The first episode of the #SoWizards Podcast in nearly a year is a fun one — an in-depth conversation with coach Brian McCormick about player development strategies and techniques, and how those might be applied by the Washington Wizards and other NBA teams with young players.
We covered a lot of ground, including comparing development in Europe and the U.S. and how organizational philosophy influences the coaching approach to helping players improve.
McCormick is an ideal person to engage in this discussion because he’s coached young and developing players in CYO, AAU, high school, junior college, and college basketball. He’s also worked as a strength and conditioning coach for two junior-college basketball programs.
And he’s well traveled with coaching stops in Denmark, Estonia, Ireland, and Sweden, as well as directing clinics in Canada, China, Greece, Ghana, Kenya, India, Macedonia, Trinidad & Tobago, Uganda, and throughout the United States.
McCormick completed his PhD in Exercise and Sports Science at the University of Utah and published peer-reviewed papers in the International Journal of Exercise Science, International Journal of Sports Science and Coaching, and Strength & Conditioning Journal. He has spoken at coaching, strength & conditioning, and sports psychology conferences in the United States and Canada.
He’s also the author of several books to help players and coaches improve in their craft, which are available on Amazon or many places where you might buy books.
As you might have noticed at the top, the podcast is on YouTube now. Yes, I know there’s stuff that needs to get done on the channel, which I’ll be getting to in the days/weeks ahead.
You can still listen by clicking here, streaming the embed below, or by finding it wherever you get your podcasts.
The plan is to record episodes — including some lives — more or less weekly. Please drop a note in the comments or email me with topics, questions, or guests you’d like me to have on.