You don’t have to be the most talented player in the gym to separate yourself. You don’t have to be the tallest. You don’t have to be the fastest. You don’t have to have the best handle. And you definitely don’t have to wait for your coach to give you an opportunity. Start with the 3 things that require ZERO skill. 1️⃣ EFFORT If you aren’t the most skilled player, make up for it with your effort. Sprint every transition. Run the floor. Crash the glass. Defend. Make the extra rotation. Finish every drill. There is no excuse for giving less than your best. 2️⃣ ATTITUDE You control this. Bad call? Next play. Missed shot? Next shot. Turnover? Get back and defend. Not getting minutes? Stay ready. Anybody can have a good attitude when everything is going their way. Your character shows when it doesn’t. Be the teammate who brings energy into the gym. Be the guy who encourages others instead of bringing everyone down. 3️⃣ HUSTLE This one gets overlooked. A lot of players get into good enough shape. Elite players get into ELITE shape. Be the first guy down the floor. Be the guy diving on the floor. Be the guy sprinting into every closeout. Be the guy who keeps playing hard when everyone else is tired. Hustle creates opportunities. It gets you extra possessions. Extra rebounds. Easy buckets. Deflections. Second-chance points. And sometimes… it gets you on the floor. Your coach notices. Your teammates notice. And yes, college coaches notice too. You might not be able to control your height, your athleticism, your role, or how much natural talent you have. But you CAN control your effort. You CAN control your attitude. And you CAN control how hard you hustle. Stop looking for ways to separate yourself that require talent. Start dominating the things everyone has access to. EFFORT. ATTITUDE. HUSTLE. Do those three consistently, and you’ll become very difficult to take off the floor. 🏀 Trainer: @Logan Hinton, a former 5 year pro across three countries.

If you’re a high school athlete thinking about transferring schools, ask yourself one question first: WHY? Are you transferring because you’ve genuinely exhausted every other option? Or are you transferring because you’re frustrated that you aren’t playing as much as you want? Those are two VERY different situations. Before you make a decision that could impact the next few years of your life, have the conversations. 🗣️ Talk to your coach. 🤝 Talk to your teammates. 👨‍👩‍👦 Talk to your parents. 🧠 Be honest with yourself. Ask yourself: Have I actually done everything I can to earn the opportunity I want? I’ve been through this myself. I transferred schools once, and basketball was part of the reason—but it wasn’t the only reason. I wanted a shorter drive. I wanted better academic opportunities, including agricultural classes. And yes, I wanted a better basketball situation. But I didn’t just wake up one day and transfer because I wasn’t getting what I wanted. I exhausted my options first. And when I finally made the decision, it ended up being about much more than basketball. I was in a better headspace. I built more meaningful relationships. My grades improved. I had more opportunities. And ultimately, I performed better because I was happier and more comfortable where I was. That’s something people forget: The right environment can change everything. Now, let’s be real. Politics exist in sports. Some situations genuinely aren’t fair. Sometimes a program, school, or environment simply isn’t the right fit. But don’t transfer just because you didn’t play early. You might not be playing because you’re not ready yet. So get in the gym. Get stronger. Get in better shape. Become a better teammate. Earn your coach’s trust. Make it impossible to keep you off the floor. Give yourself a chance to grow before you decide you need a new school. But if you’ve exhausted every option, the environment is genuinely hurting your development, or transferring would make you better academically, personally, mentally, AND athletically…

You don’t need to spend more time in the gym. You need to make the time you already have count. Before you start your workout, ask yourself: 1. What am I working on today? Pick 1–2 things. Don’t try to fix everything at once. 2. What does success look like? Have a goal for the workout. Makes, reps, time, or a specific skill. 3. Does every drill have a purpose? Don’t just do moves because they look cool. Know WHY you’re doing them. 4. Stay locked in. No standing around. No random reps. No going through the motions. 5. Get feedback. Notice what’s working, what isn’t, and make adjustments. The goal isn’t to leave the gym exhausted. The goal is to leave the gym better than when you walked in. No wasted time. No wasted reps. No wasted movement. Have a plan. Get your work in. Get better. 🏀 Trainer: @Logan Hinton, a former 5 year pro across three countries. Train Like a Pro!

Simple, versatile, and one of the easiest ways to create space. The key is timing. Attack downhill, get the defender reacting to your forward momentum, initiate contact, then hop into your side step. That change of direction and lateral displacement creates separation while the defender is still trying to brake and recover. You can use it: • In isolation • Off a screen • Going downhill • As a counter when the defender cuts you off Once you create that pocket of space, you have options: shoot, drive, or shot fake and attack again if the defender recovers. The best part? The defender doesn’t know when the side step is coming, so they have to respect your initial attack. Players like Jalen Brunson, Chris Paul, and Jayson Tatum use variations of this move all the time. Simple move. Multiple applications. Make the game easier. Trainer: @Logan Hinton, a former 5 year pro across three countries. Train Like a Pro

20 points. 7 blocks. But the stats aren’t the part of this game that means the most to me. When I signed with this team, I was told my role was going to be a defensive player. So I embraced it. I wasn’t worried about proving I could score. I wasn’t forcing shots because I wanted a bigger role. I focused on what the team needed from me. Guard their best player. Protect the rim. Rebound. Run the floor. Bring energy. Make winning plays. And every time I stepped on the floor, I tried to prove that I could be trusted. Eventually, that trust created opportunity. I started getting more offensive freedom. More touches. More shots. More responsibility. And suddenly, the player who was brought in primarily to defend was being trusted to score 20 and take big shots. That’s the progression a lot of players overlook: You don’t always earn a bigger role by asking for one. You earn it by dominating the role you already have. There’s a reason this matters from a skill-development standpoint. Becoming a complete player requires intentional practice, feedback, adaptation, and the ability to perform different skills in changing game situations. Research on sports expertise consistently supports the importance of deliberate, purposeful practice—but becoming elite is never just about repeating skills. It’s about learning how to apply them when the environment changes. That’s what being a 2-way player really means. Not just being able to score AND defend. It means being valuable enough that your coach can trust you everywhere on the floor. Look at players like Kawhi Leonard. His defensive impact was a huge part of his early identity, and he developed into one of the NBA’s premier two-way players. So if you’re a player who feels like you’re being overlooked offensively, don’t let that become an excuse. Become undeniable in the role you’ve been given. Defend. Rebound. Make the right play. Set screens. Cut. Communicate. Bring energy. Make winning plays. Then keep developing the rest of your game behind the scenes.