The 5 Levels of Your Basketball Development - Podcast Episode 30

Foreign. Welcome to the Visenger Basketball training Podcast. Thank you guys for tuning in this week. Shout out to Apple Podcast and Spotify, you guys who are listening. And of course, Everybody watching on YouTube. Shout out to all you guys. Appreciate you guys taking the time to listen or watch. If you guys are on Apple Podcast, really would appreciate you. Scroll down, leave a review for me. Helps the show. And of course on YouTube, make sure you like and subscribe. And subscribe. And also make sure if you're listening to this on YouTube right now, turn on your post notifications, okay? So that anytime I post, you actually see what I'm posting. Okay. Because I'm always trying to help you guys out with what I'm posting. Again, almost everything that I do comes from questions, DMs, comments, all things that I get from you guys. And I wanna make sure that YouTube actually shows you. So go ahead and do that for me. Take three seconds. Just click that bell for me so you get notifications. Really do appreciate that. And let's hop into it. Today we're gonna talk about the five stages of development. Okay, the five stages of basketball development. But really this goes for any area in life. But we're gonna talk about how this relates to basketball. Because this. I feel like this is one of the most important podcast episodes I've ever done. Just because I feel like it's gonna help a lot of you guys clear up the frustration, the confusion that you guys are feeling right now. Because here's the thing with basketball training. And actually, this is kind of an epiphany that I had with a couple of my. Really. With all the training that I'm doing. And we, of course, we know this in person, right? You know, you probably wouldn't go into the gym and do the same exact thing LeBron James is doing. Okay? A fallacy that's out there is that you see what NBA players are doing in their training, and then you feel like, oh, I should be doing that, right? Like, if Damian Lillard's doing that drill, then that means that's the best drill for me to do, too. And that's just completely untrue because sometimes NBA players are great despite their training. Their training isn't always. Isn't always the best way to be training. But sometimes they're so great, they're so naturally gifted, that despite what they're doing, they get better and they're good enough to play in the NBA and be good in the NBA. Okay? So that's one thing you can't necessarily trust. What Somebody does just because they're an NBA player or because they have so and so amount of followers, whatever, it doesn't really matter. Same thing with trainers out there. Just because a guy has a lot of followers doesn't mean he knows what he's doing. And you know, there's guys out there who are like that who might have flashy dribble moves and might post a lot of TikToks. But do they. Is what they're posting actually going to be helpful? And this is something that I had to really evaluate with myself too. I was thinking like, okay, is what I'm posting helpful to everybody? And so I'm going to kind of announce this now, but for all you guys in the perimeter score system, it's going to get completely revamped. Okay? So actually I'm working on some bonuses for it right now that all you guys who are already inside of it are going to get within the next probably three or four days, hopefully. And you guys will know when that. When it happens, I'll post about it, but I'm gonna essentially redo it and I'm gonna build it out for different levels. So for those of you guys who, because I have a lot of you guys who are in your later years of high school, going into college or college guys right now, so I'm going to be building out a program specifically geared towards guards, perimeter players, guards wings who are either approaching the college level or at the college level, approaching the pro level. Okay? So it's gonna be very, very detailed, but it's gonna be built out same thing as how it is now, offseason, preseason in season. But it's really gonna be geared towards building those advanced sort of skills you need to have as a perimeter player. Okay, I'm really, really excited about that. I've been doing so much guys, I can't even tell you how much film I've been watching on this when it comes to ball screens, attacking, closeouts, different things when it comes to shooting separation moves, like learning, like just trying to figure out all the little minute details to make this as really as helpful as possible. So all you guys are in already. You guys will be getting that. You guys will be seeing that within the next couple months, hopefully. So again, by the time option gets, you guys are going to be completely changed, what you're already doing. So super excited for that. But also I'm going to have a level below that for you guys. Those of you guys who are in high school right now, still going to be pretty intense. Pretty Advanced, but more geared towards you guys. And then for those of you guys who are more at the beginner level, it's going to be geared towards you getting you guys up to a competent level. And again, I'm really, really excited to do that as well. And so for you beginners, it's really going to help you guys get up to competent level. And then we're going to start to get more advanced and you guys are going to know exactly what I'm talking about as you go through the rest of this podcast and I'll explain why, like, at these different levels, you guys are going to have different ideals. So some of you guys who might be beginners are struggling because maybe you're doing workouts that aren't actually geared towards helping you. Right? You might need a completely different set of training than a guy who's going to play college basketball next year. Right. If you're, if you're in your first year high school basketball, you probably are going to be different than a guy who's in his first year of college. Right? And doing the same drills is going to get you guys vastly different results. That was an epiphany that I had doing research for this. And a lot of this is backed up by a lot of research, a lot of studies that have been done, and that kind of let me know, like, hey, you know, you've got to make something that's going to appeal to everybody because people are getting results now. But I feel like if we can really target this to people and people can be like, hey, yeah, this is the level I'm at. Like, this is what I'm going to be doing. Then we're going to see those results just start to double, triple. Like, people are going to get better so much faster. After you guys listen to this episode, you guys are going to be able to kind of pinpoint where you're at and say, okay, you know what, what, what do I need to develop at this point? Okay, what's the best step for me to take moving forward? That's my goal for what we're going to talk about today, but I want to let you guys know about that. Again, that's still a couple months away from being completed, but for those of you guys who are in already, you guys are going to have access to it, you know, like, it's going to, it's going to. I'll update it for all of you guys, so be prepared for it. But I want to go through this whole thing. So I was really thinking about actually I've done an episode on skill acquisition before, which essentially just means the process of developing skills, right? And it's actually one of my most downloaded episodes. I guess you guys are interested in that. So I was looking more. And again, talking about the whole revamping of the stuff I'm doing. How can I affect every level of players more? Because I get questions from players who are beginners, guys who are more like the intermediate phase, and guys who are pretty advanced, what they're doing as well. You know, I've got guys who follow me on Instagram who are playing middle school basketball, and then I've got guys who are pros who follow me on Instagram. So I have all that range, all that spectrum of guys. So obviously, different rates of development guys are going to develop differently. And actually, I got a question that really spurred all of this on my last video, my video about creating space, creating your own shot off the dribble. And actually, no, this is on my last week's pod. That was a different question I'm thinking about. It was actually on last week's podcast. So this was talking about in season training. And this person asked me, hey, coach, I just wanted to ask you, do you feel yourself improving each month by working out, or do you feel like you're improving slowly compared to when you were younger? And this is a really, really good question. And I had to think about it for a second, but what my answer to him was, right now, where I'm at at almost 21 years old, I improve much more rapidly now than when I was younger. Like, I improve at a way quicker rate now than I did when I was 16 and way better than when I was 14. Right where I'm at now, I see the work pay off a lot quicker. And basically what I told him is that I believe that as you build the baseline for your skills, you start to learn things more, like, quicker and quicker. And. And you start to pick things up faster, you make improvements faster, you build that baseline. So now when you make little tweaks to your game or you add little things to it, you already have a very, very solid foundation to build that on. So you're able to pick things up faster, you see results faster. And it's really. It's called the Matthew Effect or the Matthew Principle, where basically the rich get richer, right? Those who have more will get more. Those who have less will get less. Okay, so those of you who have more skill, guys, those of you guys who are better at the game of basketball, you're going to improve, you're going to make more improvements because you already have a baseline foundation, Right. If you're