Take a look at this clip of Zach Lavine this past summer working out with the high level trainer Jordan Lawley. There are a couple of interesting things about this, and the video is on Youtube if you want to check out the whole thing.
The main thing I want you to notice from Lavine’s workout is something that I think is missing from a lot of the way younger players work on getting better these days. Notice how in almost every rep, Lavine is being guarded. Now these aren’t fully live reps, meaning the defense isn’t necessarily trying to stop Lavine. But by having defense, it makes Lavine have to think through the play, and make decisions. Instead of just doing the same exact rep of something 10 times in a row with no variation, having a dummy defender pushes you to be more creative.
In fact, this past summer in an interview Payton Pritchard revealed that he pays overseas players to come stay with him in the offseason, and play defense on him for a few hours a day. He said he likes to get 300-500 live reps in almost everyday in the offseason, as well as getting his normal shooting and ball handling in. Maybe Pritchard will see this video and decide to fly me out to Boston this summer to play defense on him, but I have a feeling he wants to go against guys who might be able to get a stop.
