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.

The modern game doesn’t have much room for one-dimensional players. And at the 3, versatility is everything. A small forward has to be able to punish you in the paint, stretch you beyond the arc, attack closeouts, create for others, and make the defense pay for whichever matchup it chooses. That’s the art. If you put a big on me, I’m too quick and shifty. If you put a guard on me, I’m too big and athletic. So I use both. Give me a smaller defender and I’ll attack the rim. Send a second defender and I’ll find the open man. Drive into the paint and force the defense to collapse, and suddenly a shooter is standing wide open. But it works the other way too. When I consistently knock down threes, the big has to step away from the paint. That space changes everything. The lane opens up. Driving angles become cleaner. Closeouts become longer. And now the defense has to choose between giving up a 3 or giving up an advantage at the rim. That’s why the 3 is so important. The best small forwards don’t just score—they change the geometry of the floor. Paul George is a perfect example. His value has never been limited to one way of scoring. He can shoot over smaller defenders, attack bigger ones, create off the dribble, make plays when defenses send help, and defend multiple positions. That kind of versatility forces a defense to constantly adjust. Modern basketball is built around spacing, closeouts, rotations, and creating advantages. The more threats you have on the floor, the more ground a defense has to cover—and the harder every rotation becomes. That’s what I’m trying to show in these clips. Not just scoring. Reading the matchup. Creating the advantage. Forcing the defense to react. Too fast for the bigs. Too big for the guards. A threat inside. A threat outside. That’s the art of the small forward. Trainer: @Logan Hinton, a former 5 year pro across three countries. Train Like a Pro!

There’s a different level of basketball when you get into a rhythm. The game slows down. The noise disappears. You stop thinking about every little movement. You’re not worried about who’s watching, the last shot, or the next mistake. You’re locked in. All you see is the ball, the rim, the space in front of you—and the next play. That’s flow. Flow is a state of deep focus where your attention becomes completely absorbed in the task. In sports, it’s often associated with having a balance between your skill level and the challenge in front of you, clear intentions, a sense of control, and the ability to keep your attention on what matters. But you don’t just stumble into that feeling. You build it. Build a routine. Get your reps in. Create rhythm. Know your moves. Know your spots. Practice at game speed. Develop confidence through preparation. The more familiar the skill becomes, the less mental energy you have to spend consciously controlling every movement. That allows you to focus on reading the defense, seeing the floor, and reacting to what’s happening in front of you. And confidence matters. You have to trust the work you’ve put in. When you’ve shot the same shot thousands of times, you don’t need to convince yourself you can make it. You just catch, see the rim, and let it fly. Catch. See. Shoot. No hesitation. No overthinking. Just basketball. Your goal isn’t to force yourself into flow. Your goal is to create an environment where flow becomes more likely. Find your rhythm. Find your routine. Find your confidence. Get comfortable being uncomfortable. Then lock in. Get in your flow. 🏀🔥 Trainer: @Logan Hinton, former 5 year pro across three countries. Train Like a Pro!

Great scorers don’t force shots—they create advantages. In this game, Ethan starts by getting to his spots in the mid-range. Those are shots he’s practiced thousands of times, so he shoots them with confidence and knocks them down. Confidence comes from preparation, and preparation builds consistency. As the game goes on, the defense adjusts. They take away the mid-range and switch to a zone, forcing him out of his comfort area. His three-point shot isn’t falling, so instead of settling for tough jumpers, he makes the right basketball play—he attacks the paint. He gets downhill, finds the gaps in the defense, attacks the right angles, and puts pressure on the rim. That pressure creates easy layups and, just as importantly, trips to the free throw line. Getting to the free throw line is one of the most valuable skills in basketball. It stops the clock, puts opponents in foul trouble, gives your team time to reset, and provides uncontested scoring opportunities. Research in sports psychology also shows that seeing the ball go through the hoop—even from the free throw line—can increase confidence and improve a player’s shooting rhythm by reinforcing positive motor patterns. Ethan capitalizes on that momentum. After seeing a few free throws fall, his confidence grows, his rhythm returns, and he’s able to step back out and knock down another three. The lesson is simple: don’t become predictable. If the defense takes away your first option, have a counter. Great players don’t rely on one shot—they read the defense, adapt, and keep applying pressure until they create the best scoring opportunity. Practice your spots. Learn to attack the paint. Embrace contact. Get to the free throw line. That’s winning basketball! Train Like a Pro!