Q&A Livestream! Training, confidence, bball IQ, and more!

Welcome, everybody. Just wanted to hop on live today, just chop it up with you guys, answer questions, connect with you guys, see where you guys are at, what I can do to help you guys. Oh, going live on my computer. Computer too. Any questions, feel free to drop them. What's good creator value? How we doing, everybody? Yo, what's happening? So, yeah, I'll answer any questions to make it like a Q A. If you guys are into it. We could. We could even watch a little bit of film, just depending on what you guys want to see. Do two ball, ball handling and resistance dribbling actually work? So the answer is, yes, they. They do work. Everything works. I think. I think the thing to understand is, like with basketball, if you have a basketball or two basketballs in your hands enough, you're going to get better at. I just made a video this week talking about becoming a better ball handler because Jamal Crawford talked about how, like, growing up, he didn't do drills. Like, he. He never did drills. He would do. You know, he would play against other people. He would just kind of freestyle and work on, you know, different stuff by himself. But he was never using cones, never using chairs, anything like that. And a big part of it is, like, he would just dribble the ball everywhere he went. Like, he always had a basketball in his hands and, you know, so that was like a big part of the ball just becoming an extension of him. So to answer your question, two ball drills will help. Resistance band dribbling will help. Do I. Do I personally think that they're the best option? No, I think there's better things to do. You should definitely check out the video I just posted where I talked a little bit more in depth about, like, what specifically. But I think in terms of ball handling, the important stuff is, first of all, have a ball as much as possible. I think if, you know, back in the day, you know, maybe even before my time, I was probably towards the end of it, you know, you go down to the park and you dribble a ball with you, and you just be at the park all day and you're always. You always have ball in your hand, right? So again, just becomes like a part of you. And that's how you develop those, like, natural sort of instinctual handles. But then doing different freestyles with the ball, working on your change of pace, your change of height and all that sort of stuff right there. I think it's really important. And then there's definitely stationary stuff you can do. Like I said, two, two ball is not terrible. You can certainly supplement it. But there's other things as well. How can I improve my court vision? Two things. Play as much as possible. And if you can film it and then go back and watch and say, okay, I missed that right there. There's so many things that happen when you're playing that you don't even see. You're very limited in terms of what you're going to see. So if you're able to watch it back after, you'll pick up a ton of stuff that you might have missed and then watch a ton of basketball. Watch guys who have great court vision and see the decisions that they make. And that's going to help you when you play to start to see some of those things as well. You liked my TikTok video? What TikTok was that? How to be a better point guard. Study as much as you possibly can and just do it. And with that, you have to be willing to detach yourself from the outcome of it because you're going to be so worried about, well, do I miss it? Do I make it? And everything's going to feel like the end of the world. You have to be willing to detach from that. And to say, my only job is to try right now is to put myself in that position and learn from it. Eventually you learn, okay, well, when I do this, I make more shots. When I do this, I miss more shots. And to make sure I do more of the first thing, these are situations where I shoot the highest percentage out of these actions. Okay, this is where I notice that I'm missing shots because I'm not getting myself set quick enough. So now I know what to work on and, and you're going to get so much better because of the reps where you, you fail and you look bad. And the difference between a player who's going to build confidence from that and the one who is probably going to lose confidence is the fact that they're okay with not looking good all the time because for them it's a long term thing. If I'm willing to put myself in this position and try, then you know, I'm going to learn a lot from it whether I succeed or I don't succeed. And then I think doing that is going to be like the best thing to, the best way to build confidence. The definition of confidence is your belief that you have what it takes to be successful in a certain situation. So if you don't have that belief, that's why you don't have confidence. And the only way to build that confidence is to actually be successful in that situation and know that you can be. And the first step of it is doing it. And early on especially, don't worry about what the outcome is of it. Worry about what can I learn from all these situations that I put myself in? How can I improve my passing and awareness? I would say the first thing is understand, like, where are my opportunities going to be in terms of as a passer? So are you a point guard who's using a lot of ball screens? Well, you know, how do you get the ball to the roll man more often? How do you get the ball to, you know, kick outs to the wings more often? Or if you're just somebody who, you know, maybe you don't use a lot of ball screens, but you're always attacking closeouts, you're always in transition with the basketball. Where the, where are players going to be in those situations? So I would even like write it down, like, what are the, where are the situations that you're in the most and where are the opportunities for passing? So you're going into games having like, like top of your mind. What is, what likely is going to be my opportunities and that way it's going to be easier for you to actually do that. And then also just watching great passers, right? I think that's the, one of the best ways to learn is watch great passers. Then to, to a point I already made to if you have opportunities to film your games or to watch your film back, go watch it and see the opportunities that you missed because I guarantee you're missing a lot of them because everybody does. You don't see everything