Phil Beckner | What the Pros Do Different

Phil Beckner is a college and professional basketball coach who helped train and develop Damian Lillard in college and worked with the Oklahoma City Thunder when they had Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook.

A few years ago, he interviewed with Breakthrough Basketball. He talked about what Lillard did to become an NBA star, what the best players in the world have in common, and how he teaches, or tweaks, shooting the basketball.

How did Damian Lillard go from unknown to becoming an NBA lottery pick, rookie of the year, and all-star?
Damian called me at 11:30 one night and asked, "Phil, what do I have to do to make the NBA?" Beckner told him, "You have to outwork everybody in the country. The guys at Duke, the guys at Kansas - you have to outwork all of them. You have to wake up every single day and not just be the hardest worker at Weber State, but the hardest worker in the country."

He said, "Okay, I'll do it," and because he did, he gave himself a chance to be special.

What did you do with him and what did you work on?

Damian has always had a willingness to work on the things that he wasn't good at and a willingness to work on things that made him uncomfortable. He was willing to do things that other players weren't willing to do. We worked a lot on the basics: footwork, ballhandling, and finishing around the rim. 

The biggest thing that kids need to know is, "Don't steal the drills that you see the pros do, steal the will and what makes them special. Steal their work ethic, steal their discipline, and steal their habits. Then, you can get to their drills.

But with Damian, we worked hard on was pick and roll development. It was me, him, and a trash can, and we would work on pick and roll passing. We would work on the different coverages we would see and the different progressions: get to the basket, shoot a pull-up, shoot behind the screen, then work on the passing out of it. The pick and roll stuff separated him and gave him a chance to be special early.

How have Damian Lillard's workouts changed since he has been in the NBA?

Our philosophy hasn't changed. You have to be great at what you are good at. Every player is going to be good at a couple of things, and you have to sharpen those strengths sometimes and be great at what you are good at. If you try to be great at everything, you end up just being average at everything. We try to improve weaknesses, but we are just as focused on sharpening strengths. We constantly work on what we are already elite at. Know and have a plan and progression in place for what you are trying to accomplish. 

Right now, Damian Lillard is work on a series of 10 types of shots at the elite level, off the dribble, and the catch. We focus on balance, release, rhythm, using your legs, getting your elbow to come up through your shoulder, and getting a high release point. We are working on coordinating our dribble into our shooting motion. We will take different dribbles into our pull-up.

Balance is very important. Balance and release. We can complicate shooting, and so we give guys one or two main things for shooting the basketball, and sure those up and getting sharp at those, and then building off of that.

What do you tell people when they are missing shots?
The only thing that you can do is make the next shot. You can't worry about the past or the last shot. Stay in the moment. The only thing you can do is make your next shot. Don't pout or sulk after you miss. Don't get frustrated if you miss a couple in a row. The only thing you can do is grab the ball, shoot it, and make the next shot. You have to believe that the next one is going in. You might miss two three, four in a row, but as soon as you make the next one, you give yourself a chance to make the next 3 or 4 in a row after that. Have the next shot mindset, stick with the process, and give yourself a chance to become a better shooter.

What was your role with the OKC Thunder, and how were KD and Russ?
I was an assistant coach with the Thunder's developmental team. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are two of the best players in the league for a reason. There is no magic recipe that makes those guys successful. They literally show up every day, two hours before practice, and do a pre-practice routine. If we practiced at 10:30, they would be in the gym at 8:30, on the court, by themselves, and they were the first on the court doing their pre-practice routine. Their appetite for success and to be great is unparalleled. The way they worked and the way that they showed up every day is what makes them great. They want to outcompete everybody in everything, and that is what separates guys, even at the highest level.

How do players become great leaders?
The number one step in leadership is you have to take care of your own business first. You have to take care of your work ethic, your attitude, and your communication first, and when you do that, then you will be in a position to be a great leader. Second, the best leaders don't just drag teammates along with them; they walk alongside them. They put their arms around their teammates, and they are always talking to their teammates and encouraging and pushing their teammates in drills. But they aren't afraid to confront their teammates when they aren't bringing it, or when they aren't working hard enough. They handle things the right way and they don't let anything get in the way of the team or the culture or the success that they want.

Do you teach the two-step or the hop into a shot?
The best players can do both. KD was shooting after practice shooting, and if he shot 10 shots, 5 were on the two-step and 5 were off the hop.

