The Core of Every Player Development Plan

Building a PD plan is like eating an elephant; it's a big project. The key is to break it into smaller steps, one bite at a time.

If you want a 10,000-foot view of a player development project, check out this piece following Malik Beasley’s summer of 2018, Malik was my first NBA client.

Precursor:

You must watch the film. Not clips, but the entire game film¹!

You need to see everything! What system is the team running? Where are the players' opportunities? What is their attitude like when their rotation is cut short? How do they communicate with teammates and coaches?

EVERYTHING!!

If you can’t commit to watching film instead of pulling clips from whatever service you have available, your plans will always lack the essential details required for success at the highest levels.

These details will give you an edge on the competition and, most importantly, build trust with the player. Player’s can smell bullshit from a mile away, they also know what “standard” effort looks and feels like.

Digging in and coming to the table with the details can be the difference between the player leaning in or not, which can make all the difference.

The SWOT Analysis:

This exercise is always at the core of every client’s plan I’ve ever built; SWOT stands for:

Strength

Weakness

Opportunity

Threat

Once I’m about 35-40% through their games from their previous season, the shape of the SWOT will start to form. This is when I’ll begin to see the patterns and details emerge. The details are the keys to success or failure within any given pattern.

As the patterns emerge from the film, I’ll start shorting the clips into my organizational process.

Depending on the player, this part leads to hundreds, sometimes thousands, of clips. Through trial and error, I have created a simple system for keeping all the clips in an order that works for me. Finding the best way to maintain order is vital when operating with this type of volume.

-How To Build A Player Development Plan: Malik Beasley's 2018/19 Plan-

The picture below is one of the early drafts of Malik’s SWOT from the summer of 2020. I still like to put pen to paper² when building programs for clients, it allows me to sprinkle in drawing or write notes/ideas to myself that need to be flushed out later.

^ Malik Beasley’s 2020 Off-Season SWOT. I did not work with Malik after “The Bubble” started. So, I never executed this particular SWOT with him.

Each bullet point must accompany corresponding film edits, not one clip. If you don’t have volume, it’s not ready to be put on the SWOT.

Here’s a look at one of my client's folders on my hard drive. This is the method that works best for me when sorting film. ** This is not Malik’s folder **

Malik’s 2020 SWOT reflected the sizable opportunity Minnesota or any team that would have outbid them in RFA would have given him the following season. During this summer, he was in line to be paid like a Top 3 option on a team.

During the summer of 2020, Malik needed to evolve in his read tree and learn how to shift defenses with his gravity to make the game easier for others around him. You need more than just scoring from players in this tier of the team’s payroll.

I’ll also ask each player to create their own³ SWOT analysis. Understanding how players see themselves on the court is essential, and self-awareness is severely underrated.

You don’t need the player’s SWOT of themselves to be super high level, but, if they’re able to write things down on paper then it opens the door for two significant items:

1. Honest dialog:

These documents opened up the most honest dialog with clients. If you want this to be the case, you've got to dig in. Remember these guys know two things like the back of their hands: bullshit and most importantly “their game".

They know what they’re hiding on the court, what they’re trying to get to and when they feel their best/worst.

If you can put together something here that makes them honestly think; “damn, that’s me.” Then you’re going to have a great off-season!

2. Relieve anxiety:

This is the most significant benefit of a player’s writing their own SWOT. There is power in writing down the thing you have been hiding on the court. I’ve seen this relief of anxiety manifest the most in “off-hand” finishing.

Once the player writes or is prompted to write about their “off-hand” finishing being a weakness (and a big opportunity), the fear of messing up while working on it ceases to hold the same power over them. They’re willing to pursue development over that skill differently than before, misses don’t bother them like they once did, and the mental engagement is off the charts.

This happens for most items on the SWOT, but only the “off-hand“ finishing was standard amongst all my NBA clients.

Grade On A Curve:

The first three elements of the SWOT analysis should always be graded on the same relative curve. All players' strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities are based on their actions during a game. There is no wiggle room here; the eye in the sky doesn’t lie.

The grading standard is the same for these three categories, regardless of the player’s stature or status on their team or in the league.

However, the threats category of the SWOT is graded on a specific curve that correlates directly with the player’s stature or status on their team and in the league.

Threats are different for each player. Every player is at a different stage in their career and thus deals with unique threats.

This curve can be viewed in tiers, starting with a player just trying to make a roster and ending with a player attempting to become the best player in every playoff series they’re involved in.

I’ve been fortunate enough to work with clients at every tier on that list and even more fortunate to help them move up. Every player's journey is unique; each step up the ladder is a monumental occasion.

The key to a successful Threats section of a SWOT analysis is understanding and being honest about the player's career stage and grading on the correct curve.

Every player's threats will look mightily different.

Marzie Says Good Luck On Building Your Programs!

That is not Marzie hanging from the rafters in our garage weight room; it’s Laney aka Lane dog millionaire, our previous Golden named after the G.O.A.T. (IYKYK). She was an All-time good girl and is missed daily.

1. A vital step in building an off-season plan is to learn what the head coach is running, their philosophy, and where they see the player’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Film, not clips, is the only way to do this.

You must be able to augment their head coach’s system, not vice versa.

Sometimes, the player is high enough up in the organization to facilitate these conversations between you and their Head Coach; other times, they’re not. Doing the leg work with film rather than clips should tell the story and allow you to focus on the areas where the organization will give the player the most rope.

2. I have two Moleskin notebooks for each year I work with a client. One is dedicated to their in-season film, and the other contains every on-court session from the off-season. I recorded every make-and-miss, I have a sickness called “Basketball Jones".

3. You’ll get quite a few “dog ate my homework excuses here when you ask if they’ve finished it yet!!