This May Be The Most Important Skill in Basketball…

This May Be The Most Important Skill in Basketball…

all right this may be one of the most important videos I’ve ever made so pay attention and it’s about what I consider to be potentially the most important skill in all of basketball adaptability now there are a few big types of adaptability we have movement adaptability skill adaptability tactical adaptability and then psychological adaptability and all these are massively important so we’ll cover each one and how to develop them and this is one of my favorite words on the planet we literally named our club organization adapt Academy because of how Central think it is to not only Hoops but life and if you can get good at this in basketball make it a habit you can do it off the court as well so this is something I spoke about recently at a coaches clinic in Berlin and afterwards I figured I might as well make a YouTube video kind of simplifying the whole thing for players for coaches who obviously couldn’t be there and hopefully give you guys a road map as to how you can become a more adaptable player if you’re a coach and want to fully dive into how to develop this in the depths of what it is stay tuned for the video and my coach’s certification coming very soon all right let’s get to it so the first type of adaptability I’ll cover is movement adaptability if you want to be a good basketball player being a good mover in general should be an extremely high priority for you because if you’re fluid and efficient your basketball strong and can pick up new movements on the spot the game becomes much easier for you look basketball is a high speed high contact high finesse game so you’ll end up in some weird positions sometimes you’ll slip you’ll get tripped you’ll lose balance react to a Defender at an unorthodox timing reach for a ball get bumped in midair the list goes onight got his so the more effectively you can do things like explod efficiently from weird positions stay on balance at high speeds decelerate and change directions and crazy positions and control your body in midair the better basketball player you’ll be and this requires being able to adapt to each situation and we can train this in a bunch of ways whether it’s giving athletes new coordination ch challenges and unorthodox movements to try out getting basketball strong in weird or tougher positions getting generally strong with the weight room getting accustomed to contact and physicality allowing and encouraging players to experiment and screw up new movements playing other sports to develop a wider movement library and much more so the main point here is this try to become a good mover even if it means doing some unorthodox stuff sometimes you’re looking crazy in the gym it’ll help you adapt to the demands of the game that much easier oh yeah oh yeah the second category here is skill adaptability this is how we traditionally see skilled players they’ve done a certain skill or movement so many times that it’s second nature to get good you just got to rep it out over and over again till it becomes muscle memory and then you’ll be able to do it in game simple as that but I would disagree a little bit there’s absolutely truth and value in that because we do need a high amount of repetition to do something well so if you want to get good at shooting yes you’ll need a ton of reps shooting the basketball but then it leaves this question when we you see players do stuff like this to do and again or even just make shots like these have they really repped these out or are they just really good at solving whatever problem is thrown at them and what they’ve done with global and then the second question how in the world do you rep out all this stuff enough all these different types of finishes shots dribbles situations decisions actions Etc that you get good at it all it’s impossible and to me the answer to that lies in the fact that there’s all also an added layer to this to make the best players the best players adaptability if you’re good at a skill you can do it one way really well if you have a nice open perfect shot then you’ll knock it down probably that’s a good start that’s a foundation where if you’re great at a skill you can adapt to whatever’s thrown at you you can successfully execute a skill in more ways so even if you got to shoot with slightly weird footwork hang a bit more on closer shots whatever it may be they can still make it work because the game is chaotic and rarely are two situations the same and it’s even pretty rare that two shots are exactly the same so skills are like snowflakes that’s the best way to think about them they look the same from the surface but often they’re actually pretty different and I have full videos about this but you can see it here sometimes you’ll shoot from lower positions from higher release points from slightly staggered foot positions with momentum in different directions with contests from different places Etc even passes for example are very different depending on the Windows of space that are open so you’re going to have to adjust and adapt moves too may be the same from the naked aisle the foot positioning the timing the bump you get from a Defender the shin angles they’re often pretty different and don’t even get me started on finishes which have so many different possibility so yes we do want to develop a consistent model of movement like having a shooting form that is very repeatable and yes try to get to that in game if possible but we also want to get good with more possibilities so I want you to be able to finish in as many ways as possible different angles spins timings all [Music] that I want you to be able to shoot comfortably in any situation so you’re ready for [Music] anything however Defender plays you I want you to be able to find a solution they’re taking away your signature move so to speak non-adaptable players won’t find a solution but adaptable players will find their way around regardless and we can see this in the best players like Kyrie who does stuff like this game winner but man