when you're actually playing. What's your approach to scoring 20 plus a game very dependent on your situation. But I think the first step of it is building like a baseline of scoring. So this is something that I'm huge on because if every single bucket that you get is because you're in your bag, because you're making a bunch of shots, then it's going to be, it's going to be tough to be consistent because the volume of shots you're going to get isn't a lot, especially at like the high school level. Like you're playing a 32 minute game and that's not a lot of time, especially if you're not like playing the entire game. So if you're relying on, you know, difficult shots, you're relying on specific, you know, moves or whatever to get those points, you're going to be inconsistent. So building a scoring Baseline would be getting out and running in transition, getting a bucket or two every game. Let's say you get two buckets, just scoring layups in transition. There's four points for you. You know, are you able to pull an offensive rebound and score on that? There's another bucket for you. Are you able to cut without the basketball, a 45 cut or, you know, a backdoor cut? Can you get a bucket or two buckets every game off of that? That's eight to 10 points right there. And then from that point that becomes, okay, well, can I hit a couple catch and shoot threes? Can I come off a ball string, get to the basket and get to the free throw line? And that's how you really start to get yourself up towards 15, 20 a game. The first part is building that, scoring baseline, finding those easy, repeatable, simple times to score, and then getting really good at doing that so that you can basically go into every game knowing, okay, my, my minimum is going to be like eight points. Like I'm going to score eight points because I'm going to do the simple things. And I think that's, that's the first part that's really important. What do you think Trae Young does so well to be great as a basketball player at 6 foot? That's a good question. Trae Young is very good at a lot of things. I think one of the first things he's great at is his change of pace. He's so unpredictable. He's very quick, but he also is willing to play slow so that his defender is always guessing on what he's doing. So it's really hard to stay in front of a guy who is going to be playing a 20% speed and then, boom, they're going to hit 100. Now they're down to 50 and now they're back up at 100. Really hard to guard that. The second thing is his shot making ability, right? He's incredible as a three point shooter. He can shoot off the dribble, off the catch. So, you know, like I mentioned earlier to the question about, you know, what should I focus on as someone who's a shooter? One of, I mean, when teams have to respect that, it opens up so much for him getting downhill, so much for him as a passer, whatever. So he's great as a shooter. He's great at his change of pace and then he has a really good like, like in between games. So in terms of like his floaters, his runners, all this sort of stuff, he's elite in those areas because as a guard, especially at that height, like you're just not going to be able to get to the rim every time, like you're not going downhill and dunking on seven footers every play. So his ability to just hit those like tougher floaters, tougher runners allow him to not have to get to the rim as often. And he makes him at a high percentage. So you know, that allows him to score a lot of points. So those are three huge things if you're an undersized guard to, to be great at if you want to be great in games. Hello, I'm new here, but I've just started trying basketball. How should I practice without a hoop? And should I practice by myself or with my friends? To your second question first, I would say if you can practice with your friends as much as you can, right. I think there's a lot of value in practicing by yourself. Working on whether it be your shooting form, especially if you're new just being around a basket and working on shooting layups, that's huge. So I would definitely do that as much as you can. But then also playing with your friends is great. Train with your friends, play two on two, play three on three, play one on one, whatever. And you're going to learn a lot about how to actually apply your skills. And it's also going to tell you about where you need to focus on, right. If you're struggling with a certain, a certain maybe you know, what's with your left hand drives. Now you have something that you can focus on, but you get feedback from doing that. So I think that is a really important thing. Practicing without a hoop, I would do a ton with ball handling for sure. But then you also like to shoot. To work on your shooting. You don't necessarily need a hoop for it. One of the things that I like to do is we will call it line shooting. So we'll just get to like any of the lines on the court. So you know, it could be the free throw line, it could be the sideline, half court, whatever. And you're just going to work on shooting the ball directly up in the air and trying to have it land straight on that line. So working with being able to shoot the ball straight, which is, which is probably of like the foundational when you really break down shooting. Can you shoot the ball straight? If you can do that consistently, then you give yourself a much better chance of being a great shooter. So that's a way you can work on shooting without a basket. Tips on how to push off legally or just use your off arm anyways, I think using your off arm is huge. Probably actually going back to the question about Trey Young, that's another thing he does really, really well is he uses his off arm to not just protect the basketball, but actually to make defenders pay for, you know, when they reach against him and he can really put them out of position just by swiping with his off arm. He's one of those guys who he always toes the line of is this legal? Is it not? Because he'll grab defenders arms and kind of move them out of the way if they're reaching. He's really good at doing that. So developing that ability of just whenever you feel a defender reaching, swiping with that off arm, it's going to put them out of position because of the reach and then you can go and attack them because of that right there. All of it is just a balance, right? You can't overdo it. But I feel like, you know, especially on, like the, on the, on