#7 hits deep. So many coaches out there cursing out 12 years olds like they’re paid professionals. It is so hard to improve when you’re in constant fear of making a mistake

I'm 5'6" from a poor country, so stopoed trying after university, i came to Europe 6 months ago and play at the park with pros from Serbia and they ask if I played pro all the time... A veteran pro basketball man from Spain even told me "You're short but dangerous with the ball"

One piece of advice you could probably expand on is the role of strength and conditioning. It was once the situation where basketball players hardly touched weights until maybe college or professional level, and even then not really much. Strength training is now more common, but I've made the mistake of going too far to the other side and spending too much time in the weight room and not enough time on the court. Don't let weight room work replace your on-court work. It is just there to supplement your on-court abilities and make a more well-rounded athlete. On-court work should still be the priority, with the possible exception that the off-season is a good time to focus on building muscle and developing other attributes.

Thank you really much❤ I’m a 13 year old baller from Germany and I’ve gotten sooo much better because of your videos. Please keep up the good work 💪

The worst thing I heard from a coach is, "If you're a real basketball player, you watch college basketball, not the NBA." When the NBA/other pro leagues are the top 1% and you can learn a lot more from pros. Smh. Btw great video, Tucker!

My love for the sport has been tested the past year because I had 2 season ending injuries and only played once but hearing you talk about all this is driving me to be more confident and get back to my best. Appreciate it❤

Thank you man you are really special. I think there are a lot of channels about basketball and the mind games in the game, but you are really different you really understand the struggles and the situations basketball players go through. you explain so good in your videos I am so happy I found your channel. Keep the hard work man, and have a great year!🔥💪

I’ve coaches my son his whole life and dealt with this even from my assistants. They continuously would throw my son into the 4 or 5 spot. Hes a sophomore and 6’2.5 without shoes with a 6’7 wingspan, so just under 6’4 in shoes. He hasn’t played organized ball in about 6 years so he really has a lot of catching up to do. I am the assistant and for the life of me cannot convince the head coach to let him break the press. Our “point guards” (short players) cannot get the ball across mid court and he suffers for it. They say it will help him. Get easier buckets. But not if he doesn’t have the ball. Towards the end of the half they move him up to break the press and by then it’s too late. He’s on Jv and was supposed to be there to develop his guard skills but I know exactly what the varsity coach is going to do because they need a “big.” When he was younger and we were playing in the AAU circuit he played pg and looked the part. He looks completely lost at center. Not for lack of trying. He still gets boards and buckets along with easy dunks. What can he do to convince the coach he’s a wing and not a big? I did tell him to just use it as a learning experience. He’s still growing anyway and will more than likely finish as a real 6’4.

The last part of the video really hit home for me. I played basketball all the time up until about the age of 12 or so. I stopped because I lost love for the game because my dad was a little too hard on me. He didn’t gloss over every single mistake but whenever I had a bad game he would scold me pretty bad and treated me worse, it made basketball extremely stressful and I felt like I had the pressure of my whole family on my shoulders when I played. I know that sounds soft but I was a little kid at the time (this happened from ages 8-12). I’m 23 now and I’m too old to play basketball but I do still workout all the time and your video was pretty informative and something I wish I saw when I was 11 or 12. Just the information and the idea of being consistent without it overtaking your entire life was helpful.

Just came across your video today and it’s really helpful I’m a ball struggling with a lot of stuff such as pressure and doubt. Thanks a lot

Amazing video. There are a lot of basketball channels like this but for me your channel helps me the most. Thank you for doing videos like this. Happy holidays.

Love your videos man! Really excited to watch your videos in 2024 !!

Thank you man these tips really help been watching since 1k subs

Thank you bro. I really needed to hear this. much love ❤

It’s crazy to see how fast this channel is growing. Love ur vids

Great advice. Thanks especially for asking coaches to let the players play and make mistakes while still instilling confidence in them. My son has been dealing with this the last two seasons with his middle school coach. One mistake and you’re pulled out of the game and sometimes will sit for an entire half! It makes the players play scared and that is disaster on team chemistry during the games… I’m very proud of how my son has handled it, but it hasn’t been easy on him and it does affect overall confidence.

Thank you for this. Always looking for some advice and this was very good advice.

Knew about you cause of your Colgate days and discovered your channel about a month ago. Love the vids man! Keep it up!

Great Stuff Tuck! Keep exposing those myths and helping kids on their journey. My hope is one day Coaches stop referring to skills as guard, skills or post skills rather than simply stating they are skills that can be used by anyone not just a specific position. The quality of work is way more important than the quantity but I asked you what if you were doing a lot of quality work. that’s what you did. Now later in your career rest and other things may become more valuable, but I don’t believe you get where you are today without the hours of quality work you’ve put it.