What about the Dip on the shot?
Just don't hinder or slow your shot down so much that you can't get it off. We always tell our players that we aren't going to change your shot, but we might tweak it a little. When you tell guys that you are going to change their shot, it puts way too much crap in their head. If the dip is too far, we might tell them to raise their dip a few inches, but before that, we look at the shot preparation before the catch. Are you down and ready and hands ready to catch and shoot? Those matter as much as the dip.

What kind of workouts/training do you do with athletes?
We have three types of workouts. There is a skill development workout that consists of ball-handling, footwork, change of pace and direction, and finishing around the rim, along with a game-like aspect like the pick and roll or shooting off the screen. There is a shooting workout that might start with ball-handling to get warmed-up and then some spot-up shooting, but then we get a lot of shots up. We work on extending range because when you do, it exposes some weaknesses in their fundamentals, and it makes regulars shots and threes easier. We shoot of cuts, off screens, on the move, and off the dribble. The third type of workout is a reps workout where we make 200-400 spot-up shots from close to the 3s. Lillard would do two of these in a day during the off-season. He would do a 45-60 skill workout in the morning and come back in the afternoon and do a shooting or rep workout where he is making 400-500 spot-up shots.

How do you find a good workout coach?
There are player development coaches and there are skill coaches. Player development coaches are the best of the best. They can teach, and they aren't just doing drills and skills. They teach players how to think and read the game, and they are teaching their players' mindset and work ethic. They preach and teach the right messages that work for basketball and that translate to life. Messages like being on time, working hard, and being high-character people. In most cases, most great players are great people. MOST of the best players in the NBA are great people and they treat the towel boys as good as they treat the head coach. They are really great people and teaching that is really important for player development. The better the person you are, the better the player you are going to be. Skills trainers are a dime a dozen. They can watch a Youtube video, steal a ball-handling drill, and use it. You want player development and people development coaches.

How do you balance skill development and playing?
Know what is going on in their schedule. Know when they are going to be practice and when they are going to be playing games and work around that schedule. Get work in before or after practice and before and after the game. Kids play so many games in the summer that they don't make enough shots or work on their stuff skill-wise, so their skills and shot-making never catch up to the speed of the game or the number of games that they play. Most kids just don't work on their game enough. They don't work on their footwork, balance, shooting off the catch and dribble, finishing around the rim enough. We should be working on that equal to or as much of the time that we spend playing games.

How do you develop the right culture or philosophy for success?
The right culture starts with bringing in the right people. Develop a culture and atmosphere where winning is the most important, but doing it the right way is just as important. High-character, tough athletes who are willing to be coached and who just really want to accomplish something special on top of the foundation that we have built is important. 

What were your defensive philosophy and defensive rules?
We had three rules.
1 - No 3s
2 - No middle
3 - No layups

We run you off the 3-point line, then take away your middle drive and force you baseline, and we give up no layups because it is one of the highest efficiency shots in basketball. That was our foundation. It is simple enough to understand. 3s count more than twos, and the only way to really guard the 3 is by taking it away. Every mid-major team that has upset a high-major has made 8 threes or more. The only way to keep a team from making 8 threes is to not let them shoot 8 threes. If you can't shoot 8, you can't make 8.

Players aren't good passers. If you speed them up and make them play faster, they become even worse passers. Speed them up and make them make bad decisions.

How much time do you spend on defense in practice?
We work on the 4-core areas of our defense every day in practice. We led the country or as close to it in field goal percentage. But our 2 main targets were defense and rebounding, and that is how we started practice and film sessions. We kept the main thing the main thing.

Anybody who wants to improve or grow has to be willing to accept criticism and has to be willing to hear other people's opinions. We might have 2-3 high school coaches at our college or pro practices, and I ask those guys to see their notes so that I can see what they saw or heard at our practice. I want to know what they thought we were good at and what we thought they were terrible at. This gives us confirmation that we are doing something right or confirmation that we can do something better. You can't trick the truth, and sometimes we can get blinded by the routine and not see the things that aren't going right.

What is the best of what you have learned in college coaching?
Don't coach for the name on the front of your business card; coach for your head coach and coach for your players because the name on your business card is just you and for yourself. Coach to impact your players, your head coach, and your program and be part of something that is bigger than yourself.

Never let a chemistry guy go. When guys are about your program and are tough and do the right thing, you can never let them go. They might not be playing as much or they might not be as skilled, but you can't let chemistry guys go.

The players don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. Relationships are vital. The players have to know that you care. When they know that you care and you have built up enough relational equity, then you can coach them as hard as you want to and they will run through a wall for you. They will do anything that you give them to succeed, and that is when you become a truly good coach.