the guy's side, like on the, on the women's side. I've worked with some really, really good women's players and that just, it just, it just gets called way more the off arm swipe for the offensive player. Like you get called for offensive files way more on the guy side of things. I don't really see it get called very often. Like, it's very. I can't even think of the last time I saw an off arm swipe get called. So I wouldn't worry too much about it. As long as you're not like extending or you know, really reaching far to try and swipe. Like if it's. If they're already reaching at you, the ref is usually on your side with that anyway. But just build the habit of doing that anytime that there's a reach or anytime even that you're like trying to drive past them on that first step, just get used to swiping that off arm. It's a great habit to build and like I said, it's one of the things that makes a player like Trae Young so hard to guard. How to play overseas, becoming. It's different obviously, depending on where you're from. Like, I'm not super familiar with what that process would look like being somebody from Africa. So I can't really key you in too much to that right there. That being said, I think it's all about like, you know, having. Having a resume that you're able to, to push to people so that that's the first thing. But then having film too, like, you got to make sure you have film and a team can look at it and say, okay, well this is what they've done, this is what they can contribute. Those are really the two, the two like the first things. And then in terms of being from Africa, talk to people that you know, people you've played against, coaches you've had, people who might be familiar with the pipeline from where you're from to playing professionally. That's what I would say. Should I play guard or big if I'm 62 in high school? Depends on what your, what your skill set is. But I also think that, like, I think that there's a big time disconnect with this because I don't think there's, there necessarily has to be a super, like a, a huge difference between a guard and a big. Right. Me as a coach, my, my philosophy is that I don't really care how tall you are. Can you, can you shoot? Can you dribble? Can you pass? Can you finish? Like, I want one through five to be able to do those things. So like, for me, like our offense is very much like, it's very free flowing and guys are able to do what their skills determine that they can do. So like we might have a lineup one through five where everybody can shoot, everybody can dribble. So you know, we might play more of a five out or you know, our five may be more on the perimeter. And I think that's a really, like, that's a really great thing to have. So to your, to answer your question, if you already have big man skills like you, you have a leg up because you're probably going to have matchups with guys who are smaller than you so you can take them into the post and score easily. That would get to the free throw line. But then developing your ability to shoot, ability to dribble, and if you can be a well rounded player and you can play at any position, like that's, that's what, that's what the game needs. Like that's what that will make you so valuable. If a coach can look at you and say, oh wow, we can play that guy at any spot. It just gives you more opportunities. So don't box yourself in by thinking, I got to be a guard or I got to be a big, be a great basketball player. Best drills, tips for fade aways or shooting off the dribble. I have a couple videos on this, so just go check my channel. Go to like my, my shooting workouts. Playlist And I've got some stuff like specifically with some of that shooting off the dribble. I think the big thing is just footwork. So being able to shoot off of like a, like a one, two step or off of like a hop is really important. Being able to do both of those types of footwork depending on the situation. So drill that. I think a lot of players get too focused on like the one dribble pull up because everybody thinks about like Kobe, they think about Carmelo Anthony and they would catches the ball at the elbow and pump fake jab one drill pull up. And yeah, that might be effective for you if you're really tall and a really good athlete. But in today's game it's just not. The one drill pull up is not nearly as common as like a two drill pull up. So get really good at say if you can like practice with your friends as much as you can, right? I think there's, there's a lot of value in practicing by yourself. You know, working on whether it be your shooting form, especially if you're new just being around a basket and, and working on shooting layups, like that's, that's huge, right? So I would definitely do that as much as you can. But then also playing with your friends is great. Like train with your friends, play two on two, play three on three, play one on one, whatever. And you're gonna, you're gonna learn a lot about how to actually apply your skills. And it's also gonna tell you about where you need to focus on, right. If you're struggling with a certain, a certain maybe you know, what's with your left hand drives now you have something that you can focus on, but you get feedback from doing that. So I think that is a really important thing. Practicing without a hoop, I would do a ton with ball handling for sure. But then you also like to shoot. To work on your shooting, you don't necessarily need a hoop for it. One of the things that I like to do is we will call it line shooting. So we'll just get to like any of the lines on the court. So, you know, it could be the free throw line, it could be the sideline, half court, whatever. And you're just going to work on shooting the ball directly up in the air and trying to have it land straight on that line. So working with being able to shoot the ball straight, which is, which is probably of like the foundational when you really break down shooting. Can you shoot the ball straight? If you can do that consistently, then you Give yourself a much better chance of being a great shooter. So that's a way you can work on. On shooting without a basket. Tips on how to push off legally or just use your offarm in any ways. I think using your offarm is huge. Probably got you going back to the question about Trae Young. That's another thing he does really, really well is he uses his offarm to not just protect the basketball, but actually to make defenders