Love your videos, high quality and really valuable info for young hoopers like me. Keep it up 👍💪

Nice video. Love some of the reassurance as I coach my 12 year old. I sent a pic to my old school bro of my son shooting with his right hand on the left side of the basket. He was 10 at the time.....My bro asked if I was teaching that. Told him he got the 2pts. Today he is able to use the left and get the +1. Love the idea of letting kids get creative buckets as long as we work on the left, right fundamentals at practice. Also love the idea of you pushing the Euro basketball leagues. Great talent over here and plenty of players getting great life experience.

Yo this is super random but I’m a huge college bball fan so I recognize your name. I remember the 2019 game #2 Tennessee vs #15 Colgate. You made some 3s that game and I thought “damn this dude is nice”. Also I’m assuming you played Texas whenever that season was. Never thought I’d see you here! Great advice man!

Im glad you brought #7 up previously i felt like I have no confidence because if I make a mistake I’m going to get yelled at by my coach or get benched. My first game is in 6 days and I have confidence that ima drop like 15-20 points, But I enjoyed the video keep up the work💚🤞🏾

In Summary, do NOT listen to your COACHES? 😂😂😂

I can't thank you enough for making point 5. To make a long story short. For my teenage years MG childhood was basketball. It was my dream to become a pro but I fell chronically ill and it shattered that possibility. I recovered a bit but I have a hard time starting basketball again because my main drive was always to turn pro and that possibility is 100% wiped away. I need to get into a more recreational mindset and enjoy the game now I still can.

Thanks for the advice for 2024

Great video! Definitely agree with the rest days. It’s soo hard to not play basketball 😂

Every situation that u stated ive struggled with , been tall since i was young so im behind on gaurd skills, and currently have a coach that i feel like almost makes me worse, not allowing me to make mistakes or play to my full potential , thank you for all the tips really appreciate it

Tucker I discovered your chanel this year and you really helped my game. I will work hard this year and to play against your soon 😉 Peace for all and stayed focused

Great Video. Coaches and Parents need to watch this and be accountable for our lack of growing the game in North America the way it should be

Excellent video and analysis.

Quickly becoming my fav basketball page ! Keep it up brother.

even when I am too old to be grinding basketball after my knee surgeries now , but VERY GOOD VIDEO ... sure there are helpful advices here for every young hooper and even (youth) coaches

Me who’s 28 and just wants to dribble and shoot the ball better: alright cool.

Great video!

You're so damn right!🙏

I’ve seen u in games from watching Woodward cause he’s from my home town. You were tuff bro

from experience, not crossing your feet on defense is important when kids are young and their feet grow faster than the rest of their body! I got to coach and ref 5th and 6th grade ball, it was fun seeing the kids enjoy themselves but I was shocked at the parents and opposing coaches. It was bad enough, I only did it one season. Great video though! this is a great perspective that people should keep in mind!

This video made me feel so much better thank you.

Love your videos

thank you tucker

I expected this to be a generic youtube vid but you have real knowledge. Inspeire the youth!

As a Wisconsin fan once I heard you played at colegate I knew you weren’t lying when you said shooting was your strong suit😂 just looked up your stats and you TORCHED us that game

I appreciate the insight as a parent/coach. I don’t know everything, but now I feel better about things I implemented because I came up seeing a lot of things you described. Especially with the punishment thing, I hate punishing kids for messing up. I only had a few scenarios where we would “punish” kids and my major one was not paying attention during instructional time. Other than that, I wasn’t about to disrupt the whole practice and run ppl for not making layups. I would just make note of some things and then try to implement some drills where I saw the kids struggling. And I definitely like having kids go watch who they want to emulate. Now, the game is horrible to watch sometimes because we have middle schoolers trying to play Morey ball, so now it’s a lot of 3pt shots and highly contested layups. Which leads to maybe something else to touch on, but a lot of coaches constrain and keep a kid on such a tight leash where they are afraid to learn how to create their own shots and branch out.

These videos have been great to watch on my basketball journey. I love your story especially since I’m from NJ too and I’ve played in Flemington and Hunterdon. Your advice to everyone is awesome and I can’t wait to see how big you grow in the future. I’ll be watching these throughout my basketball journey and I hope I can hit the level of college basketball that you experienced. Thank you so much and keep succeeding in Finland. Also, do you know Taylor Langan who played for the Colgate girls team over the last few years.

