“The more that we can empower our players to think on their own, whether it’s by sending them edits with a text overlay… I think that allows us to build a stronger relationship.”
Nick Friedman – Charlotte Hornets
Get The Edge
In Episode 6 of The Edge, we sit down with Nick Friedman, a Player Development Coach with the Charlotte Hornets.
Nick’s had quite an interesting early career in hoops, and we talked about it all, including:
- His start in coaching with the University of Miami
- The best pre-draft workout he’s ever seen
- Watching Pascal Siakam develop in the G League
- The importance of a strong G League pipeline
- Why more organizations are adding two-way coaches
Where to Listen
Available wherever you listen to podcasts. Full show transcript available here.
On this Episode
Controlling and harnessing emotions in the NBA and G League:
“When it gets to the NBA level and the G League level, in particular, it becomes more about the psychology and the emotions and controlling those and harnessing those than it is really about the skill. We get really concerned about shooting percentages, finish percentages, all that. But if your mind isn’t right, you’re not really at terms and at ease with who you are and who you need to become.”
Witnessing Fred VanVleet’s and Pascal Siakam’s development:
“I personally would have thought he [Siakam] wasn’t going to be this good, but I can tell you that VanVleet was an NBA player. Pascal, that season, hadn’t played very much with the Toronto Raptors and people didn’t realize that he didn’t play that many games in the G League. But when he came down, they were very strategic with putting him in high pressure winning situations and he blossomed.”