pay for, you know, when they reach against him and he can really put them out of position just by swiping with his off arm. He's one of those guys who he always toes the line of is this legal? Is it not? Because he'll grab defenders arms and kind of move them out of the way if they're reaching. He's really good at doing that. So developing that ability of just whenever you feel a defender reaching, swiping with that off arm, it's going to put them out of position because of the reach and then you can go and attack them because of that right there. All of it is just a balance, right? You can't overdo it. But I feel like, you know, especially on, like the, on the, on the guy's side, like on the. On the women's side. I've worked with some really, really good women's players and that just, it just, it just gets called way more the off arm swipe for the offensive player. Like you get called for offensive files way more on the guy side of things. I don't really see it get called very often. Like it's very. I can't even think of the last time I saw an off arm swipe get called. So I wouldn't worry too much about it as long as you're not like extending or you know, really reaching far to try and swipe. Like if it's. If they're already reaching at you, the ref is usually on your side with that anyway. But just build the habit of doing that anytime that there's a reach or anytime even that you're like trying to drive past them on that first step. Just get used to swiping that off arm. It's a great habit to build. And like I said, it's of the things that makes a player like Trey Young so hard to guard, how to play overseas, becoming. It's different obviously depending on where you're from. Like I'm not super familiar with what that process would look like being somebody from Africa. So I can't really key you in too much to that right there. That being said, I think it's all about like, you know, having having a resume that you're able to, to push to people. So that's the first thing. But then having film too, like, you got to make sure you have film and a team can look at it and say, okay, well this is what they've done, this is what they can contribute. Those are really the two, the two like the first things. And then in terms of being from Africa, talk to people that you know, people you've played against, coaches you've had, people who might be familiar with the pipeline from where you're from to pipeline playing professionally. That's what I would say. Should I play guard or big if I'm 62 in high school? Depends on what your, what your skill set is. But I also think that like, I think that there's a big time disconnect with this because I don't think there's, there necessarily has to be a super, like a, a huge difference between a guard and a big. Right. Me as a coach, my, my philosophy is that I don't really care how tall you are. Can you, can you shoot? Can you dribble, can you pass, can you finish? Like, I want one through five to be able to do those things. So like, for me, like our offense is very much like, it's very free flowing and guys are able to do what their skills determine that they can do. So like we might have a lineup one through five where everybody can shoot, everybody can dribble. So, so you know, we might play more of a five out or you know, our five may be more on the perimeter. And I think that's a really, like, that's a really great thing to have. So to your, to answer your question, if you already have big man skills like you, you have a leg up because you're probably going to have matchups with guys who are smaller than you, so you can take them into the post and score easily. That would get to the free throw line. But then developing your ability to shoot, ability to dribble, if you can be a well rounded player and you can play at any position, like that's, that's, that's what that's what the game needs. Like that's what that will make you so valuable. If a coach can look at you and say, oh wow, we can play that guy at any spot. It just gives you more opportunities. So don't box yourself in by thinking I got to be a guard or I got to be a big, be a great basketball player. Best Drills, tips for fade aways or shooting off the dribble. I have a couple videos on this, so just go check my channel. Go to like my. My shooting workouts playlist and I've got some stuff like specifically with some of that shooting off the dribble. I think the big thing is just footwork. So being able to shoot off of like a, like a one, two step or off of like a hop is really important. Being able to do both of those types of footwork depending on the situation. So drill that. I think a lot of players get too focused on like the one dribble pull up because everybody thinks about like Kobe, they think about Carmelo Anthony and they would catch the ball at the elbow and pump fake jab one drill pull up. And yeah, that might be effective for you if you're really tall and a really good athlete, but in today's game, it's just not the one Drill pull up is not nearly as common as like a two drill pull up. So get really good at two drill pull ups. Specifically two dribbles, four steps. We can work on that. You know that one, two step, two dribbles into a hop. That stuff's important. I think in today's game, probably the most common type of shot off the dribble is like a three off the dribble, whether it be in transition. Probably more so though, off of like a ball screen or a handoff. So if you're someone who plays in the perimeter and especially if you use ball screens, get good at shooting that three when your defender plays under the ball screen. I try to find AAU team. My area that go, oh, okay, I think it's gone. How would I use my body correctly when playing defense so I can play defense correctly? I think the first thing is kind of to the point that I was making about the off arm on offense. Figure out how much you can toe the line in terms of using your like an arm or a hand on defense. Because there's usually some leeway with that and you can really, you can really make defense easier for yourself. If you find out how much contact can I can I give when someone drives against me? Whatever, it's going to help you. I think another thing is that a lot of players are. Everyone's grown up and they've had every coach they've ever had since they were five years old. Tell them, don't cross your feet on defense. Don't cross your feet on defense. But if, you know, if it was you and