Time to Improve Your Game is NOW: Flavell

Now is the perfect time to be working on your basketball skills and improving your overall game, according to Phoenix assistant coach Judd Flavell.

As NBL teams across Australia and New Zealand ramp up their preparations for the December start date, players are using the time to develop their individual skillset to better themselves for the coming season.

And that’s exactly what you can be doing at home.

Phoenix players have been sharing training at home drills and tips on the club’s social media channels and will continue to do so to give those at home a kickstart for their own training programs.

Flavell says the in-season period can be too busy with game-to-game focuses and health management to really zero in on parts of your game, so the off-season (especially in lockdown) is a great opportunity to get the best out of yourself when we all return to the hardwood once again.

“At this stage of the year when the players come in for workouts, it’s more about individual development,” Flavell said.

“This is the time that you can really cash in; whether it’s a left-hand jump hook you need to work on or your ball handling, whatever it is. It can get quite monotonous and you can be just repeating day after day but I think if you’re a ball player who is really focused on where you can make these gains, this is the time you can do it.

“Once the season starts you get limited because it becomes very focused on the game during that week, so this is the time that we do it.”

The Phoenix have returned to training following a short precautionary suspension and are taking that improvement mindset into every session ahead of NBL21.

Dane Pineau and Kyle Adnam are two rising stars who’ve put in long hours of training with the Phoenix coaching staff as they look to take another step in their basketball journeys.

(Flavell is Simon Mitchell's right hand man at the Phoenix)

On a team front, Flavell says natural chemistry growth as the group gets to understand each other’s playing styles better in season two, plus the addition of quality recruits, will be key reasons for a potential leap on the NBL ladder.

“We wanted to make some improvement in areas and I guess one of those was on the defensive side and we feel like that will happen naturally just through being together longer,” Flavell said.

“In the first year there’s sort of a limit of synergy you can have, you just have what you have on each week. Whereas some of the successful ball clubs and teams have been guys who’ve been sticking together for three or four years and have got their core together.

“We feel like we’ve got a good group, bringing in those new recruits who are at a great stage in their career with upside.”

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Sam Bunn for Phoenix Media (18/08/2020)