already a really good ball handler, well, now adding in some footwork pieces, adding in a couple new moves to your game is going to be a lot easier for somebody who is brand new to the game. It's going to take them longer to pick that up as compared to you who already has a very, very solid foundation to your game. Okay. If you watch some or even if you're in your training, right, you're trying to kind of build a station. This past week, I was working out with some of my guys and we were working on being able to slow our pace down. Okay. So going from a quick between legs crossover to being able to stand straight up, go to slow down to 0%, and then boom, push, cross, quick, 100% explode. And so being able to go from that 100% to that 0%. And I saw a very different range of ability in terms of guys who picked it up. I had some guys who picked it up right away and other guys who. It took them a minute, okay. And it really comes down to the guys who had worked on stuff like that before pick it up quicker. And obviously it's kind of common sense, but that's really what my response was. Where I'm at now, I improve at a much quicker rate than I did when I was 15 years old. Even though I had more room to grow when I was 15. Obviously still a ton of room. Of room to grow now, but when I was 15, I had way more room to grow, but I didn't have that baseline yet. Okay. So that was my answer to them. And that got me researching this whole topic and really took me on a real deep dive on it. And I found what's called the Dreyfus model. And this is going to how I'm going to tie this into basketball development. Okay. Essentially, with the Dry plus model, you have five different levels of development. You have your novice level, your beginner level, then you have your advanced beginner level, then you have your competent level, your proficient level, and then your expert level. So all of you guys are at one of those five levels. And depending on where you're at, is really going to be. It's going to give you an idea of what to do moving forward, of what focus is going to best suit your development moving forward. And ultimately it's going to help you to understand just more of a game plan of what you need to do. And I also think that it can help you Guys, because a lot of you guys are frustrated because you're not getting results here or because you struggle in games or because this isn't working or that's not working. And a lot of times that isn't necessarily because you're doing something wrong. It might be because you're at a certain level and you're trying to compete with guys who are at a different level than you, and maybe something that just isn't going to work for you at the level you're currently at, or you're missing a piece that isn't at the level that you're currently at. Okay? So it's going to help you guys out a lot, I think, in that regard. But let's start off with level number one, which is the novice level. Okay? So when we talk about the novice level, this is typically learning how to shoot basic dribble moves, learning your crossover between the legs, you're behind the back, your basic finishes, learning how to actually make layups, learning how your defensive basics, sliding your feet, not pushing the guy with your hands, doing all those things, the team basics, you know, learning how to do a back cut, balance pass, chest pass. Like all those things that are real basic in basketball. Okay, Most of you guys watching this know that. Okay, that most of you guys, Most of you guys watch this are probably beyond this stage. But obviously I want to mention it just so you guys have a context of where we're starting at. And obviously there are probably some of you guys out there who might. Who are at that level. Okay, that's fine, too. At this level, you're really unable to make your own decisions. Okay? So basically what that means is that you can only act and make decisions based on rules and principles and coaching that's being given to you. Okay? So, you know, you say, hey, if I'm on the right side of the basket, I use my right hand for a layup. Okay? If I'm shooting a layup and I'm on the right side, I jump on my left leg and I use my right hand. That's how you do it every single time. Okay? Obviously most of you guys know that's not completely true. You don't always use your right hand on the rest of the basket. You don't always use your left leg when you shoot with your right hand. Right? There's. There's different instances where you might use your other hand or other foot or two feet, whatever. Okay? But if you. If you're. If you're a beginner, you might. You don't Understand that you, you. You see one. What? You see one rule, and you have to follow it. You don't understand context at all. So when you're doing your. Your shooting drills, right, you're just thinking, oh, I'm just shooting the ball. You're not thinking, oh, well, I'm coming off a screen. And then, no, you're thinking, just shoot. I'm. I'm catching the ball and I'm shooting it. Okay, when you guys do. When you're working on your crossover, you're just saying, oh, I'm working on a crossover, right? You don't understand. You don't understand. Like, oh, okay, I come down the court and then my guy jumps to my right, so I cross it. No, you just think crossover. As that beginner, you have no idea about context in the game of basketball. You just know, shoot, lay up, dribble. And you can't really tell anybody why you do it or when you do it or the exact reasoning behind anything. You just kind of do what you're told, do what you see. At this point, you have no real ability to be creative at all. And you have to obtain. At this point, you have to start to obtain a bigger understanding of why you do something. So why do I do this crossover? Why do I shoot the ball here? Why do I take a layup with this foot? Okay, this is where you have to start to understand the game at that level. This is where skill development is very, very, very, very, very important. Because at this point, you don't have the baseline of skills. You don't have the ability to shoot the ball well. You don't have the ability to dribble the ball well. You don't have the ability to finish well or make good passes. Okay? And the game is really, really fast to you because you just haven't done it enough. Okay? So this is a point where you have to be able to develop those skills, and then you have to be able to understand the context behind why you do things. Okay, why do I take the layup here? Why do I make this pass? It can't just be, oh, the coach says, we're doing this play, so I have to throw the pass. Well, if the defender is standing right there, you can't throw the pass to him. Then that's what a beginner would do or a novice would do. Okay? So again, for some of you, you may be at that level. We'll talk about later on what we do to move past this level, but I want to give a kind of a basic intro of this first. And another example of this would be, you know, maybe in practice, in a workout, maybe you're good at doing stationary crossovers, okay? But then as soon as you have to do them on the move, they're not as good. Or as soon as you have to do them with a defender on you, you just have no ability to do it at all. You're just. You have no ability. You don't understand how to do it, when to do it. You just can't do it at all. Okay, Maybe as a beginner, you're really good at catch and shoot from, you know, 12ft in the left corner. But then as soon as the defender is closing out on you or you got a guy guarding you, you can't do it. Not. Not happening. You don't understand how to get open or how to do. You just don't. You don't know, okay? But because you don't know how skills tie together, you don't understand how a V cut ties into your shot, but you don't understand any of that stuff, okay? So that, if that's where you are, if that, if that's. If that's a situation familiar to you, probably at the knobs level, okay, Number two would be the advanced beginner level. So at this point, you probably can start to grasp more advanced shooting. So you might understand what a step back is. You might understand how to do it. You might be able to do more advanced dribble combos. So, for example, you might be able to do between crossovers. Now you might be able to do wide crossovers. You might be able to do different things that a beginner would not probably be able to do. Okay? So you're able to kind of take these and make them a little bit more complex. You probably also have a slightly more advanced understanding of when and why to do these things. Okay, slightly, though, okay, you understand the basics of it, but you really don't have the ability to adapt very well. You still are very bound by rules. So you see, okay, you know what? My defender forces me left, so I drive left. You know what? Okay, My defender gives me space to shoot, so I shoot. Coach says run this play, so I run this play, and I do it no matter what coach says. If I catch the ball, I have to shoot the layup, so I'm going to shoot the layup even if it's not open. Okay? But you understand more so why to do things, okay? So they're going to start to understand more situations and when a skill or a technique is going to be actually effective. Okay. So you're going to become slightly more confident in yourself and your ability to, to do things and it's going to be slightly easier to deal with unforeseen circumstances. Okay. So if a play breaks down, you're going to be slightly more equipped to be able to overcome that, but still not still more likely you're going to struggle to do that. Okay. So players at level are still going to view context very analytically. Meaning that if my defender forces me left, then I'm going to drive left. If I'm open, I'm going to shoot the ball no matter what. Even if I have a teammate who's cutting, who's going to be open for a layup, I'm open, so I got to shoot the ball. Okay. You really