me, right, and we were on the baseline we were racing, and I said, okay, we're going to race to half court. I'm going to sprint. You're going to slide. You have no chance of winning. Zero chance of winning. Like, a sprint is faster than a slide. So getting good at being able to turn and sprint whenever you get beat by a step to recover, and it's like a valuable, valuable skill to have. I've got some videos talking about that. I know I forget the name, but someone in here was talking about how they posted a TikTok yesterday, and it was actually one of my defensive workouts that I posted from, like, a few years ago. So go find that workout. If you can't find it, just, like, send me a DM on Instagram or leave a comment on a YouTube video or something and I'll try and find it and send you the link to that. But that's a great way you can develop that ability, too. How can I surpass someone that's way better than me? This is something I've talked about a lot recently. I have a full video on this, too, so you should definitely check that out. I think I'm gonna make another one with a couple other points over the next couple weeks here, too. But I think the first thing is understanding who you are. So what is it that you already do like the best? Okay. And listen, you might say, well, I'm not great at anything, and that's fine, you don't have to be. But you have to say, what is it that I naturally do already? You know, maybe you're a shooter. Maybe you are more of a ball handler, maybe you're more of a defender, whatever. But usually when we talk about catching up to people, we're thinking about it in terms of, okay, I want to get a starting spot on this team, or I want to get an opportunity to play at the next level, or, I want to make this team, this AAU team, whatever. So you have to ask yourself, what is it that I can contribute? If a coach looks at me, they're going to say, this is what this player can do to help us win games. That's all they're thinking about. They're not thinking about who's put in more work. They're not thinking about, you know, this guy's a better shooter, so he's automatically going to play over that guy. If that guy is a better defender, better ball handler, better leader, a better rebounder, then he might play over that other guy. So ask yourself, first of all, what is it that you already do well, or that comes natural to you and then double down on being the best at that. Okay, it's really hard, probably impossible in most cases to actually look at three or four different areas and be like, yeah, next season I'm going to come back, I'm going to be the best at all four of those things. But it's much more possible for you to do that in one area. Maybe that for you is, you know, you're a pretty good shooter, become the best shooter, become like obsessed over it, like as whatever you got to do, obsess over becoming the best shooter you possibly can. And now a coach can look at you and say, okay, well, they do that really, really well and we can work with that. We can build some of these other skills, but they have something that nobody else has. That's what you. That's where you want to be. You want to have that nobody else has. So be honest with yourself. What is it that you already do well, and focus on becoming the best at that. I think that's probably the most important piece of that. That's not to say you can't work on other things too, but keep the main thing. The main thing, especially early on when you want to catch up to players who are better than you. And I think going with that point, don't try and be somebody else. You look at somebody who might be better than you and you say, well, okay, I want to be just like them, but better at everything. They have different strengths than you, they might be different than you. Size wise, athleticism wise, experience wise, personality wise. There's no way you're the same as them. So don't try and be the same. Be like, know what you're good at and then focus on being the best at that. And be your own person, I think is an important piece of that. How can I overcome having no confidence when I get into a game? So I kind of talked about this earlier, but put yourself in the situations you're not confident in. If you're not confident dribbling with your left hand, then you need to do it more. And you know, that might not mean in a game immediately, but go play more one on one, Go play more three on three, more five on five in situations where it's kind of meaningless, like no one really cares who wins a one on one, no one cares who wins a three on three, like it doesn't matter. And go do that thing and be okay with actually expect and hope that you look bad. You fail. If you don't look bad at all and you don't struggle at all, then it was a failure of a day for you, right? The only way that you're successful is if you struggle. And then if you're willing to do that over and over and over again, you're going to figure out what works for you. You're going to figure out how to improve at it. It's the difference between being what they refer to as a novice, which is somebody who doesn't have the ability to solve a problem, and then an expert. An expert can solve any problem that they're given. You want to become an expert, but you only can become an expert by facing problems and then learning how to solve them. That's how you build confidence. As you build, you build the belief that you have what it takes to be successful in any given situation. How do you train your post up game? I play in the perimeter and train my hooks and floats daily, but I can't put the ball in the basket after the rebounds. Post up game. I think a big part of it is like just kind of your general strength. So you know, you should be in the weight room getting stronger so you're less affected by getting bumped, by getting hit by, you know, all that sort of stuff that's really important. And, and then you know, the next piece of it is like, it's also a mindset, right? It's also like the, the mindset of just being unwilling to lose. So getting really good at sealing and posting up and being a target. And then when you actually get in there, like it has to be like a, like a no doubt thing in your mind where it's like, okay, if I'm going to miss this layup, it's because I'm putting it too strong off of the, off of the backboard because I'm going up that powerfully and I'm leaving the situation with a make, going to the free throw liner with an and one