The Basketball Podcast: EP355 with Andrew Moran on NBA and Elite Player Coaching

Andrew Moran Quotes:

“Everyone falls into a role at some point. Now, do you want that role to grow and do you want the player to grow as a player? Of course. But you also want those players to really excel in their role to be able to help your team grow and the individual to grow. I try not to box players in.”

“I’m also interested in how people learn, where they’ve gained their knowledge from, and how they’ve gained their understanding of the game so that I can build on mine and hopefully make it better. For me and the staff that I have, we try to be as egoless as possible and try to learn as much as we can and not really care whether someone comes in to help us.”

“In my transition from training into coaching, they both complemented and helped each other be better. I did change a lot of my training style. Not that I just threw everything out . . but I think it allowed me to become a better trainer because I could see the player in a different light. Not just one-on-one on the court . . but also seeing how he reads the game and knowing the skill that we’re helping him with, how he can use it within the framework of a team concept.”

“I wanted [the players to] understand that each and every time you step on the court, you have to prove it. You have to go out and earn it. It’s not, ‘Okay, now I’m this good. We’re ranked number one now.’ No, you have to earn that every single time you step on the court and earn it in practice as well.”

“You have to be mentally tough, right? For us, preparing mentally obviously is going over scouting reports, helping kids understand player tendencies and how you will defend and make adjustments on the fly.  My thing for my guys lately is, ‘Hey, things are not going to go our way sometimes in a game. But how are we going to react to it?’”

“We want to keep kids in that good mindset and continue to drive that. Basketball is a game of runs and eventually some momentum will go your way and you want to build off of it . . We’re continually speaking to the kids on a daily basis, helping them understand that it’s similar on the court in the game to your [daily] experiences. Maybe school doesn’t always go your way. You didn’t do so well on the test. You’re really bothered by it. But you have to continue on with your day.”

“So, how do we continue? What do we have to do? Not that you just leave it behind . . because it’s still going to bother you, but how do we still function at a high level even though sometimes chaos is happening? So, we just talk about it, we say it out loud. We try to create chaos in the practice and create adversity in practice so that when the game comes, we will do a better job of handling it.”

“There’s a lot more players that have a lot more to their skill set in terms of handling the ball, doing things. But I think we need to get back to a little bit more of reading and understanding the game, teaching the game. I think trainers can do that as well. I don’t think we only need to leave it up to the coaches. I think you can create scenarios within your workouts where it’ll help them [the players].”

“You work on it, you work on it, you work on it. Then, all of a sudden, it starts to show. Everyone wants it to show within three weeks. Well, that’s not always the case . . I think that’s one of the most gratifying and fun parts of coaching and training is watching players grow and then watching their success.”

“That’s what competition is. It’s not always looking pretty all the time. Most of the time, when you’re in high level games, there are many moments that are kind of ugly because both teams are really good and they’re doing a good job defensively . . I think we professionalize things too quickly and sometimes even I have to take some step back and allow the kids to really enjoy this and enjoy themselves playing basketball. Because that’s what the best part of it is – having fun out there, enjoying and doing what you really like.”

“We also preach that playing hard and playing the right way makes it fun for everybody because everybody’s touching the basketball, the ball is moving, and people begin making plays for each other. When you’re doing things for others and everyone doing it, the energy changes.”

Andrew Moran Breakdown:

Andrew Moran Selected Links from the Podcast:

Andrew Moran
Marcus Carreno
Brett Ledbetter
Sabrina Ionescu
Cameron Boozer
Mark Pope
Tyler Herro
Dylan Harper
James Harden
Cayden Boozer
Jaxon Richardson
Marcellous Jackson, Jr.
Penny Hardaway