are very, very narrow minded when it comes to basketball iq. Like you're very, very tunnel vision with what you're doing. Okay. That doesn't mean that you're wrong all the time. It just means you don't understand that there's more than one way to do things. And the way you do things might not be the best way of doing it, but that's all you know. Okay. So you follow that and you still have really no concept of relevance when it comes to this. So many times players at this level are going to, are going to waste a lot of time doing drills and workouts that aren't actually relevant to improving their skills. Right? You might see a player like this and most young players do this, beginners do this where they'll, you know, they'll go to the gym and they'll work on, you know, they'll say, okay, you know what, today I'm going to shoot, I'm going to shoot 100 form shots and then I'm going to shoot 100, you know, two hand form shots and then I'm going To shoot 100 threes in the corner and then I'm going to shoot 101 drill pull ups and then I'm going to shoot 100, you know, floaters. And it's like you see him like going through like a three, four hour workout where they're not going at game speed, they're shooting one drill pull ups. But it's like that's never a type of pull up you would make. Like they, they're basically going, you know, one drill pull up real slow right in front of them. Like never an actual one drill pull up. You shoot in a game, right? If you watch film, you would never see anybody ever shoot that competitively in a game, but that's what they know. So they spend their time doing that, right? They might go to the gym and say, you know, I'm going to work on my ball handling today, so I'm going to do tennis ball drills for, you know, I'm just going to go and do some tennis ball drills for an hour and a half, right? Or I'm going to go and I'm going to do figure eights for an hour and a half. Not saying those jewels are bad, but I'm saying there's more effective ways to do things. But these players don't know that yet, so they don't quite understand relevance yet. That's just an example of that. So a big thing right here. And this is also where players might fall susceptible to. Like I mentioned before, there's a coach or a trainer out there that you find on the Internet who is popular, who has flashy videos or seems like they know what they're talking about. You might be susceptible to just following that guy because he has a lot of views, even though what he's doing or the tiktoks he's posting might not be actually all that good or the best use of your time. You don't really know any better. You don't really understand relevance to what you're doing yet. So you might fall victim to that. So at this stage, it's really, really good to have a trainer or a coach that you trust, that you can follow, that you can get your drills from, that you can work with, learn from and stick to what's relevant, because you don't know what's relevant yet for you. So you're not at the level yet where you can pick and choose that. So you got to find guys who are respected, guys who have helped other players develop, and you've got to be able to kind of stick with that guy or those trainers or coaches that you follow or obviously, if you have one in person, that's obviously ideal. But you want to learn from somebody basically at this stage in your career. Usually at this stage when things go wrong in a game, this player is going to blame the play or they're going to blame the defender, or they're going to blame their teammate because they're not able to overcome or adapt or understand, you know, why, or they're not able to take responsibility for situations. If a situation doesn't go perfectly, they're going to blame them not being able to accomplish it in the situation just because they're not very experienced yet, okay? And you can have a lower sense of responsibility because of that. Like I said before, you might have been taught to make a certain pass on a play. And because of that, you're going to make the past every time. Even if it's not open, all right? Even if it's turnover, you're going to make the pass because that's all you know. So that's the advanced beginner, okay? I'm sure there's plenty of you guys listening right now who are at that stage right now. And again we'll go through what to do to move past that stage, moving forward. But level three is the competent level, okay? So this is where you understand the majority of the rules and principles of the game and you're beginning to be able to think outside of the box, okay? Now a caveat right here is that according to the Dreyfus model, which is again, everything that's based on this, typically to get to the competent level takes two to three years of practice at whatever area you're working on, okay? So for a lot of you, now here's the thing with that, it's not going to be, this is not a, that's not a set in stone time, okay? It depends really on what kind of what area of life, right? If you're a medical doctor, you're not going to be, you don't achieve competence in two to three years, right? It takes you eight to 10 years to become a competent surgeon, okay? You can't do that in two to three years, but you might be able to come a competent, you know, a competent carpenter. If you go to a, you know, you go to school for, or you go to a trade school and you learn for two to three years, you may be competent at that. You may be able to become a competent electrician if you go to a trade school for two years, okay? Likewise, many of you guys might be able to become competent players if you're a beginner, if you're a novice, you might be able to come, you might be able to get to the competent level in six months, or it might take three years. It's going to depend on, you know, your height, your natural ability, your natural athleticism. Some players just naturally progress faster. Some players are using better training and because that they progress faster. So there's a myriad of variables to consider when we talk about the time frame with it. But on average with the drivers model, it takes two, three years. And I would say in my experience watching players, my own experience and working with players like I would say two to three years is a pretty good gauge of what it takes to get to the competent level. Okay? If you just started playing basketball, don't be frustrated that you're not at the competent level yet. Don't be frustrated that you struggle in games, you struggle with your moves. If you just started. If you only played basketball for a few months, like that's to be expected. Okay? If everybody was good after three months of playing, then there wouldn't be a beginner stage. Right? There would be way more competition. Right. Everyone would be at such. At a much higher level, but that's just not the case. Okay? So we have to be cognizant of the fact that it takes time to get there. You have to respect that. Okay? So again, the majority of players is probably going to take between two to three years. For me, I, I would for sure say that, okay? Till I got to a competency, I wouldn't say I would. I was at a competent. Let me try and put that time frame together. I would say, I would say I was at a competent stage by the time I was probably, maybe a freshman in high school. So I would say probably a solid. Probably a solid two years because I was naturally good, like, okay. At basketball and I worked at it hard for two years and I was, I was at a competent stage by the time I got to high school. So I was competent at that point. And so, yeah, I would say about. For me personally, I would say about two to three years. That was starting from a pretty good spot. Okay? I had pretty good size, I was a decent athlete and I played basketball. So I was at a good starting spot and I progressed pretty quickly. And it took me two years until I felt like I'm at a competent level. Okay? Some of you guys will be faster, some of you guys will be slower. But again, I want you guys, to, those of you who are frustrated that you're not where you want to be yet, like, trust the process, like, it's going to take time for some of you, okay? And that's completely fine for me, it took time, okay? But then again, like I said before, he who has more will get more. Right? So once you get to that level, it's gonna be. It's gonna be easier for you to get to that proficient level, okay? So don't, don't rush things. Take your time, build to. Take those reps, reps, build up over time. So don't be frustrated with yourself. But anyway, some players. So for the competent level, you know, this player can work Effectively. And they know what they're doing based on past experiences. So the biggest thing is they've played basketball, they played a lot of basketball and they've practiced a lot. So they have a good grip on their experiences they've had. And they can make adjustments based on their situation. Okay? Now this player also is going to have a sense of responsibility for themselves. Okay? They're going to say, you know what? I messed that up. They're going to be able to say, you know what? I should have done that better. Okay? And they're going to start to think in terms of solutions. Instead of starting to think, just think in terms of rules. Okay? They're not just going to say, I have to let pass because coach says so. Whereas now they might see, oh, he's not open, so I can't throw that pass. Or maybe I have to throw, I maybe have to give a pass fake and then throw the pass. That's where they're going to start to get to. Maybe not consistently every time yet, but they're going to be at that point where they can do that. Okay. Typically this player is going to know the majority of the rules and the principles. They're going to know, okay, when should I take this layup, when should I make this crossover, when should I do this move? But they're going to struggle with when to do