and then put yourself in that situation as much as you possibly can. And you know that's how you're going to, you know, that's how you're going to get better there. I think having the ability though, to your point right there, as a guard, like the team that I coach, I tell all these guys, everybody's a post player. Like you guys all thank your guards, but you're not, right? You are a guard, but you also need to have the ability to play in the post. Can you, can you see when you have a player who's smaller than you, who's guarding, you can you finish when you know you have a player who's smaller than you guarding you. It's a, it's a valuable skill to have you even look at guys like Jalen Brunson who are just really good at finishing around the rim. A big part of that is because of his ability to maneuver himself off of two feet and in those little post up situations right there. So it's really important skill to have tried out for an AAU team in my area, but I didn't make it. What are some things I can work on over the summer to make coaches want me to be in the team? Well, what is it that, like, what kind of player are you? What is it that you do? Well, already trying out for a top 10 team and Canada next year and I know that I'm not their level yet, but I'm not too far behind and I have 24 days until trials. Any tips to improve confidence and my game? Again, this is probably one of those things where it probably in this situation is even more important for you. You have to know exactly what it is that you can contribute. You're probably not going to go there and be the best player, be a superstar, be unquestioned, the best at everything, right? Probably not going to be the case. So what is it? Can that coach look at you and say, all right, if we put this guy on the team, he's going to help us here, he's able to do this and then focus on going there and being that guy. The worst thing you can be is kind of okay at everything because a coach is going to look at you and they're not going to have an opinion on you. And when that's the case, the likelihood of making a team, if it's close, isn't super high. They've got to be able to look at you and know exactly what you can do. And that might change. But early on, to get your foot in the door, they've got to be able to look at you and say, okay, that he can shoot, we can work with that. He can defend, we can work with that. He can pass the ball really well, we can work with that. How can I become more efficient and smarter with my scoring? Going back to what I mentioned earlier about the scoring baseline, that's huge. So running in transition, some of the best times to score. I think the stat I saw was that the first six seconds of offense are the most, is, is the most efficient time to score because the defense is getting back. They're not always matched up. They're Rotating, weird, whatever. So getting really good at sprinting out in transition. As soon as your team pulls the rebound, getting down the floor, winning those first three steps to half court, you're going to get more efficient situations. You get to the free throw line more often. The most efficient shot is that right there. Probably the next thing is drive hard to the basket and get to the free throw line. And a lot of times getting the free throw line is kind of as simple as that. Being willing to go out of the basket and not shying away from contact. And I just looked at the stat in the NBA. Players get fouled. I believe it was one out of every like nine attempts going to the rim. So you're getting to the free throw line on almost like 10 or 12% of your drive. So I forget what the exact number was, but it was 10 to 12% of drives of two point shots resulted in free throws. So part of that, like you're going to get to the free throw line if you take twos in the paint, but part of that is going hard and not shying away from contact or anything like that. And then getting to the, getting to the free throw line is a great way to be efficient right there. How do you train every skill each week and how much time do you give for the ones that you most focus on? So I think I'll give you an example of what this could look like. This is like how I approach training for like my high school team. So we work out three times a week in the mornings. And how we'll start off is some guys are going to be in the weight room first and some guys aren't, some guys lift at other times, all that sort of stuff. So. But in terms of basketball stuff, we'll go right into shooting. So we're working on what we call DL shooting or differential learning shooting, where, you know, we're working on shooting with, with weird footwork, with weird hand placement, bad passes, all that sort of stuff. And then we'll get into some more like traditional footwork type of shooting. Then we're going to shoot a bunch of threes. That's going to be for about anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour of just shooting. We'll do some stuff off the dribble, whatever. So we're working on shooting for an hour because as I've said, and as I'll continue to reiterate, there is nothing more important than your ability to shoot the ball. Being able to put the ball in the basket is the most important skill in basketball. So we spend like an hour on that and then at that point we go into what we call our finishing vitamins. So that would be about 10 to 15 minutes where we're working on just different types of finishes. Both hands, 1ft, 2ft, floaters, stuff like that. So the first like hour to hour 15 is shooting and then finishing focused again, just putting the ball in the basket at a high level. I think. I think at some point I'll like film one of these workouts and then I'll upload it so you guys can see exactly what we do. And then at that point we'll usually go into like one on one stuff, two on two stuff. Usually working on finishing, working on attacking the basket, all that sort of stuff right there. And through that usually there's a lot of work on ball handling as well. But you also could spend after that finishing, you could do, you know, 15 minutes of ball handling, 20 minutes, ball handling, whatever. And then that right there, if you're by yourself, like that's an hour and a half. That's a pretty, pretty solid workout where again you're working on all three of those things. But for, for most players, and this is what I've said, For most players, 80% of your on court work should be on shooting. It should be for the most part. Now again, it can vary depending on what you need to get better at, what you're focusing on, maybe that changes. But for most players, if you can make more shots, the game is going to be easier for you. You're going to be more successful just in general. So for me, like that's kind of where I'm at. That's the baseline. 