What Are You Feeling?

I had a lot going on this week and the schedule was strange.

For the last few months we have had a 1-game a week schedule and the game was almost always on Saturday.

It made for a nice weekly routine, but now its playoffs, throw that schedule out the window.

No more comfortable bell curve training weeks, it is go time.

I am the type of person that can handle that sort of change, but usually have some weird emotions that accompany the adaption of said change.

I have been struggling a bit labeling and understanding those emotions this week.

Is it nervous, unsettled, excited, overwhelmed, or anticipation?

The emotions of a basketball player competing in the playoffs…

Let’s unpack it.

Why I Do This:

I am sure you guys probably skipped over that big message, so let me summarize…

My brother more or less wrote a, “letter of appreciation”, about how I have revamped his love for basketball and have inspired him to embrace his own journey.

This is wild to me. One, I have never received a letter like this, let alone a letter in a YouTube comment section. Two, of course my hope is to inspire and encourage you guys, but never would I have expected this degree of impact just from sharing my journey.

This was very motivating to receive. We are making a difference over here, and that makes everything worth it.

From the bottom of my heart, I care about you guys.

Basketball Ideas I’ve Been Experimenting With

What Mastery Looks Like

I have been watched almost every NBA playoff game up to this point this year. Sometimes I just get to watch the highlights, so I may be missing some of the uglier, struggle moments in these games, but my big takeaway is how simple these players make very difficult and complex movements and reads look.

The guys that have stood out the most are SGA, Luka, Kyrie, and Brunson (also, CJ McCollum when the Pelicans were still in). They will do moves that I swear look almost slow-motion, and next thing you know their defender is completely lost.

For reference of what I am referring to watch the video below:

Of course there are moments where players need to really ramp up and show their dynamic athleticism, but for the most part, the game looks so simple and easy.

Here’s the concept I am trying to hit on:

Mastery is making the complex look simple.

Sophistication in simplification.

You will know when you have mastered a skill when it becomes easy. The process towards this mastery is far from easy, but the final product looks “easy” and “simple”.

I believe this is why there is a misconception especially in the basketball community that the process to greatness and mastery is not going to be absolutely grueling and difficult.

The learning process to even begin to get close to mastery in a skill has three main requirements:

1. doing the skill a lot (repetition)

2. doing the skill past your level of comfort (growth stimulus)

3. doing the skill in all sorts of environments and conditions (experience)

Then of course we cannot deny that you need God-given talent and ability. This talent is one of the bigger factors to how quickly those three requirements progress you towards mastery.

If you want to ever be able to perform “_____(choose skill)_____” similar to the best of the best, then you need to put your skill through the three requirements listed above.

Oh, and you need to do it every single day, over, and over, and over, and over, and over again. It is not a quick process.

Behind every Jalen Brunson in-and-out crossover to a bump fade is hundreds of hours of time in the three requirements of skill mastery.

This is not to discourage you, but more so encourage you that mastery is there for your taking if you are willing to repeat this process until you achieve it.

I am still putting my skills into these three requirements every single day, so I challenge you to join me and we can grow towards mastery together!

The Art of Trash Talking

My whole basketball career since high school, I have been a bit of an instigator. By “instigator", I mean that I am always stirring up little arguments and banters on the court. Now I rarely search them out, but I love when they find me. With me looking how I look (we can’t deny I have a “pretty boy” aspect to my appearance), they seem to find me a good amount.

It used to bother me. I used to get riled up and emotional, almost offended. My responses were usually emotional and reactive. This made me the loser of a lot of my early trash talk moments. Now as a pro, I’ve had to learn because the price of me allowing some trash talk to throw off my game is much too high.

I am going to give you my three ideas or principles I use when approaching trash talk, but before I do, you need to watch some of the all-time, most legendary trash-talk NBA stories:

My three principles when it comes to talking trash:

1. The more emotional side almost always loses.

   Emotions often come from a hurt ego. Ego can be ugly, hard to cheer for as a fan, and very fragile. When our ego gets hurt, we act out of our natural character. In turn, we act out of our natural game play. This makes the trash talk affect our game, thus leading to a win for the opponent. Stay composed and calculated and use the trash talking; do not let it use you.