that. Okay? So for example, they might have a really good step back move, they might have a really good punch drag move, but they might struggle about. They might struggle with when to do that. At times they might struggle, when do I go to this punch drag, when do I go to this step back, when do I do that? Like, they might struggle to know, to be able to react, but in situations they're familiar with, they're gonna be able to thrive because they've had those experiences and they're able to do that. So that's something to think about. They still view the game very analytically as opposed to, you know, with as a whole. They still think of, okay, I do this move, then I do this move, right? I'm gonna come down the floor and I'm gonna do a between the legs and do a step back. They still have to think things out before they do them, really. They're not able to play intuitively yet. And they're also going to struggle more when games get here. So those of you guys who are really good in practice or really good in workouts, and then you struggle when you get to games, that can be a sign that you are in the competence stage, if that's where you're at, you probably are either in the advanced beginner stage or competent stage, or maybe the proficient stage, but probably the first two probably advanced beginner or, or competent level. Okay? And the reason being is because games are going to be different. I always talk about with games, you know, basketball is a game of solving problems. When you're in a game, you're going to, you're going to encounter a new problem every single possession, okay? And it's not going to be like any, it's not going to be exactly like anything that's ever happened to you before. Every play that happens in basketball is a little bit different, okay? So your ability to adapt and to be creative is what is going to separate guys who struggle in games and guys who consistently succeed in games. And at the competent level, you're not at a point yet where you're really good at consistently being creative and adapting. It you just aren't there yet. Basketball IQ wise. And you know, you probably have some skills at a good level at this point, but you might struggle again when to use them. You might have an in and out move that's really good, but you don't know exactly when to bring out the in and out move, right? Or maybe you do at times, but you still got to consistently do that. So sometimes you're like, oh, I just did that in and out move and it was a waste of time or maybe I turned the ball over because I did it at the wrong time, okay? That's also something that's going to happen to guys who are at that competent level, right? Where they're going to have a skill that is usable in a game, okay? But it's not at the point yet where they can just, they use it at the right point every time, okay? And at this point you may even be one of the more skilled players on the team. But because you lack the ability to consistently think in solutions, consistently make the right decisions and play creatively, adapt on the fly to different situations, you're gonna struggle to make a big impact consistently, okay? You might have a good game here or there, but you probably won't have a good season overall. You're probably gonna struggle more times than you play really, really well. So there's your competent level, level four, second to last level, the proficient level. So at this point you have a high level of skill. Your skill level is very high this point. You've put years into this, okay? You are not going to be at the proficient level unless you put Years into the game, you do not go from beginner to proficient in six months. Doesn't happen. Novice to beginner in eight months. Does not happen. Okay? This is years that it takes to get the proficient level. Okay? You have a high level of skills and you have a good level of IQ as well. Okay? You're still reliant on past experiences to make your future decisions, but you have so many past experiences that that's actually okay at this point. Okay? You've played so much basketball, you've practiced so much, you put so many hours into this that you have a lot of experiences that you can use to be successful moving forward. Okay? But again, this is a stage that takes years to get to. I wouldn't say I was at this level till I was probably a senior in high school. I wouldn't say I was at this level. So this took me easily five years of work to get to the proficient level. Okay? Again, some of you guys might only take three, right? But it's going to take years is what I'm trying to get at. So a proficient individual knows the. They know the solution to every situation, right? They know all the rules and all those principles in the game of basketball, okay? They know when to go to a floater. They know, you know, when do I go to a punch drag, when do I go to a step back? What do I do if my defender has to cut me off here? What move do I go to? They know that. They know all that stuff. They know what to do when the defender soft hedges, right? They know what pass to make if they come off a ball screen and that drop defender steps up and it leaves that roll guy open, okay? They know what pass to make there. They know when they drive and that help defender collapses. They know when to kick. They know who to kick to, okay? They know everything, right? If you were to sit down with them and watch film, they'd be able to tell you what they did wrong, what they did, right. They'd probably be able to tell you what their teammates did wrong and did right. They know this stuff because they played a lot of basketball, they've watched a lot of basketball, they studied it, they've practiced a lot and they know these things, but they're only able to do that because of their past experiences. Okay? So they are not yet at the point where they can adapt to every single thing that happens to them on the fly. They're not quite there yet, but they've had so many experiences that they're able to look back on those okay? And at this point, they're able to view the game holistically, right? They don't look at things analytically. They don't look at things like, okay, I have to do this step and I have to do that step and I have to that step. They don't look at the game and say, okay, you know what, I have to go down, I have to make a crossover, then I have to take one more dribble, then I have to make a layup with my right foot and my left hand, okay? That's not what they're thinking anymore, okay? They can look at the game and they can say, you know what? I understand that when I come off, like, I understand how, how me driving to the basket and drawing and help defender opens up my teammate, right? I understand that. I understand that when my teammate drives and my. My help, my defender claps in for help. I understand why I need to relocate to give my teammate a good passing angle, okay? That. That's a holistic point of view of the game that novices do not have and advanced beginners. Advanced beginners do not have and competent players do not have either, okay? At the professional level, you understand all these things. At a high level, okay, Consistently, you know them, you know all of them, okay? And your, like, their ability to react and think of solutions quickly is good. And therefore they are much more prepared to do well in games, okay? They. This is where a player would be considered good, right? When you see a player, you're like, that's a good player. They're at this point, okay? They're at this point where you see a player in a game and they're one of the best players on the floor. They're at that proficient level, okay? So if this is you, you're probably one of the better players on your team. You're probably one of the best players on your team, to be honest. And you can be relied on to perform well, right? You are probably one of the most skilled guys and you understand the game at a very, very high level and you know everything about the game, right? You know, you've had a lot of experience, you played a lot of basketball, you played a lot of school basketball, travel basketball. Like you, you've played a lot of basketball, okay? And you might not be a star, you might not be a star player, but you might have games, you might have nights where you are the star. You might have nights where you score 30 points because you know you have a really great game, right? And that might be something that teams are Aware you can do. They might not say, okay, he might not score 30 every night, but he could. He could score 30 tonight if he has a good night. Okay? This is where players become good, right? And again, at this point, you know all the reasons to make. If you mess something up, you usually know exactly what you messed up and how to fix it. You know what to do the next time you add that to your experience, you say, hey, you know what? This didn't work. But guess what? When I did that last time, it did work, so I'm gonna make sure I try this next time, okay? Or you might say, hey, you know what? When I came off that ball screen, I made a hook pass to that. I made a hook pass to that corner guy, and he actually wasn't open. I should have taken one more dribble and then hit a pocket pass to my roll guy, right? That was open, right? That's something that you can look at and understand as a proficient player. Okay? Now, that means you likely have one of the highest basketball IQs on your own team. But ultimately, you still have to think consciously a lot of times with what you're doing, which prevents you from truly being an expert. Okay? So you, a lot of times still have to think to yourself, like, hey, you know, I have to do this, right? Or you might have to think to yourself, like, hey, okay, next time I come to the screen, I'm looking for this, right? You might come off a ball screen, and maybe you messed it up last time. So now you're thinking to yourself, hey, I'm looking for