Hello I am new to your channel but have been binging a bit due to the quality if possible do you think you could make a video on some common offensive half court sets/formations and/or plays I k ow of a basketball player who is currently trying to transition from playing pickup ball to playing organized ball and needs some help with transitioning his game into fitting in an organized offense thanks again and hope you have a good day

As a coach to a player don’t take too many days but life experiences w family and friends are super valuable and will give you more purpose on the court. Keep grinding cross training but have fun !

Damn. Loved all of this. I was tall young but was a top 3 shooter in my school but I didn’t play the wing til Junior year when my coach finally gave it a shot. Then we replaced him with a “tear you down” coach and I quit and lost a lot of my drive for the game.

Great video. I coach my sons 7th grade and this is good infor

Hi been watching ur videos for a good while now really enjoy them, what types of fundamentals do you work on 20 mins before practice?

This is great advice

I played hoops in high school. My son is getting into soccer right now. I feel like these 7 concepts are universally applicable. I hope to use this to help him enjoy his sport no matter how far he goes. Thanks for sharing.

You played with Jelly JQ?? That's crazy broooo! Appreciate you for all the advice as always. Keep going!!

I fractured my talar bone earliy in 2023 so for most of the year I was out recovering. All l could do was go watch others at practise and study but now I've recovered and I'm hopping to make 2024 my comeback year. Happy New Year Guys, don't forget stay LOCKED IN!

From this video i have seen so much stuff that i can change to get better, in my team training we cant cross our feet and if we do the team has to run so now i can change that in games and get better D.

This video was fire

Great vid❤

When I was playing, I wished that I left behind the whole idea that "I must jump off the opposite leg when performing a layup (and probably the same for fadeaways)". It stuck with me even when I switched to indoor soccer (as a goalkeeper) and high jump. Years later, I had to have 2 months of chiropractor fixing my hip alignment.

Very interesting point about tall kids basically getting typecast and left behind instead of becoming future guards

My first rec coach changed my play so much. He started me, even though we had a better forward that could've taken my spot easily, because I'm a really good defender and rebounder. Probably got 12 blocks, close to 40 boards over 8 games as a 5'9 14 year old kid. Pretty solid for middle school rec. When I got to High School, I didn't try out for B Team or JV, and instead focused on personal training. My coach helped me find my strengths. Interior Defensive, especially when I don't get stressed about fouls and get real physical, finishing, and grabbing them boards. I built/am building my shooting, driving, and overall perception. Without that coach starting me, I never would have had the confidence to ask not only coach but also the guy on our team I most looked up to (Actually the guy I started over, easily second best on the team but offered to play high minutes off bench) what my strengths were. How to improve my shoot. Etc. Good coaches make all the difference. A bad first coach can make a player with abnormal or specific strengths give up because they never play and think they have no chance. A good coach can push them to build a bag around those strengths.

Legend

Hey Tucker. Is that Naz Reid in one of your video clips? Didn't he play on SportsU with you? And Jahvon Quinerly? Thanks for the great videos!

Just found your videos and I love them. How did u get into playing professional in Finland?

drives are more of a reaction to the defence so saying that using ur left hand on a left handed layup isnt intirely wrong but its actually about how you are protecting your ball during drives. Also something that I really like about my coaches are that they watch a lot of basketball and they improve on their own as well as teach me and the team.

This needs 50 million views 🎯💯💯💯💯

Started coaching a few years ago after being a player til about 24. I dont like running traditional offenses and forcing kids to stay under the basket anymore because the game has changed dramatically. Its a positionless game now. Everyone needs guard skills. Kids cannot get better if you do not allow them to learn from/ work through mistakes. Give them chances to correct it. I want to win if we play you but from a "Big Picture" outlook, I want every coach to help this game grow. Let kids play and learn.

I was someone who was taller in HS and played the 4 and 5 on offense, and would guard 3s, 4s and 5s on defense. Honestly, from purely a personal standpoint - I found it played to my strengths. I was always a rebounding and defense oriented player, who could hit the midrange and score in the post. I think that's what it comes down to - coaching to the playstyles of the individual players and working to their strengths. As for the shot form - I agree 100%. I used to try and shoot similar to Larry Bird (even if the shots didn't always fall). Pure, clean jumpshot.

I can vouch for taking a break from basketball entirely. My first year playing in France started off very poorly. I'm a shooter, and I was struggling badly. In practice I was ok at best, but in games I was ass. I took 10-15 shots per game, missed all but 2 at best, and I knew I could do way better but at the time I was just a burden looking for a stroke of luck. Then I went home for a couple weeks during the holidays, hardly touched the ball aside from a few gym sessions to figure out my mechanics, and I came back a completely different guy according to my coach and teammates. My team was one of the best in our league on defense, but offensively we were struggling. Then I finally became a guy they could rely on, and things started to click. Which led us to get the team promoted that season. Before the break, I was averaging 3 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, less than 1 steal and block, and a few turnovers. After the break, I was averaging 15 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, and rarely turned the ball over. I guess there's a reason why Europeans don't do much basketball related stuff during the off-season.

