. They also look for opportunities to cut whenever the help defense gets really focused on the ball. So if their teammate drives on the other side and everybody turns to stop or look at that drive, the they cut right away. If the ball gets put into the post and everybody turns to look or help in the post, they cut right away because they know they're going to be open. They understand the importance of relocation. So when their teammate drives, they relocate up or down in order to create a passing lane that their defender who's in help isn't going to be able to impact so that their teammate has them open for a kick out. That's how you a subtle thing that goes into creating open shots and open drives. The fourth thing that high IQ players do that the average player doesn't do is they they are purposeful and they know how to read different actions. The game of basketball and offense is very simple. It's a game of actions and concepts. We have to get away from the idea that the game is all about just how skilled you are physically, how many drill moves you can do, how well you can shoot. That stuff matters when it comes to executing. But if you don't understand how to read different actions and different concepts, you're going to struggle to manufacture consistent offense for yourself. So the most common action and the one that players most often don't know how to read and they don't utilize effectively are away screens or pinned downs. A high Q player understands that when there's an action like a pin down, it forces the defense to do something. That's all that an action is. It's. It's something that the offense does that forces a response from the defense. So when they're coming off of a pin down, their defender is going to have to react in some sort of way to guard it. So they're going to have to go under it, over it. They're going to have to overplay it and force a back to a cut, try and fight through it, whatever. And a smart offensive player is going to use that against them. So they know, hey, if I'm a shooter and so my defender is chasing me over screens, then I want to curl around the screen because they're going to be trailing me. And then I essentially can have a layup coming off because my defender is behind me, or if they go under it, I'm going to flare out to the perimeter because now my defender's got to go under the screen and then close out to the wing so I've got a shot or I have an attack. They also know if their defender is overplaying the screen or if they're really trying hard to fight through it, then they want a backdoor cut because their defender is out of position and they're going to be able to again, probably get a layup out of that. A high IQ screener is going to understand that if they switch an action, I want to slip to the basket because it means that that space is going to be vulnerable because of that switch. If you click the top link down below, I have a free basketball IQ masterclass where I go through these actions in depth and even more actions as well that are super important for you to understand. Like I said, the game is actions and concepts. So if you don't know how to be purposeful and use these at a high level, you're not going to be very successful. And, and on the contrary, Like I mentioned, even if you're not the best athlete or the best player on the court, if you know how to use what the defense does against them, you're going to be able to be consistent and perform on the court even against players who maybe are better than you. So that masterclass is the top link down below is completely free. Make sure you check that out, take notes. It's going to be huge for you. With these next couple, I kind of want to dive even deeper to like the next layer of having a high basketball iq. This is players who have really mastered the mental side of the game. This is the habits that they have that the majority of players don't. But it will set you apart so quickly. The first thing is that these players understand the flow of the game and momentum. So they know if they haven't scored in the last few possessions or the team hasn't scored, they're struggling. Well, they have to know, hey, what's the best thing that we can get to to get ourselves a look here? We just got to get one to go. So maybe it's a certain set that your team has, maybe it's a certain action that's been working. But a lot of times a low IQ players is going to keep going and going and going and not thinking about how does the flow of the game, how is what happened the last three, four possessions, how does it have to impact what we do right now? A high IQ player is going to understand that and they're going to get to their strong suit, their team strong suit in those moments. Likewise, they're also going to know who on the floor has the hot hand. So did someone just hit a three? Well, now I got to make sure that next time that I drive and someone steps in and they're open, I have to give them the ball. Even if I maybe could make a layup or maybe I get fouled and I go to the free throw line, that guy is his heating up. He's at two threes. I got to get him the ball again. We got to ride the hot hands. They might know that the defense just subbed in somebody who's not a good defender. And so now they know, hey, we got to go and attack that person right there. There's our advantage to go at really all of this is what people would refer to as being in control of the game. So you look at somebody like LeBron James and the way that he just has a complete control over everything that's happening on the court is because he understands the Game within the game when it comes to momentum and the flow of the game. The next thing is that high IQ players understand defensive tendencies. So they pick up very quickly if a defender is susceptible to biting on pass fakes or shot fakes. They know if a defender is overplaying in passing lanes or is weak in gap help. Maybe that defender struggles to guard a certain direction, or maybe they're really bad when it comes to closing out and it's a great time to attack. They understand just by observing what's going on, where the weaknesses are in the defense. And the last thing I want to talk about the high Q players do is that they see the bigger picture. Average players, like I mentioned before, are so focused on the short term. Who am I guarding? Do I have the ball? Do I not have the ball? Am I open? Am I not open? And that's what they're focused on. But a high IQ player sees the entire game so they understand how their actions impact the team as a whole. For example, they might go and set a screen to free up one of their teammates and that teammate, maybe they're on a heater right now and so they free him up for a three or you know, maybe he sets the screen with the intention of creating a switch. And that high IQ player, does that understand that they're not going to get any sort of credit for that from the normal person. That's not going to show up in the stat sheet. But what they just did was create a high IQ winning play and that makes him a valuable player. What it all goes back to is expanding the way you view the game from short term surface level to big picture and team focused. If you are constantly focused on what am I contributing to help my team win right now and you're able to give an answer to that, that makes you a high IQ player, makes you a really valuable player. And that's what the best of the best do when it comes to guys who can impact the game because of their mindset. I want to give you a couple things you can do quick to learn these things to reinforce them. Really simple one is anytime you're watching the game, you're watching a college game, pro game, whatever, and you notice a player who's constantly making just smart plays, smart decisions. Watch them. In fact, if you know, hey, in this game this player is a really smart player, go the entire game and only watch that player. Don't watch anything else that happens. Don't watch the ball, it doesn't matter. Only watch what that player does and Pick up on patterns. Okay, they keep doing that. Oh, when the defense does that, they do this. Their teammate just made a shot. How does that impact what they do in the next possession? Right there. That's how you pick up. You use observational learning to be able to recognize those things. And then on top of that, think to yourself, how can I apply this stuff to my games, to the situations that I might find myself in? Get really good at reading the game, the actions, the concepts. Dive in and study those things. Like I mentioned, I have a free masterclass down below that goes into those things in depth. So definitely check that out. And that's going to put you on the right path. It's going to help you to impact the game at a higher level the next time you play, just by going through that. So make sure you check that out as well. You combine those two things, you're going to become a way smarter player. And like I mentioned, the game has never been more competitive. It's never been better in terms of skill or athleticism, but there's a severe lack when it comes to players who are smart. So if you want to stand out, you want to help your team win, and ultimately you want to create more opportunities, this is what you need to do. Like I mentioned, check out that masterclass down below. I appreciate you for watching. Talk soon. Peace.