that, or I'm looking for this podcast now. So you're still at a point where you're thinking consciously about it, and you can adapt to most unfamiliar situations. So if you're seeing a new defense, right, or you're getting trapped this game, and it's not something you're used to, you can usually adapt to it, but you may need some help. Where you may need the guidance of a coach or even a teammate who may be more experience than you, you still need a little bit of guidance when it comes to unfamiliar situations, okay? When you're learning something new, you're still gonna need a little bit of help with it, all right? And. But at this point, you're able to take full responsibility for yourself. So in games, when you mess something up, you can take responsibility because you know that you're wrong about it and you know what you need to do to be better at. And a lot of times, you can take responsibility for your teammates messing Up. If your teammate wasn't in help, your coach knows that you know that they were supposed to be there. And if he sees that you didn't tell him to get there, he's going to hold you responsible, hopefully, right? And you're going to be able to say to yourself, yeah, he's right. Like, I should have done that. Like, I should have been more vocal. I should have done this. Because you understand the game at a high level, okay? And again, this is where a trainer or coach can really help you get to that next level. So I talked about the primitive score system helping guys at a higher level. This is really. I want to be able to target that right where I want to help guys who are at that proficient level continue to improve their skills. But again, this is a point where a knowledgeable trainer or coach can really help you to take that next step and get to a point where you can play the game at a, at a subconscious level, okay? And then we get to level five, which is the expert level, okay? This is where you have a very, very high level of skill and also a very, very high level of basketball iq. And this is again, something that takes years to get to, okay? Then not, not all players get to the expert level, okay? A lot of times this is, this is, you know, the guys who, who. And you might get to this, it really will depend on guys can get to the expert level mentally, right? Where you know everything, but you might not be there physically. The guys in the, you know, the guys who make to the NBA are guys who get there physically and mentally, okay? So guys who are big, athletic, have all the skills, but also they understand the game at an expert level, okay? So you think of a guy like LeBron James, an expert physically, but also an expert mentally, okay? And all this is Kyrie Irving, Expert physically, expert mentally. So even guys who, you know, might not be stars, right? Take out like, you know, DJ Augustine, right? That's a guy who's expert mentally, expert physically, okay? Fred Van Fleet, expert mentally, expert physically. Guys who might not be stars, they're still in the NBA because they're experts in both of these categories, okay? And guess what? Some guys might not be experts mentally, but if you're an expert physically, right? Where you're a seven footer and you can jump 40 inches and, you know, then maybe at that point it can overcome that. But the majority of guys you see who are stars, Kawhi Leonard, Luka Doncic, like guys who are like that are experts, okay? And at this point, you don't have to rely on rules anymore. You don't rely on guidelines. You don't have to rely on coaches telling you what to do. You don't need that to make good decisions and be successful. And what that means is basically you're going out there and you're just playing the game of basketball, okay? You understand that you've had so many experiences with the game that there really isn't anything that you can see that's going to throw you off, right? You might have to think analytically about something quickly if it's brand new to you. But the majority of the time, you don't see things that are new, Right. You've seen at least familiar things, basically with everything that you could come across in a game, okay? So you're just out there playing intuitively, and that's really the key word, intuitively. Experts play the game just off intuition. It's not off. Oh, my defender hard hedges. So I have to split here. Well, he might say, you know what? My defender is hard hedging. So maybe I split or maybe I'm faster than him and I bump it around to the outside, or maybe I draw him back, get that hedge guy to step up to me, and then I split it because I know I'm going to have more space on that back end for it. Okay? You might say to yourself, okay, you know what? For example, one thing that you see with. I remember watching a clip of Luka Doncic, and it was. This was against the. This was against the Clippers in the playoffs this past year. And he caught the ball in the wing off a driving kick, and there was Paul George. There was a guy in the corner right next to him. So Luka was in the low wing guy probably 10ft from, I think it was Trey Burke in the corner. And Paul George is the only guy out there right there. So it was two on one, basically. So Luka catches the ball, baits Paul George over with like a. With a little shot fake, right? Just a little look at the rim. And then poltergeist to him, kick right over to Trey Burke. And it was a shot right there. Now, a proficient player right there probably shoots that ball because it was open. It was a good shot. But Paul George probably could have gotten some sort of contest to it, okay? But because Luka understood, like, hey, if I make Paul George move towards me right here and I go quick to Trey Burke, Trey Burke's going to have an uncontested wide open, easy three of the night. And that was what he did. Right there, okay? So he is playing the game at an intuitive level. Every rule would say, shoot the ball. You're open, You're. You're the best player on your team. Shoot the basketball, okay? You probably already have 30 points tonight. No one's mad that you shoot the ball. That's what you should do. But he says, you know what? No, I don't have to play by the rules. I understand that. I can make this guy do something else, and I'm going to. I'm going to get the ball, make him do what I want him to do, and then I'm going to pass it to the guy in the corner who's a 40% shooter, and boom, that's it right there. So that's intuition right there, playing off intuition, not playing off of what the rules tell you to do, okay? This comes through broad exposure to the game. So a lot. A lot of basketball at a high level where you've seen a lot of different things, you've seen a lot of looks and numerous and extensive game experiences lead to this player being able to react and make the right decision subconsciously every time, okay? Not to say they don't make mistakes, but they play the game at a subconscious level with intuition. And this player is very, very advanced at what they do. So that's essentially where it comes from. Now, I mentioned before that sometimes players who are really successful, right, Guys in the NBA, they might not be experts mentally, okay? Every player in the world, every player can become an expert mentally at the game of basketball. You can become an expert mentally at it. It might take some guys 20 years, but also might take some guys, you know, five years, right? Some guys might get to the NBA, as in their first year, and they might be experts already. Luka Doncic got to the NBA, and you could tell this dude had played at a high level for a long time, right? He was 19 years old, and he's already an expert at the game of basketball, okay? So a lot of times that's not really what it comes down to. But another thing that I want to talk about, though, is I got a comment on my last. On last week's podcast, and I was talking about. I forget. I forget what the comment started as. But essentially it was a comment that said, so, hey, it was real. He was real respectful with it, but it was a genuine question. It was a good question he's asked. He said, hey, coach, no hate. But, you know, what is your. Are you a pro or something? Like, how can we know that we should trust what you're saying, how do I know that what you're saying is actually right? And again, I thought it was a really good question. And I actually think that, I think he might have deleted his comment because I didn't see it when I looked at it. But I don't know, maybe I just missed it. But my response to him basically was like, okay, do what I'm telling you to do. Do what I do. Like, take my advice, do it. If it doesn't work, then don't listen to me. Just unsubscribe, unfollow me. Like, block me, whatever you want to do. Like, don't, don't, don't follow me. Like, don't listen to what I'm saying. If what I tell you doesn't help you, then you shouldn't listen to me. You should just. And that goes to anybody. Anybody who you see, it doesn't matter who they are. If what they tell you doesn't help you, then don't listen to them, okay? And I want you to do the same thing with me. If what I tell you, if, you know, if one of my workouts doesn't work, if it doesn't work for you, then don't listen to me. Okay? That being said, that was my response to him. If, let's take for example, you know, LeBron James. LeBron James told you that if you want to become a better athlete, you should cut your left leg off. Hopefully you wouldn't listen to him, okay? Because just because he's LeBron doesn't mean that you should just listen to what he says. And likewise, it's the opposite way. Just because somebody isn't LeBron doesn't mean that they can't tell you something that's going to help you. Okay? So again, it really comes down to does what I'm telling you get your results? Does what your trainer or what a person you listen to, do they help you get results? That's really what it's all about, okay? Because we can