This is so true I remember being the tallest person on the court scoring under the rim When I wasn't the tallest I realized that getting to the rim became hard and I had to learn how to shoot

the break advice is really important! i took 5 days off of training to visit my grandparents and when i came back i gained 5 inches on my vertical suddenly. i went from not being able to touch rim to getting my whole palm above it!

Back in like 1985, Steve Mix (my dad was good friends with him) came to one of our high school practices and gave us some pointers. The one thing I remember was him saying & showing us how to use your strong hand on each side of the basket. He was left handed, and was explaining why he used his left hand on each side of the bucket. I went to a lot of camps, no one ever said that before. Lol, it obviously was good advice.

Yo that first one ‼️dawg same exact situation with me 6 feet in middle school played the five but had great post up and face up scoring ability but the big issue was dribbling and shooting consistently. It took years to really hone in on those key skills we in a era of positionless basketball now morale of the story WORK ON YOUR ALL AROUND GAME

First point so true. I play volleyball and when kids first start out it’s good to be good at everything kuz u have no clue what you’ll end up doing in the future

All of this happened to me and I graduated in 2020 I was a 6’2 big man no offers and coaches wouldn’t let me make mistakes. What sucked is they noticed how hard I was going in practice on defense, but never even gave me a chance to guard the ball in a game. So it made me second guess my love for it, I feel like I have no passion at all rn but I want to tryout at a juco, I’m only 21. I’ve had this habit for a while now and since I stopped caring about my grades ever since this happened my last yr of hs, it’s been hard focusing on my grades in college. I want to make a change in 2024 (edit- an outdated belief is hand placement, I went to a camp and spurs legend James Silas said I should change hand placement and it made my hands too close together and my shoulder stiff. My natural placement is like Steph currys)

My coach back in the day didn't even let me get past the initial gitters of going in. Never even gave me a chance, and it shattered my self-esteem since basketball was my life.This was 20 years ago mind you. I hope that coaches will give kids a chance.

good video !

Playing football can be tough. I've always had the "work hard every day" mentality, but it gets stressful thinking about practicing both offense and defense lines daily. Last year, after hernia surgery in June, I pushed through the season, only missing the final two games due to a pulled groin. Despite that, I still made the region's second team. Now, with one year of high school football left, I worry constantly about reaching the next level. When I see other linemen, some playing since they were four, with more experience and lifts twice my PR, it's easy to lose hope. My scar tissue from the surgery hasn't fully healed, sometimes significantly impacting my workout performance.

Love your vodeos

Awesome video as usual. Coach John Wooden established that players should follow their shots because UCLA used a zone formation for offensive rebounding. Modern teams require 4 players to get back in transition defense. Some team still send 3 1⁄2 players to the offensive glass. My team's press on missed shots, so the shooter has to get to his assigned floor position right after the ball leaves his hands. I hold that pressing on miss shots is the most modern of modern basketball. I teach the turn and the dip, but I have to admit, great shooters have been created on the 10 toes, hand in the cookie jar method. Do we think Oscar Schmid would be a shot misser today? Or that Manu Ginobli needed a ball dip? All players should remain coachable during team play and expand their games during their off time. Kentucky played Anthony Davis under the rim, all of his terrific face up game is there by his own effort and practice.

i played for a terrible high school program with terrible coaches. ever since ive graduated and went to college, ive gotten so much better at my game. like i would literally get pulled out for missing a shot while the little ass kissers younger than me were chucking up 3 pointers fucking left and right. but yeah everything you said here is pretty much spot on.

I have been binging your videos as a 13 year old hooper. I have a dream To play in the ncaa and go to march madness and your vids have helped me improve. Thank you ❤

I was always the tallest kid in my class, so "naturally" I was put at center. I was 5'11" in the eighth grade, and 20 years later and I'm 6'2", so most of my growing was in middle school. Put me in weird place in HS b/c I no longer was as tall as these centers i was going up against, but didn't have the skill set to play a guard either. I had to work harder to develope my ball handling and outside shooting b/c I played down low my whole life. But topping out at 6'2", I'm barely tall enough to even play in the league

4:46 I'm the other way around. My coaches (one of which became the coach of the NZ National Team, and was a teammate of Sean Marks), PE teachers all told me to only shoot underhanded layups for at least a month at a time to improve coordination and spatial awareness because I had to put spin on the ball. Sure, it was at a time when Iverson was coming up, so any way for smaller players to get their shots is as good as any.

