Coach Ethan Khoza explains that basketball success depends on instincts built by repeatedly making correct reads (e.g., on ball screens, closeouts, finishes). He outlines a three-part progression for developing instincts: (1) practice many read variations in drills, (2) apply them live in 1v1 or game-like drills, and (3) play pickup/competitive games—additionally inviting viewers to join his private training group for more resources.
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Just rhyme baby. What's up guys? Coach Ethan here today. I want to talk about instincts and how to develop them and why they're the key to you being the best player that you can be. We had a player in our private basketball training group link in the description, by the way, that asked about the difference between instincts and read and react and he didn't quite get that they actually lead into each other. The first thing to understand is that basketball is a game of instincts and a game of being able to read the defense. And the more you see a read, the more it becomes instinctual how you react to it. So therefore, by reading and reacting, you develop your instincts as a basketball player. So what do I mean by that? Take something as simple as a ball screen. You as the ball handler have to understand what reads you're going to have coming off of a ball screen. If your defender goes under and the screeners defender sags off, you might have space for an open three point shot. If the two defenders switch on the ball screen, then you're probably going to have the roll guy open on a slip. If the screeners defender hard headed you and your man goes over and tries to trap you, you're going to be able to hit that pop guy quickly and have him get an open shot. Those are three examples of reads you might have in basketball. Those are three things that you'll get as you play. Develop your instincts. Now obviously you're gonna see a bunch of reads in a bunch of different situations. Think about any time you might be on the basketball court. You're constantly making reads, and the better you are making those reads, the better you're gonna be as a player. So therefore, training reads might be the most important thing you can do to become a better basketball player. If you look at the best players on earth, all of them have elite basketball instincts that have come from years of playing, years of learning how to make correct reads and just drilling that over and over and over and seeing it again in game situations. So now that you know why reads are important, let's talk about how to develop them. The first way to develop reads is by looking at different reads to do in practice. For example, whenever I run players through drills, a lot of times we'll start with the same first action. So maybe we'll work on coming off of a ball screen, but we're going to look at different reads you might make coming off the ball screen. Maybe the first read we'll make is that you can turn the corner around the screener's defender and get all the way to the basket. Maybe the next read is that you can turn the corner again, but this time the helper defender steps up. So you have to take a pull up jump shot. Maybe the next time your defender overplayed and tries to jump the screen and then we reject it and go baseline. Then the help defender steps up and we take another pull up jump shot. Those are three different reads that are the same drill. There are literally dozens of reads that we can add to that to change up that drill. I could literally take the same ball screen drill and do it differently every single workout. So that's the first way to develop reads. Understanding how you should react when that read comes and having the physical ability to do it. Now you know if the screen defender hard hedges, you know how to be able to split those two and get downhill. Now you know if your defender jumps it, you have the ability to reject it and go bas. But that's just the physical part of it. Now you need to know when to apply it. It's like having a toolbox. You can have all the tools in the world, but you have to know when to use them and how to use them if you want them to be effective. It's the same thing in basketball. We can do all the drills in the world to give you all the tools to succeed. But if you don't know when to use those and how to apply them, then it won't matter. So the next progression is to do those live. So for example, we might play a live one on one situation where your defender is going to give you a read. He might close out a different way. He might play off you, he might get up in your space and you have to how to react when that happens. Now all of a sudden you're adding in a game like part of it and you have to be able to use those drills that you practiced and apply them to a live situation. A lot of the workouts I have on my channel go through progressions like that. When we go back to that first point, a lot of them have progressions and that's reads that you can make. Even some of our finishing drills, for example, when we do the show middle and extend, well, that's a read right there. If you go up high and the defender goes up like he's going to block it, then you extend to the outside to finish. If he doesn't go up for that block, you can just go straight up the middle. But if he does, then you is you boom. You bring it outside and finish. So I have a lot of stuff like that on my channel. If you want to get to that second part, all you got to do is find another person or a couple people to play one on one with to develop those instincts. Put yourself in different situations, come off of ball screens, off of off ball screens, closeouts, all different types of situations that you can be in that help develop your instincts. And the last thing is to play. Playing basketball and putting yourself in position to have to make reads is the number one way to get better. So playing pickup, having ball screens, the best thing you can do is find yourself in a situation where you're with other players who are like minded and also understand these reads as well. That way they can help elevate you. For example, I always talk about why you need to play against players who are better than you. If you can find some good people to play one on one with and a good group to play five on five with, that'll significantly help you to improve your instincts and become a better basketball player. Like I said, it's like having a toolbox. Even if you have all the tools in the world, if you don't understand when to use them and how to use them, then it's almost useless. So you need to make sure that your training is not just individual stuff. I like to call it one against zero. You got to make sure you're playing against a live opponent as often as you possibly can. If you guys enjoyed this video, go ahead and leave a like and subscribe as well. I want all of you guys right now to put the link in my description and join our private basketball training group where I'm giving you guys free workouts, personal coaching for me, and a ton of exclusive content that you're not going to get anywhere else. So like I said, link is in my description. Go ahead and join 100% free and I'll see you guys in there. Like I said, if you enjoyed this video, go ahead and hit that subscribe button. Hit this little black button right here to make it easy. I really appreciate it guys. And drop a comment for me. Let me know what you guys want to see next. That's it for me guys. Peace.