forget about the whole authority thing like, oh, this guy played in the NBA, so he clearly knows what he's talking about. Listen, Brad Stevens, Steve Kerr, Phil Jackson, Gregg Popovich, all those guys are obviously great coaches. And, and all of them were really, really good players too. You know, none of them were stars, but, and obviously Brad Stevens didn't even play Division 1 basketball. But all three of them, all four of them were really good players. You know, three of them played in the NBA, but not, none of them were like, you know, big time players, like none of them were. None of them were stars by any means at all. And. But despite that, all of them are fantastic coaches. I mean, between Steve Kerr, Phil Jackson, Greg Cavage, that's three hall of Famers as coaches and. And Steve, probably a little bit of both player and coach because of all. I mean, won so many titles, but three. Three championships as a coach, obviously, great team, but still, like your coaches, your coach plays a role in that. And Brad Stevens, I think Brad Stevens will be a Hall of Fame coach one day, right? He's already on pace to be the really the most winningest coach ever in Celtics history. So I think he's going to be a Hall of Fame coach as well. All four are tremendous coaches, but none of them were hall of Fame players. None of them were hall of Fame, you know, and all of them were all NBA, you know, superstars. They weren't. But assuming that because they weren't superstars, they can't help the superstar is what's called the authority fallacy, right? Where you might say, hey, this guy only played here. He didn't. He didn't. He didn't play in the NBA. So how can he help? How can he train that guy? He. If that were the case, nobody could train Michael Jordan. Nobody could train LeBron, nobody could train Kobe Bryant. I mean, Tim Grover, who was basically Michael Jordan's trainer, I mean, Tim Grover is not in the NBA hall of Fame or the Basketball hall of Fame, right? But he still was able to help Michael. So it really comes down to, can you help somebody, right? Because who cares about, you know, what, like who. Who played where, who played here? Because here's the thing, I'll say, over the past couple years, I've. I've been able to coach with, work with a lot of really, really good coaches, okay? Just in my area. And I've also worked with a few bad ones, Cotus, who just were terrible. They were horrible. And a couple of them play Division 1 basketball, played pro basketball, and yet they are horrible coaches. Awful. Like, to the point where they make their teams and their players worse, right? They are horrible coaches. And some of the best coaches that I work with didn't even play college basketball, right? And. And they make their players better. They make their teams better. So what that goes by. What that goes to show is that it really has nothing to do with. With where you played at, with. With all it really depends on can you. Can you help your team win? Can you help your guys get better? That's all that matters. The end of the day doesn't matter at all. And so the funny thing with that too is, like, some of those D1 in college guys, like, they're not even good trainers. Like, forget, like, team coaching, they're terrible at it, but they're not even good at training either, which is remarkable to me. And again, some of the trainers that I know who, who didn't play at a high level, who maybe played, you know, didn't play college or maybe lower level college, like, they're, they're, they're way better at it, okay? Because a lot of times, Listen, when you're. A lot of times players of the D1 at the Pro level are there because they have, you know, great height, great athleticism, stuff that really can't be taught, right? That you're, you're born with, okay? Obviously, everyone had to work at it to an extent, but not everyone had to work the same at it, okay? So if you get to the D1 level because you're way bigger than everybody else, well, you didn't have to put in the same amount of attention to detail as that, you know, five, nine, point guard, right? He had to put in a lot more attention to detail because he can't afford to not do that. Right? But if you're 6 10, then you're just gonna be there because you're 6 10, right? And that's really what it comes down to is guys think, oh, he played here, so he knows this, she played here, she knows this. But if they didn't, like, you have to look at the context, right? Of, okay, what do they do when they were there, what position did they play? So it's a all encompassing sort of thing. But that was that. I obviously didn't say all that to the guy in the comment, but that was kind of my thing. It's like, take my advice, take my workouts, take whatever I'm doing. See if it works for you. If it works, keep doing it. If it doesn't work, then don't do it. I don't want you to. Like, I want you to go find something that works for you, okay? I'm not gonna sit here and say, like, oh, like it's your fault that. Don't. Just don't do it, okay? And that's really my plea to you. And I would hope that you'll take me up on that. And then if there's somebody else out there that you are listening to, just because they did this or did that, evaluate what they're saying, and if it works for you, cool. Then that's awesome, right? But if not, then find something that does, okay? That's really, that's really what it is for me. I think about all the time because there's a lot of guys that you can, you can listen to. I take like, you know, NBA analysts, right? If you look at guys who are on TV and a lot of them who played in the NBA don't know anything, they can't talk about the NBA, okay? There are guys who were superstars in the NBA, guys who are hall of Famers, who, when I listen to them give their basketball opinion, I'm like, this dude has no clue what he's talking about. Because this dude came in the NBA, he was better than everybody else. He's bigger, faster, stronger than everybody else. So he's an NBA hall of Famer, right? So he, he has not had to. A guy who I love is Jay Williams, right? Played at Duke, had a, a, a, a crazy accident and then ended up not playing. I think he played a couple years for the Bulls, but didn't really have a crazy good NBA career or anything like that. He, I think, is one of the best NBA analysts out there, despite not being a Hall of Famer, okay? And that's because, like, you know, a guy like that has to work his way up throughout the, throughout the ranks, right? He doesn't just get a job as an analyst because of his NBA career. Like all these. A lot of these other guys get careers because they were good NBA players. Jay Williams had to work at it. And I think because of that, he carefully does his research, plans out his opinions and talks about good points, okay? But there are other guys. Again, I'm not going to call people out. There are some guys who are on TV who are only on there because of their playing career. They don't know anything about basketball aside from being better than everybody else. And they don't have to do the research because they just say, hey, you know what? I play, I'm a Hall of Famer, so I can say whatever I want. And that's really how it is. It's the same thing with, with coaches and trainers, like guys who just say, hey, I did this here, I played here, I did this. That. They, they can use that to justify saying, like, you have to listen what I'm saying. But that's not always the best case to. That's always the best thing to follow as a player, okay? Be critical, be skeptical, figure out what works and stick with that. That's my advice to you. So basically, kind of wrap things up. I'm going to head back to that, those, those five points to kind of talk to you guys about, like, okay, what level are you at and what should you, like, what should you do to get to that next level? So, you know, the thing to understand is that this is likely why a lot of you guys struggle in games, right? Because you're at a level, you're at a lower level and you, you, you just need more time, right? You need more work. And if you aren't at the proficient level or the expert level, then you're going to struggle to be consistent, okay? You're going to struggle with that. It's to be expected. Everybody has gone through it. Every single player who's ever played in basketball before they get to that proficient level are going to struggle with their consistency, okay? Even guys at those levels might struggle sometimes. So first of all, let's talk about assessing yourself. Okay? What level are you at? That's the question. Now, do you struggle when facing unfamiliar circumstances? Okay, do you struggle when things are thrown at you in games that you are prepared for? Do you struggle when you know you. A play breaks down and you have to make. Create something? Okay, do you need to be coached and told exactly what to do in order to be successful? How creative are you? Are you able to. Are there times in games where you pull out moves that you've never done before? Right. That's, I think, is a big, A big, A big telltale sign of somebody who is at least at the proficient level and maybe the expert level is that you get into games and you might do things that you just had never even practiced. Like you might do a move that you've never explicitly practiced because you've done so many other things, it just kind of falls together and you just do something that you've never practiced before. Okay. That is something that, I think that is the mark of somebody who is at the very least proficient and maybe even an expert at it. So if you're not at that level yet, then you probably aren't at the proficient level. You're probably still at the competent level where you have to really think about what you're doing and you really can only do things that you've explicitly practiced. Okay? So this can be viewed in terms of individual skills. So, you know, maybe you're competent