80% of your encore skill work should be shooting focused. And then that other 20%, you kind of figure out what you want to allocate with that. What's up? Calvin? I'm a good shooter when I practice on my own, but I miss many shots in game situations. What can I do differently? So I just actually posted a TikTok about this today. The idea of being skilled, right? So we think of skill as okay. If I'm in the gym by myself every day working on my shooting and I can make a bunch of shots, then I'm skilled, I'm getting more skilled, whatever. But I think that, that we actually skip a lot of steps with that skill is three things. And the third part is your actual ability to make the shot. So the stuff that you're working on by yourself, that the actual shooting, like the three point make or whatever, that's the third part of it, the first part is perceiving what's going on so you catch the ball. Do I have an open shot? Do I have a teammate who's open? Do I have a drive? That's open? That's the first part. The second part is the decision. So you have to actually make the decision is, should I shoot this, Should I drive, should I pass it? And then once you've gotten through both those steps, you get to the third part, which is the physical skill, their physical act that you do, which is actually making the shot. So now think about the fact that your brain is essentially having to do three times as much work for all of those in game situations as you do when you're just shooting by yourself. So it's different. It's a very different thing. So we have to account for that. I would say one thing you can do is whenever you're playing in practice, you're playing in one on ones, three on threes. That's where you want to, like, really focus on doing those things that you're working on in your skill workouts, because you're going to figure out how to actually apply them and you're going to get used to shooting through the pressure that comes with games. The biggest difference is probably the fact that when you're shooting by yourself, it's just you. No one else is relying on your makes. It doesn't affect anybody else. But when you're a part of a team, like, you know, if you don't make the shot, that's four other guys on your team who didn't get to shoot the ball. And there's pressure that's associated with that right there. So I think that's an important thing to understand is like, just the shot itself is different. So put yourself in those positions as much as you can and get used to having to perceive having to make the decision and then actually physically executing. And then, you know, you'll start to be able to deal with the pressure that comes along with that better as well. I watch all your videos and podcasts. Thanks for the help. Appreciate it, Ashley. Glad that you find the videos helpful. I'm pretty insecure about my height. As a basketball player, I wanted to know how much does height matter to coaches? Height doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Your ability matters. And I say that as someone who's coached a ton of guys who are undersized, like really undersized, but they compete at a super high level, they're really smart, they can make shots they can pass the ball, they can defend, and they'll play over guys who are bigger than them because they, they have that ability, right? Like, it doesn't. Height really doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. If you have the ability to, to play basketball at high level, you're good at defense and posting up. So that being the case, figure out, you know, how do you become elite at those things? And, you know, if it also can depend for that specific team, you know, maybe they don't play a ton in the post and so they don't value that skill quite as much. So your options at that point are, how do I develop skills that they're going to find more valuable? Do I need to become a better shooter? Do I need to become better, a better finisher? Do I need to come better at driving, you know, off the catch against closeouts, all this sort of stuff, you got to be able to figure that out as well. And then defense become elite defensively, right? If you're posting up a lot, then, you know, maybe you're big. So get elite at defending inside, at rebounding, all those things that go along with that. Playing more physical on the defensive end. That, that's a, this is a mindset. I think the first thing is, like, you have to be like, don't be afraid to pick up fouls. And I'm not saying get in foul trouble every game. That's all I'm saying. But there are a lot of players who struggle with this and they like. Then I watch them play and they consistently pick up no fouls all game. You're probably not playing very hard on defense or very physical defense if you're never fouling. Okay, so just ramp up your intensity a little bit. See what you can get away with. How much contact am I able to give when my guy drives against me? Right? Like, all those sorts of things. I think that's really important. There needs to be a level, a certain level of pride that you have when you play defense. Like, I'm not going to get scored on. I hopefully have help defense behind me, but I don't need help defense. Like, I'm going to do it on my own here. And if you pick up a foul, developing those things, like, good, you're going to figure out what the line is and you want to always be somewhere around it. What are good skills to work on at a young age? Shooting biggest thing, right? Like, just get really good at shooting. Go check my shooting. I have a bunch of shooting workouts in a playlist. So Go, go, go. Check out that and build, build good habits and then just shoot a ton, right? Actually, I should. I'm going to rewind right there. Don't even worry as much about, like, is my form perfect? Are my feet perfect? Like, don't worry a ton about that. Okay. Especially at a young age, like, you just never know. And this goes for, like, really anybody. You just don't know what you're going to look like in three years. You don't know how things are going to develop. So the most important thing is to get