Olympic lifting with Jonas Sahartian (UNC Strength Coach) influenced the way I taught shooting; it showed me why kinetically linking power is essential to becoming a great shooter.

A few summers ago, I was interviewed by Substacker Jacob Sutton, who writes JSuttHoops.

After the interview, I received calls from friends, family, and key figures in the piece to discuss the stories I shared. It was a blast to catch up with Danny Green and Esian Henderson to discuss how their moments helped shape the shooting program I built and ran for eight years.

Along with those calls came numerous emails from coaches, some of whom I knew previously and others I had never met, asking about habits, the 12-building shots, and how I used the concept of the Olympic lift “power cleaning” to teach shooting.

In light of those emails, I decided to explain some of the processes I use and why understanding Olympic lifting is the most valuable analogy for teaching players how to shoot.

Building Shots:

One of the core elements of the program I built consisted of 12 drills, which I called "building shots.”

Honestly, the drills aren’t essential here; it’s the habits within each drill that differentiate elite shooters from everyone else.

I set the “detail” bar for these 12 Building Shots drills to the highest level. I imagine that nearly every player I ever worked with wanted to punch me in the face at some point during a building shot drill.

The goal was to strip away the player’s athletic superpowers, isolate a specific habit within a drill, and have them execute it with precision.

The first hurdle the players have to conquer isn’t physical; it’s psychological.

The one rule of these 12 Building Shots drills is:

A Make Isn’t Always A Make, And A Miss Isn’t Always A Miss.

Convincing a player whose livelihood depends on getting a ball through a hoop that the main point of these 12 drills is NOT whether the ball goes in was challenging at times (remember the "wanting to punch me in the face” part).

But this mental challenge was a crucial part of their growth process.

During these 12 Building Shot Drills, A “Make” is defined by three things: 

1. Loading the power in the correct place
2. Having complete control over the power, not the power controlling you (Balance).
3. Sequencing the power up and through your body efficiently (Rhythm).

Each drill focuses on a specific biomechanical habit, building sequentially from static, completely isolated shots in drill one to stacking dynamic movements into full-go shots by drill twelve.

Then, when it’s time to put it all together and shoot regular shots in a workout or game, these 12 biomechanical habits become instincts.

I used to tell my clients to think of their shot as a Rolex watch. The 12 building shots were us taking it apart and sharpening each element within the watch, then we put it back together and let it work seamlessly for their full-go shots.

Each day, wash, rinse, and repeat.

The sharper and cleaner we could get those pieces, the more effortless, accurate, and powerful their shot would become.

Building Habits:

Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit and here on Substack at The Science of Better, profoundly influenced how I viewed habits, feedback loops, and effective communication with players.

Duhigg’s explanation of feedback loops in The Power of Habit was one of the most influential reads for me during my time working as a shooting coach.

Feedback Loops: Cue → Routine → Reward

The year before I worked with my first NBA client, Malik Beasley, I rebuilt my whole program based on Duhigg’s book.

I remember thinking during that summer working with Malik, “This might be the dumbest thing I’ve ever done.” I played for Roy Williams. I played overseas. The previous year, I worked with three high-level overseas players, did everything I had been taught, and it went well. Why am I about to do something completely different with my first NBA player?

But Duhigg’s book was too compelling, and it introduced me to the concept of epicenters. The idea that, to uproot bad habits, reprogram good ones, and change what’s inside the feedback loop, you needed the routine’s epicenter.

So, identifying the correct epicenters and the body movement patterns players use most while playing was critical.

It all made sense; I could see the dots connecting. The only thing left to do was put in the prep work on the court, and then say F’it… go full throttle.

Malik and I did about 50 sessions during the summer of 2018. The following season, he went from:

3 → 11 points

34% → 40% from three

28 → 163 made threes

I went on to work with three more players. All three guys went through the same core program, and each made a 6% jump in three-point percentage, while shooting career volume (up to that point). It's something I'm very proud of.

What I’m more proud of is that, as they went through the program, each one said they'd never done anything like it before. It's just very different, which I’m even more proud of.

Olympic Lifting Is Shooting:

The biggest influence on how I taught shooting wasn’t a basketball coach. It was Jonas Sahratian, who is the strength and conditioning coach at UNC.

The irony is that he can’t shoot a basketball to save his life, but he can teach you how to lift better than anyone else in the world. He’s taught every North Carolina basketball player how to Olympic lift for 20-plus years and is the best in the business.

I teach shooting using two weightlifting exercises as analogies: the power clean and the dumbbell squat-to-press.

Jonas always harped on the importance of three things:

1. How you load power: Are you prepared for the lift?
2. Where you load power: What muscle groups are ready for the lift?
3. Sequencing the power up: Can you bring it all together?

There's no difference between shooting a basketball and power cleaning. It's all about whether you can load power in the right place and transfer the power from the floor through your hips. 

The only difference in shooting is that you have to get the power to go out through a basketball. But all the same principles apply. If you're power cleaning and the bar gets away from your body, your arms are now actively involved, and all the power you were transferring up through your hips is no longer part of the shot.

Whether it's a younger player or an NBA All-Star, I use a line Jonas used to say all the time when he was teaching power-cleaning techniques: "Your arms are just hooks." 

This is one of the biggest problems I saw with players’ shots.

If the arms get away from the body, they become actively involved. Once they become actively involved in the power supply, it tightens the hands and wrists, and if those get tight, they can no longer do magic.