as a shooter, but you're not quite proficient yet. Okay? You can, you can shoot the ball when you're wide open, but when there's a guy running at you or you have to shoot off the dribble, maybe you're not proficient yet. Okay, so again, you can think about it for different skills as well. So you ask, how good of a shooter am I? Can I make shots with a defender closing out? Can I make shots off the dribble at a high speed from different ranges? Right. Can I shoot, can I shoot well from, you know, deep three or mid range? Like, think about all that sort of stuff that kind of ties into it. And you say, you know, do you know when to, do you know when to attack a closeout or when to shoot the ball? Right. Do you know, can you gauge the amount of space that you need to be able to attack or shoot the basketball? Okay, and keys, can you say, hey, you know what? I know that I'm going to attack the closeout now because I don't see any help defense or I see a help defender and he's guarding our best shooter. So I know that if I attack this closeout and I drive into the paint, he's going to close out and I can kick it out to our best shooter and he's going to have a wide open three. Okay? Again, that's the sign of a proficient to expert player because they understand how the game works as a whole. Okay? So again, if you think that, if you think those sort of things, you're probably at the proficient or expert level. Okay? If not, you're probably the competent or below level. Do you have a solid understanding of how to piece all your skills together? Do you understand when to pull out a punch drag? Do you understand when to go to in and out move? Do you understand when to shoot the ball, when to drive? Do you understand those things of when how your skills fit in the context of a game? Do you know how to use each of your moves, same exact thing? Do you know when to go to a different move or when not to? You know, typically if you have a high level of skill but you don't know when to use those skills, you're probably at the competent level, you probably are competent, you probably haven't had enough experience to be able to really put things together in the context of a game. If you just started playing, you don't know very much, you're probably a beginner. And if you've been playing for a little bit and your skills aren't great, then you're lucky at the advanced beginner stage. So at the beginner stage, you need to increase your understanding of context. So understanding, when do I do this? Okay, and we can go back to that Layup example, when do I shoot a right hand? Lay with my left foot. When do I use a crossover move? Okay. If my defender jumps to my right side, I cross it to my left, and that's when I use a crossover. Okay? So you don't want to go from just doing drills to build your skills to understanding, when do I do this? Okay, when do I shoot the ball? Well, if I'm open and I don't have any other teammates who are open under the basket, then I should shoot the ball. Okay? So in the context of when and why you do things, how you prevent is how you. You move on to that or that advanced beginner stage. So the other thing with beginners is you've got to ask questions. Watch a lot of basketball, Watch a lot of basketball. Watch college basketball, high school basketball, pro basketball, watch a ton of basketball. Okay? Every day you should be watching basketball just to learn, see how guys move, see when guys do different things. Just get a feel for how the game of basketball works, okay? Because there's a certain flow of the game of basketball you need to be able to have and you need to watch basketball to learn how that is, okay? And obviously, playing basketball is going to help you a lot as well. But above all, improve your skills. That's how you're going to advance to those next levels. So also a good idea to be learning from somebody who knows more than you here. So this isn't something you should try to work out yourself. Find somebody who knows more than you and learn from those well advanced beginner stage. At this stage, you likely understand some sort of context when it comes to these different things. Now you have to start understanding relevance. Okay, so why am I doing this drill? What situation is the drill going to help me in? Why would I make this cut in a game? What is the point of this? So, you know, a back cut, for example, maybe you're in practice as a beginner and you're working on back cuts into a layup. Now, you need to understand that the relevance, like, okay, when do I use backup? Right? Why do I use a backup? What's the point of a back cut? Okay, well, the back cut would be if my defender is watching the ball and his back is. Or his head is turned to me, then I back cut because he's not gonna be able to follow me. I'm have a wide open layup, okay? So understand the relevance of things. Why am I doing this? You know, why am I doing this? Let's say, for example, you're doing a Drill where you're coming off of screens for shooting, right? You're coming off of pin downs. Why am I doing this drill? Well, maybe because, you know, you want to be able to catch a shoot off a curl, right? You want to be able to step, you know, inside foot, outside foot shot. Okay, why am I doing this ball handling drill, right? Why am I doing this drill, this V dribble series? Well, maybe so that I can work on controlling the basketball outside of my frame, across my frame, and I'm able to get into different moves off of those V dribbles, okay? So my ball controls can get better. Okay? So why am I working on this ability where I'm going from a quick crossover to a slow crossover, right? I'm working on my ability to change my pace, okay? Starting to understand the relevance behind things is big when it comes to getting past this stage. So you've likely gained watching and training and playing experience. So you have slightly more basketball IQ and understanding, but now you have to continue to. To build that to a high level. So at the competent stage, you're now able to see the relevance behind things. You understand why you do a move, you understand why you should make a certain cut, and you understand why a shot is a good shot or a bad shot. And you also understand what to do, like, if your defender cuts you off, you know, okay, I got to cross back over to the other side if my defender cuts me off. You understand these things. Now, you likely also have your skills at a competent level as well, meaning that your coach can trust you a little bit more to an extent. Okay. And you likely have the basics down with this. You likely have those basic skills and those basic reads and rules and understanding down. Now it's about getting better at adapting to unfamiliar situations and being able to think in terms of solutions and creativity instead of just thinking with rules. So you know that when your offender gives you the left, you should go left. The next level of understanding with that is that if your defender is forcing you left, you attack their top foot and get them to the other side, because you know that they're gonna have to open up their hips, flip their hips, take a crossover step, and that might give you opportunity to pull up right there. Or it might just be able to help you create space, and then you can go back and drive the other direction, or it might cause a help defender to set them where you can kick out for a three. It doesn't mean that it's wrong to just go left, but there's other ways to do things. Okay. And that other ways might be better. In some situations, they also might not be better. So you have to start to understand the context behind that. You know, a competent player doesn't yet understand the situation at a high level yet. And they, they aren't at a point where they can confidently execute that in games. Okay. You also need to work towards, at this point, understanding a holistic approach to the game of basketball. So right now you're still very analytical. You're saying, if my defender does this, I have to do that. My defender forces me left, I drive left. But if my defender is forcing me left and I attack his top foot and I should go right, well, that might open up a whole bunch of different things for me. Okay, you don't quite get that yet, but you need to get to that point. I've seen the game holistically, you don't quite understand yet that by you driving, you might not always get the layup, right, but you might draw in a defender to kick the ball. Right. You're not at a point yet where you can actually drive without even thinking about trying to get a layup. You're just trying to get a defender to collapse so you can get the ball to someone for a shot. Okay, you don't, you can't do that yet. You're not at that point yet where you can actually execute that sort of thing in a game. So 90 is worth to get to that point. And this is really through playing. This is, this is what you get through experience. So first of all, to get to the competent level, you have to have a lot of experience. This is where it becomes super important that you're playing the game of basketball as much as you can. You're playing pickup, you're training, you're doing all these things. Playing, playing, playing is so big when it comes to all this. Okay? You can't just, you can't just do drills all day. Those are very important. Drills are very important. But it also, in order to translate that sort of stuff that you have to play basketball, you have to play 5 on 5 as much as you can. Okay, so then we'll talk about the proficient stage. At this stage, you have a high skill level and a high iq. You know all the reads, you know all the techniques, you all, you know all the rules that, that are in the game. Basketball, okay, you know every single one of them. You can also, at this point, view the game holistically and you can, you can adapt consistently. So now you understand the driving kick, you understand