2. It is all about the subtleties.

   The generic trash talk sounds like tv static and is easy to tune out. On the other hand, if you say something that strikes a certain cord in an opponent, then the overthinking can sometimes begin. It’s about saying something that subtly hits at an insecurity or weak point in the opposing team. Maybe you see a player is getting frustrated he isn’t getting the ball, and you need to remind him that it seems like his point guard does not like him. Maybe a player is clearly favoring his strong hand, and you need to let him know that he is allowed to use his off hand. The point is to use concepts like this, but not be direct in your attack, make it seem like a friendly reminder. Subtle, but sharp…

3. Embrace the trash-talk no matter the result.

   Talk trash while ahead is easy. It is called “front-running”. A true savant of trash-talk plays the game even when he is losing. It shows his mind is still sharp and he is above the result. Now obviously, if you are getting absolutely destroyed and still talking trash, then its a bit ridiculous because it becomes clear your priority is trash talking over winning. The idea is to embrace the mind games even when your current circumstance is not favorable. It will make it all the more sweeter when you come back.

In summary, talk your trash, but be conscious and never let ego and emotion be the driving force.

Calculated jawwing can be a huge advantage if done with a sharp mind.

Mindset Ideas I’ve Been Workshopping

Understanding Your Emotions as an Athlete

I get a lot of questions from young hoopers on how to calm their nerves before games. Usually my quick response is to ask if they know for sure that they are “nervous”.

Do you even know what nervousness is?

I find a lack of emotional intelligence all to common in the basketball community. We are brainwashed that toughness is never showing negative emotions and, as hoopers, our confidence should never waver.

I’m here to combat that narrative and be authentic about my basketball experience.

I have doubt, fear, nervousness, despair, and anxiety even as a pro basketball player. Shoot, my confidence comes and goes in waves.

With all these emotions and a whole lot of basketball experiences, I found the secret is not to get rid of them, but instead remove their impact on performance.

The secret is simple: understand what you are feeling (this is called emotional intelligence).

The more we understand our feelings and are able to label them, the more power we have to pick and choose how they affect us both as humans and athletes. If I know that in warmups before games I will get antsy and anxious and my mind will start to overthink, then I can have systems in place to get myself back to a place where I can still perform.

We cannot get rid of emotions, but we can have dominion over them.

When we understand our emotions, they no longer surprise us.

For me, I noticed that sometimes my “nerves” before games are really just excitement and anticipation. They are completely natural and normal to have. Once I understood that, I was able to embrace them. I no longer try to get rid of them or calm myself down. I don’t need either of those things. I’ve found I just have to find ways to focus more on what is directly in front of me rather than allowing myself to get distracted by anticipation. It was a simple reframing, but one that has helped.

Finding systems to focus more or be more present is a whole other topic of conversation, but before we can go there, a foundation of emotional intelligence must be built to some degree.

So the question remains, how do we build emotional intelligence (understand our emotions better)?

It starts with paying attention. We have to spend time looking inward at what we are feeling. This is often not a fun process because sometimes our emotions are intense. Intense is good though. Intense means that we can feel them more and understand them clearer.

The next time you are experiencing a “negative” emotion, try to pay attention to the actual sensations of your body.

Is your face getting warm?

How does your breathing change?

Do your muscles tense?

These are just some questions to consider, but really be curious of the bodily sensations. The physical sensations between emotions are usually different and can be used as a way to understand and differentiate your emotions.

Then analyze your thoughts.

Try to describe what your mind is doing.

Try to say out loud what you are thinking.

This is all data for you to use to increase your understanding of your emotions.

Okay, I am sure you are sick of talking about your emotions, but just hear me out. Try to pay attention to what you are feeling more and see if as you learn more about your emotions their impact on you lessens.

From one pro hooper that tends to overthink to a whole newsletter of other hoopers that probably do as well,

Learn your brain, learn your game.

I hope this made a little bit of sense… I know I rambled a bit haha

Sunday YouTube Drop

We closed out the Quarter Final Series against Vitoria.

I vlogged it, and I gave a game breakdown of the second away game.

Oh, and I added a face cam to the game breakdown.

I think you will like this one.

Quick Merch Update

There is no update, my manufacture is being slow as can be. I am starting to get a bit frustrated… but still

If you want to be in the first group alerted for the pre-order, fill out this little survey to be put on the list.

I’ll Leave You With This:

Navigating new things with this content stuff.

Navigating new levels with this basketball stuff.

Navigating new experiences with this life stuff.

Lots of new emotions to learn.

I think the key is patience and understanding.

We are going to figure it out.

Lets keep pushing,

Trey