A Coach's Diary

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 c...

Damian Lillard was a little known, small college basketball player who became an NBA lottery pick, Rookie of the Year, and an all-star. One of his college coaches and trainers, Phil Beckner was asked in an interview , "What kind of plan did you put in place and that he followed to have that kind of success?" Beckner said that Damian called him 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. One strength of Damian is that he has always had a willingness to work on things that he wasn't good at, and he is always willing to work on things that were uncomfortable for ...