relocating on when you're doing your teammate drives, you understand those principles of the game as a whole, okay? You understand why you need to push the ball at the floor, right? You understand, you know, why you need to run in transition. You understand all these things now. And at this point, you can understand nuances more. You might deviate from a rule, right? You might say, you know what, my defense forced me left, and usually I'd be just. I just hit the left right there. But now I'm going to, you know, now I'm going to go shot, fake, and I'm going to attack his right foot because he's going to open up his hips and now I'm going to step back right there. And he's not going to be able to contest it, okay? You understand the nuances of the game, and you can deviate from the set rules. So at the proficient stage, you're not quite intuitive yet. To get to the expert stage, it's got to become intuitive. You still have to have to play the game consciously. You still have to think about what you're doing at times, so you understand why and how to do everything. But it's not yet. It's not a natural thing always yet. It is at some points. And like I said, you can break down film. If you were to sit down with your coach and watch film, you guys will be on the same page with everything you say, yeah, coach, I did that wrong. I did this wrong. But a lot of times at this point, you're still very strict. You still have a very strict adherence to the rules. You're not really breaking rules too often. You're kind of doing what's right. And because of that, you're proficient, you're a good player, maybe even a great player, but you're not yet at the point where you could be considered an expert yet because you're not playing the game intuitively yet. And then the expert level, this is. This is really where the big jump happens, is you play. You play the game intuitively, okay? So you go from thinking the game rationally to playing the game intuitively. So now at this point, you've internalized the rules. You know all of them, but you've internalized them, okay? And now you rely on your experiences. You've had so much experience that. That there's nothing you could see that really would throw you off, okay? So again, this is something that takes years and years and years to get to. This is a long time to get to. And this is where you have a chance to expand the game to expand your own game. Think about a guy, you know, Alan Iverson, right, where he took the crossover and he made it into something completely new, right? Take Jamal Crawford, right, where he takes these dribble moves and he makes it into something new where he takes it in and out and he goes in and out behind, like he goes with a behind the back. In and out now, right? Something that nobody else does, okay? But he's so good, he's. He's such an expert that he's able to do something like that. Okay? So guys who just play the game, which is just straight up intuition, okay, that those are experts right there. Think about CP3 or LeBron James with their passing, okay? These guys are absolutely phenomenal. They just, they see things that nobody else sees. They make passes nobody else can make because they, they've. They've had so much experience with their passing with different looks, there's nothing the defense can do. It doesn't matter if they play a zone, if they play man, if they double, if they play whatever, it doesn't matter. They can make that. They can make passes to their guys. It doesn't matter because they're at an expert level. So at this point, you're able to kind of push the boundaries of what, of what can be done because you are able to do things at such a high level and you don't need a roadmap. You don't need a coach that's going to tell you what to do or a coach that's going to tell you what the rules are, because you don't need a roadmap because you make your own map at this point because of your experience that you've had, okay? So all five of these stages are. You're going to fall somewhere within there, okay? So it's up to you to figure out where that would be. And again, for all five stages, there's a different approach you need to take. Really. And this is what I say all the time, but what it comes down to is the biggest difference between all of these stages is just experience, okay? So it's time and experience. And when it comes to experience, what I really mean is game experience, okay? So these guys have seen so many different looks that that's how they progress forward, okay? Once you. To get to the proficient stage, you've had to have seen a lot of different things so that you feel confident and you're proficient to make different reads and succeed in different situations, okay? That's the difference between a competent player and a proficient player. A competent player might be just as skilled as a proficient player, but that proficient player has had so many prior experiences that he's able to make better decisions and think the game through at a more holistic level as compared to a competent player who probably has less experience. Okay? So if you want to get to a high level, play more basketball more, five on five, more three on three, play more basketball, see more, looks, okay? Mess up more so that you can be better in the long run. And then, of course, training is huge with it, okay? You have to have the skills, obviously, to go along with that. Chris Paul and LeBron James, no matter how smart they are mentally, they're mental experts, they're also physical experts, okay? They can make every pass physically. They can make every shot physically. They can make every dribble move physically. Okay? They can take contact. They can do all those things that you need to have to be an expert at that high of a level. So there's something else to consider when we talk about progressing forward. So, again, hopefully, this is a lot. I know this is a probably long episode. Hopefully that this helped you guys out, though. And, you know, I just. Again, for me, it. Every players are at different levels, so I want to be able to help all of you guys no matter where you're at, okay? But it's really going to depend on where you're at, which is in terms of where you're going to your next step forward. Okay? So again, go through this and figure out for yourself, like, what's my next step? Okay? Even it's for. Even if it's for a specific skill, I think that's going to help you a lot moving forward in the long run. So, again, I appreciate all the questions. Today's episode, I mean, we had, what, three questions in there? Two questions from you guys in there. So I appreciate that. If you guys have questions for me, send me a DM on Instagram @ Visionary Basketball. Leave a comment, whatever. Even if you don't have a question, go ahead and give me a follow on Instagram at Visionary Basketball. Like I said, guys, if you're on YouTube right now, turn on notifications. I appreciate every single one of you guys who have stayed to the end. I know. Long episode. Hopefully you guys got something from it. I'll talk to you guys soon. Peace. My defender forces me left. I drive left. But if my defender is forcing me left and I attack his top foot and I should go right, well, that might open up a whole bunch of different things for me. Okay? You don't quite get that yet, but you need to get to that point. I've seen the game holistically, you don't quite understand yet that by you driving, you might not always get the layup, right, but you might draw in a defender to kick the ball, right. You're not at a point yet where you can actually drive without even thinking about trying to get a layup. You're just trying to get a defender to collapse so you can get the ball to someone for a shot. Okay, you don't, you can't do that yet. You're not at that point yet where you can actually execute that sort of thing in a game. So 90 is worth to get to that point. And this is really through playing, this is what you get through experience. So first of all, to get to the competent level, you have to have a lot of experience. This is where it becomes super important that you're playing the game of basketball as much as you can. You're playing pickup, you're training, you're doing all these things. Playing, playing, playing is so big when it comes to all this. Okay? You can't just, you can't just do drills all day. Those are very important. Drills are very important. But it also, in order to translate that sort of stuff that you have to play basketball, you have to play football five on five as much as you can. Okay, so then we'll talk about the proficient stage. At this stage, you have a high skill level and a high iq. You know all the reads, you know all the techniques. You all, you know all the rules that, that are in the game. Basketball, okay, you know every single one of them. You can also, at this point, view the game holistically and you can, you can adapt consistently. So now you understand the driving kick, you understand relocating on when you're doing, when your teammate drives. You understand those principles of the game as a whole. Okay, you understand why you need to push the ball up the floor, right? You understand, you know why you need to run in transition. You understand all these things now. And at this point, you, you, you can understand nuances more. You might deviate from a rule, right? You might say, you know what, my defense forced me left. And usually I'd be just, I just hit the left right there. But now I'm going to, you know, now I'm going to go shot fake and I'm going to attack his right foot because he's going to open up his hips and not the set rules. So at the proficient stage, you're not quite intuitive yet to get to the X procedure, it's got to become intuitive. You still have to have to play the game consciously. You still have to think about what you're doing at times so you understand why and how to do everything. But it's not yet.