The Basketball Strong Podcast

Chris Leazier refers to himself as a basketball nomad. He grew up glued to Indiana University games back when Bobby Knight was patrolling the sidelines and winning more championships than he threw chairs. Though a good player, Chris decided in high school that he’d have a greater impact with a whistle around his neck. One of his first stops was Thetford Academy, where he coached Basketball Strong co-host Tim DiFrancesco (TD). After spending seven years as an assistant coach at Dartmouth College, Chris was at the helm of Saint Anselm College’s women’s basketball for two years.

Then Bakersfield Jam head coach Will Voigt came calling and Chris entered the D-League, soon reuniting with TD as well. After several other college and high school coaching jobs, Will called Chris again and they teamed up to lead the Nigerian men’s national team at the Rio Olympics. Soon after, Chris was back coaching high school basketball, and also served as the head of scouting and video for University of North Carolina women’s coach Courtney Banghart, who had been his fellow assistant coach at Dartmouth. In the past few years, Chris has applied all his coaching expertise at Hudl, where he currently serves as market lead for elite basketball & D1 colleges.

In this episode, Chris riffs on:

• How he developed more compassion as a coach, while still maintaining a standard of excellence
• Why it’s important to enjoy and learn from every experience
• What coaching and life lesson transferred from coaching in the Olympics, college, and high school basketball
• Which coach was the best servant leader he has ever seen
• What makes Courtney Banghart such a successful coach

Keep up with Chris on his Twitter feed.

When Cate Shanahan was in medical school, she was led to believe that “vegetable” oils were healthy and sugar was OK, while saturated fats and salt were the causes of heart disease and other illnesses. It wasn’t until later when Cate investigated why she kept getting sick that she realized everything she’d been taught wasn’t true. Seed oils and excess sugar were the real causes of her issue and rising rates of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, cancer, cognitive decline and other health problems.

While Cate was consulting with the Lakers, she taught players like Kobe Bryant, Metta World Peace, and Dwight Howard about the toxins lurking in their pantry and on supermarket shelves. She also revealed the benefits of grass-fed meat and dairy, collagen, and other nutrients that helped the world’s best basketball players up their game and improve their wellbeing.

In this episode, Dr. Cate shares:

· How seed oils contribute to heart and metabolic diseases once blamed on salt and saturated fats

· Which Hateful 8 oils you should avoid and the healthy alternatives to seek out instead

· Why Kobe Bryant and Metta World Peace turned to bone broth to quickly heal injuries

· How sugar & PUFAs cause inflammation and degrade connective tissue, muscle & joint health

· Why she recommends grass-fed butter instead of omega 3 supplements

· What health, performance & recovery benefits you’ll get from cutting out seed oils, limiting sugar & including more on-the-bone meat in your diet

Learn more about Dr. Cate’s work on her website, www.drcate.com, read her books Deep Nutrition , The Fatburn Fix, and Food Rules , and follow her on Twitter and Instagram @drcateshanahan .

Growing up in a broken home, Phil Beckner watched his mom walk to work at a gas station, and later clean houses after long shifts at a truck stop. So when it came to putting in the effort to earn good grades or a basketball roster spot at Kansas Wesleyan University, he had a higher standard to aim for. When he graduated, Phil applied his gift for getting the best out of others to coaching, with roles at Weber State, the Oklahoma City Blue (the Thunder's D-League affiliate), and Nebraska.

After two years as associate head coach at Boise State, Phil made the difficult decision to walk away from the college basketball sidelines. Several NBA teams came calling, but he chose to focus on two clients – Damian Lillard and Tim Frazier – and build his own coaching business instead. Betting on himself eventually paid off, with the likes of Mikal Bridges, Anfernee Simons, CJ McCollum, and Cam Johnson relying on Phil to develop their skills, mindset, and character. He also consults with the Philadelphia 76ers and other elite teams, athletes, and organizations.

In this episode, Phil shares:

• How his mom’s work ethic, two teachers’ examples, and several mentors imprinted on him
• Where the philosophy behind “Be better, be different” came from and how everyone can harness the success formula that made Damian Lillard an All-Star player and person
• Why he equips players to be better humans as he’s developing them on the court
• What led him to leave college coaching and build a coaching business from scratch instead of taking an NBA job
• Why “We don’t want anything from you – we want everything FOR you” guides his coaching
• Why a deep level of significance is more impactful than a surface level of success

Learn more from Phil @PhilBeckner on Twitter and at develop2compete.com

Have you ever wondered why tall athletes can move so fluidly on the basketball court or in a rowing boat but sometimes struggle to squat or deadlift? As a well-muscled, tall sprinter and long jumper in high school, Lee Boyce quickly realized that he didn’t look or move like most of his fellow track and field athletes. He was curious about why height, weight, limb length, and other factors impacted athletic performance and how he could apply this to his own training. This thirst for knowledge led Lee to take exercise science classes, where he mastered \\\\\the basics of how the human body moves and realized he wanted to pass along what he discovered to others through coaching.

While he was studying kinesiology in college and competing in track, he started training at a gym and helping others put the lessons he was learning into action. 16 years later, Lee has trained hundreds of people, written over 1,200 articles for the likes of Men’s Health, Onnit, and Breaking Muscle, taught multiple college classes, and co-authored the book Strength Training for All Body Types with Melody Schoenfeld. His #tallguytuesday posts have become a go-to resource for basketball players and coaches at all levels.

In this episode, Lee shares:

· Which squat and core training exercise variations basketball players and other tall athletes benefit from

· What his severe knee injury taught him about training for durability

· How an athlete’s height, weight, lever length, training age, and real age should guide their training program

· What the top 3 motivations are for recreational athletes and how a coach can harness these

· Why there should be principles but not rules in coaching

Learn more from Lee by reading his book Strength Training for All Body Types , visiting his website leeboyce.com, and checking out his daily posts on Twitter and Instagram @coachleeboyce.

Sometimes a classic sports story begins with someone believing in the underdog who goes on to become the hero. But in the case of Coach Rocky Lamar, it was a doubter who told him he should switch sports that put him on the path to basketball greatness. His determination to prove them wrong fueled three hours a day of practice, which earned him a spot on the varsity. Rocky’s Hall of Fame Coach Bill Fleming didn’t just teach him how to play point guard, but also the importance of defending, rebounding, and valuing the ball. These principles helped Rocky reach the college level, where he set records for assists and free throw percentage at MidAmerica Nazarene College (later university).

Fleming’s influence also inspired Rocky to coach high school basketball back in Iowa. When he returned to his alma mater, MNU’s only winning seasons had come when Rocky played, but he soon built them into a powerhouse. Though the team lost the 2001 title game, they won the national championship in 2007 and reached the NAIA Final Four five other times. By the time he retired in 2022, Rocky’s teams has won 13 conference titles, made it to the national tournament 19 times, and had 23 seasons with 20 or more wins. His 803 victories put him eight on the all-time active coaching list, alongside the likes of Jim Calhoun, Mike Krzyzewski, and Mike Boeheim.

In this episode, Rocky reveals:

· Why planning fundamentals-focused practices like John Wooden created consistent excellence

· What nightly open gym runs in the summer did to fuel four straight Final Four appearances

· Why relationship-building should be focused on helping players and expecting nothing in return

· How staying with a single program enabled him to touch lives and develop a large coaching tree

· Why every player should do what’s right, do more than their fair share, and be tough

Learn more from Rocky as he keeps mentoring players and coaches on Twitter @CoachRockyLamar.