🏀 The Power of Simplicity
Welcome to the 222 new readers of The Basketball Academy.
This is the day you become a better player or coach.
Today’s Basketball Academy takes 3 minutes and 32 seconds to read.
SPECIAL GUEST 🚨
Alex Bazzell NBA & WNBA Skills Trainer & Co-Founder/CEO Through The Lens
This week we are joined by Alex Bazzell, one of the world's top NBA and WNBA trainers.
Alex began training back in 2013, while he was still playing professionally overseas in Germany. Later that year, he launched his own academy in St. Louis, which has developed over 250 players annually. In 2015 Alex began working with NBA players Doug McDermott and Bobby Portis. He has since grown his client list to one of the best in the world.
Alex's current client list includes Kyrie Irving, Napheesa Collier, Trae Young, Candace Parker, Carmelo Anthony, Caris LeVert, Bobby Portis and Doug McDermott.
Alex has individually trained over 50 different NBA & WNBA players since 2015. He was also mentored by the late, Kobe Bryant from 2018-2020. Alex worked with Kobe and trained his daughter, Gigi and their Mambacitas team.
Alex also has experience running NBA pre-draft camps for brands such as Roc Nation and individuals like Trae Young, Moritz Wagner, Kevin Porter Jr. etc. During these months, he helps prepare incoming rookies on and off the court on what it takes to succeed in the NBA.
In late 2020, Alex launched a digital training company called Through The Lens, with his Co-Founder, Carmelo Anthony. The platform is aimed to help bridge the gap from the best trainers and players in the world to the everyday player and parent. And also has a brand new league he is starting with his wife Napheesa and Breanna Stewart called Unrivaled.
Here’s what we’re serving up:
🏀 #1 - Best Thing We Heard 🗣️
🏀 #2 - Favorite Action 🎥
🏀 #3 - Life Hacks 💭
LET’S DIVE IN ⬇️
The Power of Names 🗣️
🔥 The simplicity being everything
🔥 How Kobe interacted was special
Must Add Action 🎥
Delay Twirl
Warriors & Creighton MBB. Warriors use it to create and Empty P&R.
Creighton uses it to attack the drop defender.
Clarity Creates Consistency 💭
3 ways to gain “coaching clarity”
1. Euthymia: the sense of the path you’re on. Not being distracted by the paths that crisscross yours.
In English, Euthymia means “tranquility.”
2. Ikiagai: your reason for being.
Ikigai is the crossroads of 4 ideas
What you love
What the world needs
What you’re good at
What you can be “paid for”
The combination of 1 & 2 is your mission.
A combination of 1 & 3 is your passion.
3. Take Action.
“Talking about what you’re doing and doing it fight for the same resources.”
Create a stack of undeniable proof.
Identity lags reality by about 1-2 years. Do the work first, confidence will follow.
“Self-belief is overrated, I prefer to use evidence.”
How Alex Is Helping & Changing The Game 👀
Through The Lens
Focused on helping athletes scale their individual business and brand objectives while maintaining ownership of their personal brand identity.
Unrivaled
3v3 league built for the biggest stars in women’s basketball.
Listen to the whole pod here ⬇️👇
Building confidence and trust is the most important thing we can do to help players
Players are more skilled now individually, but the worst team players we’ve ever had - Geno Auriemma