“I became known as the ‘games coach.’ I was the guy you went to when you wanted a situation with defense and decisions. By that time in my career, I had adopted the CLA [constraints-led approach] as the underpinning of all of my practice design. Jaden McDaniels went from shooting 66 percent at the rim in his rookie year, doing the Mikan Drill, to 68 percent in Year 2, to 72 percent in his third season, to an elite 74 percent by Year 4. We exposed him to situations similar to the game, over and over again. No matter what situation arises, the player knows how to solve it. Maybe it’s a spin move in one scenario but a scoop in another. Maybe changing speed or direction works one time, maybe changing hands the next.”