experience and shoot a ton of. My son is 8 years old. His strongest attribute is shooting. He can dribble well enough to get by, but not great with being physical at this age. I know it's a stronger ball. I know it's got the longer leash. Yeah, it's, it's, you know, youth basketball is always. It's tough because at that age, like the kids who have natural, who are naturally gifted and the kids who are just, you know, bigger at an early age, like, you know, no one's skilled at 8 years old. Like, there's nobody's, like, nobody's very good at basketball at that age. So the ones who naturally have it are going to have a longer leash. The funny thing about it, though, is that usually, at least in my experience, the kids who are the best at like 8, 9, 10 years old are most times not the best when they're 13, 14, 16, 17 years old. How many teams should I have him on? I think it depends a little bit on just how much he loves the game. Like, if he wants to play a ton, if he wants to play on a ton of teams, play him on a ton of teams are going to have a longer leash. The funny thing about it, though, is that usually, at least in my experience, the kids who are the best at like 8, 9, 10 years old are most times not the best when they're 13, 14, 16, 17 years old. How many teams should I have him on? I think it depends a little bit on just how much he loves the game. Like, if he wants to play a ton, if he wants to play on a ton of teams, play him on a ton of teams, have a bunch around, around a bunch of different coaches, get him different experiences with different teammates, different environments, different systems. I think, I think it's great, right? If he wants to do it, then, you know, have him on as many teams as, as, as you can. As he, as he wants to be on again, all assuming that, like, that's what he wants because I think at that age too, like if it's too much or if he feels like, you know, there's a lot, like he never has a break from it or he feels stressed out about all of it, then, you know, you don't want that to impact his long term relationship with basketball because like I said, at eight years old, like no one knows who any of these kids are going to be yet because, and you know, when you double their age, double their lifetime and they're 16, it's going to look completely different. So you just want to make sure that as at 8, you develop like a love for the game, like you enjoy playing basketball and you hopefully develop some baseline skills that you can continue to build on. And then as you know, as he gets older, that's when you know, you really kind of ramp up the intensity and the focus on certain things. But I would prioritize that. First, I was the only star that didn't make the subsequent elite college academy. Now I have to play with people who are worse than me. How to keep playing basketball in a system instead of ball hogging, you know, I think it depends a little bit on what, what position you play. And you know, ball hogging, like you have to probably change the way you view it. You being the best player on your team means that you're better able to create for other players. Like they need you to help them get better shots. So you want to be aggressive and don't try and like tame yourself because you're the best player on your team. But also understand that when you get yourself going and they start to key in on you and they rotate over, make the easy play, make the simple play. And then that's how you, not only, you know, do you help your team, but you know your teammates will enjoy playing with you and you'll develop skills too. Like, I think, I don't know how old you are, King, but sometimes it's good to be like the, the best player on a team with players who aren't as good as you because you develop the ability to not just score and look for your own shot, but also how to elevate the people around you too. How do I defend different types of players? Shifty guards, strong wings, tall slashers. You want to think about what, what is their number one strength? What do they want to do? And take that away, make them, if they're going to beat you, like, you know, maybe, maybe they'll still beat you, but if they're going to beat you, make it be with their second option or their third option. And, and that's how you, that's like the game within the game defensively. What up, Mason? I work up. I work out five to six hours a day and I fry everyone in the gym for pickup and one on one. But I get into the game, won't score 15. We'll just score around seven points a game. How do I play like I know I can and stop taking a backseat to other kids? I think, I think that the important thing is, well, first of all, like, what is it that you do well? What is, like, what's the difference in games? Why are you not scoring in games? Ashley, make sure you check out. I have like a, I have a free IQ Masterclass, like an hour long dive into a ton of different stuff that's going to help you. So make sure you check that out. And then I think with that, I also have like the, the 15 points per game blueprint too. So you'll get both of those. It's like probably almost an hour and a half worth of just like different stuff is going to help you to score more. It can help you to create more, all that sort of stuff. So definitely check that out. All that stuff's free. And then, you know, all the stuff, like all the stuff on my channel, go through and go to the different playlists, specifically like the Basketball IQ confidence ones. And then the biggest thing is like, apply it, you know, like figure out what, what, what relates to you the best and then apply it. Ashley, go check my most recent video and then go to the description and then look for the Basketball IQ Masterclass link. I think it's the top link in that one, the video I just posted today. And then if you do that, you'll, you'll see it. All right, guys, I'm gonna wrap up here. If you have any questions, follow up questions, send me a DM on Instagram @ Vision Driven Basketball. Leave a comment on YouTube, whatever. Always, always trying to help you guys. If you guys have video suggestions, video ideas, make sure you send that to me as well. I'm gonna try and hop on more lives as we continue to go on. And yeah, no, I appreciate everybody who's watching who's comment who does ask questions. Always great to be able to connect with you guys. Mason, appreciate you. Appreciate it, man. All right, guys, enjoy the rest of your Sunday.