Basketball teaches you early: go north and south. Attack the basket. Get downhill. Avoid unnecessary east-west movement because it can lead to traps, allow the defense to load up, and take you away from the rim. But there’s another side to it: When should you go EAST to WEST? Lateral movement isn’t wasted movement when it’s intentional. In this drill, I’m working on covering 5–7 feet laterally with only 1–2 dribbles. The goal isn’t to dance with the ball—it’s to quickly shift the entire point of attack. Think of it like moving a chess piece across the board. You’re not necessarily attacking the basket yet. You’re changing the geometry of the defense so that an entirely new attack becomes available. Coming off a screen? Starting the offense? Getting away from a loaded help defender? Creating a better angle for a ball screen? Forcing your defender to turn their hips and reposition? That’s where east-to-west becomes valuable. The science backs up the importance of being able to efficiently accelerate, decelerate, and change direction. Basketball players constantly operate in multiple directions, and lateral force production and change-of-direction ability are meaningful components of basketball performance. The key is purpose. Don’t go east to west just to go east to west. Go east to west to move the defense, create space, change the angle, and set up your next attack. Sometimes the best way to get north and south… is to first go EAST → WEST. ♟️🏀 Trainer: @Logan Hinton, a former 5 year pro across three countries. Train Like a Pro!

There’s a rhythm to the game. You’re constantly moving, creating, improvising—finding something new in every possession. You can’t always plan the next move. Sometimes you just have to feel it, trust it, and go with the flow. A game can be silky smooth, then suddenly rough and physical. There’s delicacy in the touch of a shot, but strength in the way you fight for every possession. There’s poetry in a perfect pass, beauty in a hesitation, and expression in every move. And maybe that’s why basketball feels so much like life. You win. You lose. You fall short. You get back up. You learn. You grow. There’s beauty in the struggle, beauty in the imperfections, and beauty in the process of becoming better. Every move is a brushstroke. Every game is a blank canvas. Every mistake becomes part of the masterpiece. Basketball isn’t just a game. It’s rhythm. It’s expression. It’s poetry. It’s art. 🏀🎨 Trainer: @Logan Hinton, a former 5 year pro across three countries. Train Like a Pro!

One of the smallest details in your shot can make a HUGE difference. Take the time to line your shooting hand up with the grooves/seams of the ball. Find your natural hand placement, feel that connection, and then REP IT until you don’t have to think about it. Why? Because your hand is the final link in the shooting chain. Your fingers control the ball’s final direction, spin, and release. Research has found that variability in backspin alignment is strongly related to lateral shooting error — meaning the more consistently you can reproduce your release, the more predictable your shot becomes. The goal isn’t to stare at the ball and perfectly place your hand every time. The goal is to practice it so much that your hand finds the groove automatically. That consistency can help you create a smoother connection with the ball, a cleaner release, better control, and a more repeatable shooting motion. And look at the greatest shooter of all time, Steph Curry. His shooting hand consistently finds a centered position on the ball, with his fingers working around the seams before he goes into his shot. He’s not thinking about it every time. He’s trained it. That’s the difference. Don’t just practice making shots. Practice making your shot repeatable. Find your grooves. Rep them. Feel them. Own them. If Steph does it, you should too. 🎯 Trainer: @Logan Hinton, a former 5 year pro across three countries. Train Like a Pro!

Does anyone know how to improve conditioning while playing basketball hard and lifting weights in the week? How do I fit that and what should I do?

The best teams don’t just play together. They know each other. Look at some of the greatest teams in basketball history. The Bulls had their early-morning breakfast club. The Cavaliers went on golf outings together. The Spurs created opportunities for teammates to spend time together outside of basketball. It wasn’t necessarily about doing something crazy. It was about building a relationship. Play video games together. Watch a movie. Grab breakfast. Work out together. Go for a run. Get in the gym early. Hang out at someone’s house. You have endless options. Because when the game gets hard, you don’t want to be playing with guys you barely know. You want to be playing with guys you trust. And trust doesn’t magically appear on game day. It’s built through shared experiences. Through seeing your teammate put in the work. Through laughing together. Through struggling together. Through holding each other accountable. Through knowing that the guy next to you has your back. And the science backs this up. Research consistently links team cohesion and trust with stronger team performance, and studies in basketball have found meaningful relationships between cohesion, collective confidence, and success. Even more importantly, cohesion and performance can reinforce each other over time—the more connected a team becomes, the better it can function together, and successful shared experiences can strengthen that connection even further. So don’t leave chemistry to chance. Build it. Spend time together. Work together. Compete together. Learn each other. Because when you trust the guy next to you, you play differently. You communicate better. You sacrifice more. You compete harder. You believe in each other. You become a team—not just a group of players. And when the game is on the line… You want to look to the guy next to you and know: “I trust you.” That’s COMRADERY. Trainer: @Logan Hinton, a former 5 year pro across three countries.