what a shot stuff that probably never really worked on or repped out thousands of times but he just has the general skill and problem solving ability to figure it out and adapt we even see this at Youth Level the Kyrie level yes that’s the highest level of adaptability it’s more obvious but again even if you’re not college or professional player yet it’s still very valuable to start developing this adaptability as you see with some of our guys here so we got to train this way if I’m doing spot shooting with a player for example I want them to switch up how they get into that shot a bit I’ll throw balance challenges at them have them shoot over objects to force a higher Arc have them drift a bit we’ll still work on getting them into that perfect shot so to speak but sometimes in tough situations it’s not possible you may have a Defender flying at you and you have to drift a little bit so we also want to train for the slight imperfection in terms of attacking you should play with a ton of live defense and get used to solving whatever problem the defender throws at you and when you train ball handling rather than doing things super robotically work on more options different types of dribbles each time and this is the power of playing constantly against good Defenders because they’ll force you to adapt give you new looks make every single rep a bit different because you can either complain about the imperfection of the game or you can embrace it train for it be ready for it and be ready to adapt to any situation now the next type is one that most players don’t put much of a focus on especially in recent years but it’s super important it’s called tactical adaptability in other words how high is your IQ to adapt to different situations and also how well can you adjust your play style to do what’s best for the team so let’s say the defense randomly goes into a zone that y’all didn’t prepare for can you figure this out and help the team do the same let’s say they make a quick switch from a drop ball screen coverage to now blitzing can you pick up on this and in a split second and make it work let say you’re just not in a rhythm you need to find easy buckets can you adapt all of this goes into both IQ and quick decision- making and it’s the reason why playing a lot studying the game extensively and thinking critically are potentially the most important things you can do in your training it’s changed to what now has become about decision making how do I make the best decisions in certain situations and that is what is getting guys better that they can read the game then as I mentioned is also being able to play a wide variety of roles the most adaptable players are able to mold their game to fit perfectly on each team they play for On Any Given night based on what the team needs against any team in their matchups and play style so if you’re asked to play a certain role how well can you kill that role TJ McConnell and Andrew NIMH hard here are great examples guys that can do a lot more than what they’re asked to do but since they’re playing with an all-nba lead guard they’ll play off to catch more make simple plays lock down on defense Etc but in the playoffs when halberton was out they were needed they adapted and played exactly to how they were needed which is a bigger role now another example Josh Hart has found a super unique role for himself and even on this same podcast Mosley mentions this about Chanty bips I remember talking to Chanty years before he got into the league and I would watch him play in the summer and I’m like hey chy had I mean people forget what he could do just as the individual skill set shooting playing like crushing people and then he got to Detroit and he just ran the team and I would always he’d always say it’s summer Chanty it’s season Chanty and that’s the major difference that guys you want them he he helped me understand that you can work on like you guys I remember you guys talking about the bag like you can work work on the bag but like when it comes to doing what’s necessary for my team what’s necessary for me to get the best out of myself in this situation and for my team so you have to know that you may have a ton in your toolbox but won’t use it all knowing which tools to use in which situations is what helps you fit in on any team cuz most role players at every level can do a lot more than they do but they know exactly what they need to do do that very well and then work their way up little by little take Jaylen Brunson James Harden SGA Maxi Jimmy Butler all these guys who started out by knowing they could do more but did what they had to do adapted to the role on their team and then built up bit by bit this is super important and then lastly psychological adaptability which may be the most important one can you stay focused in the midst of adversity big runs by the other team bad losses even really high points can you adapt your mindset to put yourself in the best position to succeed as a leader can you adapt to each type of player and adjust your feedback based on their personality type and how they receive feedback maybe the court is slippery and you have the choice to get mad at it make excuses or figure it out maybe a teammate goes out and shifts your team’s approach all these are Big examples of adapting psychologically will you find a way will you adapt and and honestly in terms of how to develop really all four of these categories a lot of what I post and the resources I have out there are about developing adaptability whether it’s the mental skills academy for psychological adaptability whether it’s my book deep skill other Virtual Academy programs which help you build skill in this context all these are really good options and I’ll link them all in the description so as always thank you guys so much for tuning in hopefully you guys can go apply this train this way just a little bit more and you’ll see big differences on the court

This is a skill or concept that I don’t see talked about enough, but is at the core of everything 👀

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