And that’s what shooting is, magic!

Getting a basketball to go through an eighteen-inch rim, ten feet off the ground, from twenty-nine feet away is nothing short of magic.

Context: this is a game in which each round I get a team (eg at PG I got the Grizzlies, so I could only pick a player from the Grizzlies)

I’m curious to hear opinions though as almost all great players were all stars

EDIT: The game is called Draftbattle- https://draftbattle.app and it was built by a couple of friends of mine who love these discussions (posting here because on the post I got asked about it).

This feels like a spot where the Knicks are the right favorite, but the number may be too high.
New York is coming in hot:
Knicks are 7-3 over their last 10
Sixers are 7-3 over their last 10
Both teams are on 3-game winning streaks
Knicks are allowing only 101.8 PPG
Sixers are allowing 104.3 PPG
Knicks have 4 days of rest
Sixers have only 2 days of rest after a Game 7
That rest edge is real for New York, but the spread still feels a little inflated.
Why Philadelphia can keep this close
The Sixers have been strong on the road, going 4-1 away from home recently. They also just came back from a 3-1 deficit against Boston and won Game 7 on the road, so this is not a team that should be treated like a normal underdog.
The head-to-head history also matters. Philadelphia has had success against New York this season, and the road team has been very live in this matchup.
Why the Knicks are favored
New York deserves respect. They closed their last series with a huge blowout win and have been defending at an elite level. If the Sixers come out tired after the Boston series, the Knicks can absolutely pull away.
The biggest swing factor is Embiid. If he is limited with the hip issue, the Sixers’ cover case gets weaker fast.
Market read
The line moved from -6.5 to -7.5, showing sharp money on New York. The Knicks moneyline also shortened, so the market clearly respects them at home.
But at +7.5, Philadelphia has enough cushion if Embiid is active and moving well.
My read
Knicks probably win, but the spread feels a bit too stretched for a Sixers team that has been strong on the road and battle-tested.
Lean: 76ers +7.5
The Sixers moneyline is interesting at a big plus number, but taking the points is the cleaner angle.
The key question is whether Philly’s Game 7 fatigue shows up late, or if Embiid and Maxey keep this within range.

After reaching out to a lot of coaches and playing a lot of tournaments in my AAU team I finally got a call from Pete Stathakis coach from Dean College basketball team, it was not easy but it finally happen

Game 4 between the defending champs OKC and the Lakers in LA was absolutely wild! Lakers fought hard, but they just couldn't weather the storm when the Thunder turned it on at the end and broke the "King’s knights." Lakers had a real chance to extend the series here, but OKC’s defense is just on another level.

Fast forward to the final minute—40.9 seconds on the clock, 109:110 on the scoreboard. There’s still hope the Lakers can avoid the sweep. If they pull this off, the GOAT talk for LeBron goes crazy—dude is 42 and out here "storm chasing" against the Thunder. Honestly, who knows if he's even in a Lakers jersey next year or somewhere else, but let’s save that drama for after the Larry O'Brien trophy is lifted. Right now, OKC looks like the team to beat.

Back to the play. 109:110, OKC ball. Thunder scores even with LeBron playing solid D on Holmgren (16 pts). Luka—who’s out injured—is waving for a travel from the bench, but no whistle. Lakers ball, about 32 seconds left… The lineup on the floor: Reaves (27 pts), LeBron (24), Hachimura (25), Smart (5), and Hayes (18). Hayes was actually a huge spark tonight, 18 points in 27 minutes. But everyone’s looking at Rui, he’s been the best story for the Lakers this postseason. Him and Kennard are the only ones hitting 3s, Rui was 4-8 tonight. You'd think they go for the 3, right?

James drives with about 25 seconds left, looked like an easy bucket. They got the switch off Dort (who was glued to LeBron all night) so Caruso takes him. Bron beats Caruso but the ball just wouldn't go in! Everything was played perfectly, the ball just didn't drop.

Then the Lakers let OKC bring the ball up without a quick foul, and finally they foul SGA (35 pts) who was just milking the clock. Shai is cold blooded, hits the first... then the second. 12.2 seconds left. Timeout. You’re thinking the play is for Kennard or Rui, probably Rui, and then just pray for OT. The camera zooms in on Reaves, he’s got 27, shooting 8-16, 3-7 from deep. He’s feeling it. Kleber check in for the first time, probably for a screen. But Rui is on the bench?! JJ Redick leaving him out is a choice... people are definitely gonna be talking about that. 8 seconds left, ball to Reaves, time to save the season... he takes the 3... CLANK.

The rim just got too small for the Lakers when it mattered. Two massive shots, two misses. Mitchell (28 pts) seals it at the line with 6.4 seconds left and that’s a wrap. 115:110 for the Thunder. That’s 8 straight playoff wins for them, two sweeps in a row, and now they wait for Spurs/Timberwolves.

Bottom line: Lakers did what they could, but the playoffs exposed their lack of depth. They’re the total opposite of OKC, who probably have the deepest bench in the league. Still, season was okay, they beat the Rockets when they weren't favorites, but the champs were just too much. Maybe with Luka it’s a different story, but we’ll never know.

As for the Thunder, 8-0 in the playoffs so far and they make it look easy. Just a well-oiled machine grinding everyone down. Does anyone have an answer for their rotations? Might be watching a new dynasty starting right now. (I.D.)