09/01/2026
5 THINGS I LEARNED TRAINING WITH AN NBA CHAMPION THIS WEEK…
This week I've been in Maui working the Just Hoop Maui basketball camp alongside a good friend, Cody, who also played professionally overseas with me in the Philippines. Cody invited me to train with Boston Celtics starting guard Derrick White — an NBA Champion and Team USA Olympic gold medalist. It was an amazing opportunity & opportunities to pray over him & other players/coaches always present themselves!
We trained together, played golf, shared meals, and I got to observe how he approaches his craft up close. I've played professionally myself and have been around high-level basketball for a long time, but I'm always a student.
I posted inside my "Point Guard Transformation" community but wanted to share this with you guys as well. Perhaps it will help with your players or program.
5 things from this week that I really want our young players to learn.
1️⃣ ELITE PLAYERS ATTACK THEIR WEAKNESSES
One of Derrick's specific focuses right now is becoming better with his left hand. And I mean SPECIFIC.
We emphasized:
🏀 Dribbling left
🏀 Passing left
🏀 Driving left
🏀 Finishing around the basket left
Even as an NBA Champion, he's still asking:
"Where can I get better?"
A lot of young players spend most of their workouts doing the things they're already comfortable doing.
It feels good. You look good. You make shots. But transformation happens when you're willing to intentionally attack the areas where you're NOT comfortable.
Don't hide your weaknesses in workouts. Expose them. Then develop them.
2️⃣ HOLD YOURSELF TO A STANDARD
This might have impressed me the most. Derrick didn't simply complete drills. He had a standard for completing them.
If he was supposed to make a certain number, execute something correctly or finish a drill a certain way, he wasn't quitting until he did it.
And sometimes that meant doing it while TIRED. That's where the mental side comes in.
Can you stay locked in after you've missed?
Can you execute when your legs are tired?
Can you maintain your standard when nobody would blame you for stopping?
There's a difference between:
"I finished the workout."
and
"I completed the workout to the standard."
3️⃣ PAY ATTENTION TO THE DETAILS
At the highest levels, everything matters.
Footwork.
Angles.
Timing.
Pace.
Reads.
Finishing position.
Where the ball is protected.
How you come off a screen.
Derrick wanted to get things right, not simply get through them.
One of the Celtics assistant coaches was also with us and he films all the workouts so they could share things with their staff and catalog the drills.
He even broke down several of my ball-handling and finishing drills. That stuck with me too. These are NBA players and NBA coaches... and they're still learning. The best never stop being students.
4️⃣ CHARACTER MATTERS
This one wasn't about basketball.
I got to spend time around Derrick outside of workouts too — playing golf, eating together and hanging out throughout the week. What stood out was how humble he was. No superstar attitude. No need to tell everyone who he was. Just a good, high-character guy. And I don't think that's separate from the career he's built.
Young players, your talent matters.
But so does:
Are you coachable?
Are you trustworthy?
How do you treat people?
What kind of teammate are you?
Are you humble enough to keep learning?
Your talent can open doors. Your character has a lot to do with what happens once you're inside.
5️⃣ MAKE YOUR WORK EFFICIENT & GAME-SPECIFIC
This was another HUGE takeaway. There was very little wasted work. Derrick knew exactly what he wanted to improve and the specific actions and shots he needed to prepare for. Yes, we did some overloading on the nervous system with ball handling as he requested. But it all had purpose, not just fillers in the workout.
Instead of doing one drill, stopping, talking, setting up another drill and starting again, we could flow through 5–7 different shots and reads while constantly moving.
Pick-and-rolls.
Pin downs.
Ghost screens.
Cuts & reads.
Chase actions.
Finishes & floaters with the left.
Pull-ups fading left.
Catch-and-shoot opportunities.
Everything connected back to situations he actually sees in games. That's something young players need to understand: Training longer doesn't automatically mean you're training better.
And doing 25 different Instagram drills doesn't automatically mean you're developing.
Ask yourself:
What shots do I actually get in games?
What actions does my team run?
What decisions am I repeatedly asked to make?
What's the ONE weakness I'm trying to improve?
Then make your work intentional.
-Phillip Morrison
Basketball Missionary
