Read Part 1/3 of our interview!
Accelerate Basketball is one of the leading off-season locations for NBA players who want to work on their game. Stars such as Steph Curry, Antawn Jamison, Anthony Morrow, Gerald Henderson and Kemba Walker have been through the doors at Accelerate Basketball in the last few years. The Lottery Mafia’s James Plowright was fortunate enough catch up with two of their lead trainers, Brandon Payne (pictured above) & Blake Boehringer. They discussed a number of topics including off-season training regimes, draft workouts and individual players (including Seth & Steph Curry, Jamison, Morrow and Sean May).
(Due to the length and detail that this interview went into, we will publish the full interview in three parts)
JP = James Plowright BP = Brandon Payne BB = Blake Boehringer
JP: So first of all, I want to get a sense of what you guys do and some of the names you guys train?
BP: Well, right now on a regular basis on a day, in day out training schedule, we are dealing with, from the NBA, Steph Curry, Antawn and Morrow and that’s on a day in, day out basis, as well as a handful of European players, and then we have NBA guys who hop into town for 3-5 days at a time to train with us, and they will then go back to their teams. Sometimes guys want to just get a little bit of a change of pace and get some of our ball handling stuff in. That seems to be a big draw for folks. We will get a good number of guys in during the off-season.
JP: Brilliant. Speaking of the names you mentioned there, one name that stands out to me as being in there almost every day is Anthony Morrow. He must have a really great attitude and be very highly motivated. Could you expand on that?
BP: His motivation is extremely high; he’s come off a season that didn’t go as well for him as he thought it was going to. He really struggled with injuries. He was with two teams last year, and I think he feels really good about his new situation with the New Orleans Pelicans. He feels that he is going to get a good chance to go in and compete for time. He’s always been a hard worker. This summer, he has actually stepped it up a notch; he’s been stronger in the strength areas, he’s shot the ball more, he’s done more speed work, and he’s done more explosion work. We feel really good about where he is with three or four weeks to go until he leaves for New Orleans.
JP: Do you see a direct correlation between how hard a guy works out and success in the NBA? One example would be Steph Curry; he arguably had a breakout year. Did you see that happening the summer before and have you noticed other examples in the past?
BP: I wouldn’t say there is a direct correlation because in the NBA, you have to remember you are dealing with the ultra-talented, and you’re dealing with some very genetically gifted individuals. They are big, fast, and skilled, so some of those guys were just blessed with a lot of gifts. So if you pick a player like Stephen Curry who is blessed with those gifts but also possess an unbelievably high motor when it comes to working out, unbelievably high attention to detail, understands how is body works, understands the little things in our workouts that make a difference during the game, you kind of come up with a season like he had last year. The thing with Steph is coming into last year, he had two ankle reconstructions, so he had a lot of basketball rehab work mixed in with his skill work. This year, the difference is we haven’t had to focus as much on rehabbing the ankle and focus more on adding new parts to the game. He has been able to focus a lot more on becoming explosively strong instead of stability strength which is what we worked on with his ankle. In terms of a direct correlation, I wouldn’t say it was the sole reason for a player to succeed, but a player who has the genetic gifts that some guys do, who does come in and work as hard as Steph does, that’s where you see the difference.
JP: And just a quick word on Steph, is there any area of his game he is focusing on or just his all-around skill set?
BP: All around. I mean, he didn’t shoot 100% from the field last year, so we are still working on shooting. He didn’t have any games last year where he made every pass he wanted to make. He also didn’t have many games with zero turnovers, so we are still looking to improve all areas of his game, and he is trying to improve every single aspect. He is a very, very driven guy; he is quiet about it, not outspoken in the workout. But you can tell he has an inner drive and an inner fire which burns at a pretty high rate.
JP: This kind of brings me to my next point: in the draft especially, we are seeing a shift to high character individuals like MKG and Oladipo. Do you think the reason being is because when you have the players with that mental drive, they are more likely to reach their potential, whereas you get guys such as Beasley who have all the gifts in the world but can’t seem to get himself together mentally? Do you think there’s a shift going towards that, or has it always been there?
BP: I think you’re correct. There is a little shift among GMs getting high character guys in, but they obviously do have to be talented as well. You know, you’re not going to draft a guy who is smart and nice in the Lottery just because. They still have to be a Lottery talent, but I think when it comes down to it when you compare player A and B in the same position, if player B may be more talented but a knucklehead and player A is slightly less talented but is a high character guy who is going to represent your organization and will work to get better in the off-season, you have to take the guy who is a high character.
JP: Yeah, I agree. I mean it’s funny to hear that. I have seen an interview with Stephen Jackson about working out in the off-season, and he laughed and said, “In the off-season, I have a holiday and eat what I want. I get fit in training camp.” One thing a lot of guys say is “You play during the season and get better during the off-season.” Do you agree with that?
BP: I agree with that from a skill standpoint absolutely. I think that in the off-season, that’s when you can add things to your game. That’s when you can address physical weaknesses and address basketball IQ issues. You have time to go back and watch film and see what you could have done differently. Listen man, in that league, you’re dealing with players who are so unbelievably talented and the difference between winning and losing is minimal. The guys doing the work in the off-season are going to have more success, and the teams who have more of those guys are going to achieve better things. I don’t think that mentality you mentioned will survive. I don’t think those younger players coming in can afford to have that mentality for a couple reasons and here’s why: Number one, the new CBA. Guys aren’t getting huge contracts anymore that allow them the luxury to do that type of stuff. The NBA economically has created a two-tier system of haves and have-nots; there’s really not middle level. It’s not like it used to be with lots of big contracts. I don’t think players with that mentality will stay in the league for a long period of time anymore. GMs around the league, if you look over the last 4/5 years, lots of guys are not in the league or bouncing around the D-League. Guys are not as patient as teams used to be with guys they took out the first round. They have got to get production out of players quickly. I don’t think that mentality will survive in the NBA. You still have some guys who have been around a long time and made lots of money who are still in the league. But I don’t think you will see teams have that mentality and have success in the future.
JP: I am interested with sports psychology becoming an increasingly bigger part of sports. Do you work on the mental aspect of the game or do you not cover that?
BP: We work on their decision-making and processing information in games, but as far as confidence and things like that, we don’t get too much into those areas; that’s outside of our scope. But we get to help dealing with information during the game, being able to take info and process it and make an effective move, so that’s the type of stuff. How quickly our players can make a move and execute it.
JP: With each NBA player is the workout different or do you have a standard regime you stick to?
BP: Right now, we are getting into August, so were getting close to training camp mode, so a lot of the time we will go for about 3 hours in total, maybe a little bit longer. That will consist of 1/2 of basketball specifics, strength and explosion work. Then 1/2 of on court work, lots of shots, ball handling and also a 30-minute period of the day they work on taking care of their body with stretched, foam-rolling work and things like that. It’s a pretty full day right now.
JP: Do you get involved in diet or leave that to the players?
BP: We don’t really get involved in that right now; we don’t have players who have an issue with that. We don’t have any players with weight issues right now. Our guys are pretty educated on that, and their teams do a good job on that. We have players with questions and if we can’t answer them, we refer them out to a nutritionist.
Look out for Part 2 later this week!
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