I remember being told to follow my shot meaning to follow through your form and the follow your shot by rebounding so I’d get mad confused haha

Colgate I haven't heard of this college since Adonal Foyle was drafted in 1997. Yes I am that old.

I just want to add, although crossing your feet isn’t necessarily bad, you need to have good hips in order to not get burnt in higher levels and more athletic people. Also training pylometrjcs is important to elevate your game. I truely agree with number 7. Toughness is useful but not overly tough

I worked every day for years. Grinding, watching, making my life and personality the game. Sacrificing things like hanging out with friends and family time which I should not have. I live in Australia and the next level from the base is WABL (Western Australian Basketball League). It was my goal my whole life to get there. And I did it. I cried when I heard I would get to play at that level. And I only started working harder. But something happened. About half way into the season, after achieving moments that did not think were possible like averaging 10 points per game over a 3 week period, having defensive assignements on some of the leagues best players, and starting most my games in my first season, it all changed. I lost my love for the sport at that level completely. Sounds like I am yapping but I would just love to know what you think happened. I know I did not really like my team (I was kind of awkward but also a different kid to them), and our coaches worked as much harder than I ever wanted to, but I feel like that stuff is normal. I also had a perfectionist mentality where small mistakes would ruin me mentally and i did not enjoy 90% of the season. I have the opportunity to play again this year but I've made the decision for my sanity to not. Love to hear anyones thoughts and comparable experiences. Love the videos bro, wish I still loved the hustle and that level to fully implement this stuff. Also, i play social basketball now which is fun.

following your shot is great! if youre shooting from up close, especially if youre a center or power forward, but dont be the goofy ass point guard chucking up a 3 sprinting into the paint.

This man is a legend

hi, huge fan of your and I really appreciate your advice but i need help with something, whenever i play pickup i normally for like 4 or 5 hours each time and my lower knee area like the top of my shins get really sore, a while back I really hurt them but I let them heal and they were fine but now Im not now sure what to do so id really appreciate if you could give me some advice please.

The thing with "use your right hand on the right side of the basket" and vice versa is that if you don't learn to make layups with both hands early on, you become predictable to defenders. That's why I would stick to this seemingly outdated rule in the early stages of development, and not mix it up until you get really confident with both hands. I have seen too many young players who cannot make layups with their off-hand because they have not worked on this fundamental skill.

Hey man love your videos and just was wondering if you could help me in my tough situation. I recently got a surgery done for a torn meniscus and are pretty much out for the first 6 months of the year. If you were in my case what would you do to try and maintain that skill and get better at basketball even while not being able to play. It would be greatly appreciated if you can answer my question

Here’s the thing about telling players to shoot and dribble a certain way. I have a 13 year old cousin who’s 5’11” and has played for one year. I tell him to shoot, dribble, pass and do things the conventional way because he has no experience. When he gains experience and a mastery of the basic concepts then he put pizazz on the basics he knows.

Hey I'm an Argentinean coaching kids in Ibiza Spain.... I have only one rule and thing I want my players to sink in, USE AND TRAIN with TWO BALLS, whenever they are able to... I think it's as close to a universal benefit as we have in basketball right now.

There is also a benefit to be able to play in the post at any size.

I hope more coaches would realize it is better to go after the rebound instead of focusing on blocking out. I had a coach go nuts on me for that. This could be why he was only a freshman high school coach.

Thank you so much for the advice. I am a 16 year old hooper about 6'3 in shoes (6'1 ish without) and cuz my new school has lots of bigger kids im forced to play at the 3 while i always played at the 4 or 5 . How can I adjust to this and does height always matter in basketball success, i believed that cuz i wasnt as tall as the some guys i cant be as good, whats ur take?

Bro I have so many friends that were bigger in elementary school and played center even tho in their adult life they were the height of a guard, like 98% of them. And you’re right that fucked up their development

You don't have any shorts? I mean KZfaq shorts lol they seem to reach more of an audience. Just a thought, thanks for all your help peace

I both agree and disagree with #4 rule. Totally agree with each of those as hard and fast rules. Which is where the difference in development and teaching come into play. The dip being taken away should be taught not as its bad because of it being able to be blocked, but as a source of all the strength from the shot. Correct hand each side is for the typical layup scenario, and growing the usefulness of both hands around the rim. I am pretty sure you are saying this in the video, but also you are trying to make a short informative video so context gets left out. Either way great, positive video. Keep up the great work.