The Basketball Strong Podcast

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 r...

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...

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...

Stan Van Gundy recently tweeted about how injuries and games missed are way up despite NBA load management and teams having bigger medical and performance staffs. Basketball Strong co-host and former Lakers S&C coach Tim DiFrancesco (@tdathletesedge) replied that SVG is right, but 80s and 90s players didn’t grow up playing year-round AAU and spending off court time on their phones or with skil...

Anyone who loves basketball in the Pittsburgh area knows T.J. McConnell’s family name. Whether it’s his father Tim, who racked up 662 wins at Chartiers Valley, his aunt Suzie who played in two Olympics and was WNBA Coach of the Year, or another aunt and uncle who’ve coached at the college level, the McConnells are legendary in Pennsylvania hoops. So it’s no surprise that T.J.’s ended up on the cou...

In practice, Sean Light could often make every free throw. So why was it that in college basketball games he felt frozen at the line, while his brother could pitch 102 miles an hour at Fenway Park with no problem? It was questions like this that Sean sought to answer as he served as a strength coach with the New York Yankees and Arizona Diamondbacks. As he observed minor leaguers over the long, 16...

In his 22 years covering the Los Angeles Lakers as a sideline reporter and play-by-play announcer riffing off color commentator Mychal Thompson, John Ireland has seen the team win five NBA titles, pull off a rare threepeat, and make it to the Finals eight times. He has witnessed a lifetime of highlights from the likes of Shaq, LeBron, Paul Gasol, and other All-Stars, but it’s the legacy of Kobe Br...

“On a football field, I didn’t pass the eye test,” said Mike Guevara (aka Mike G). Despite describing himself as short and slow and facing prejudice from being one of few on the football field with both Asian and Mexican descent, Mike battled his way to a college football scholarship and starred as a wide receiver. His work ethic, self-discipline, and quest for continual improvement has even earli...

Imagine being born with a gift for music, playing piano, drums, and bass so well that you were recruited by Julliard and other top music schools, but then giving it up because it was too easy and you really loved basketball. That was the path chosen by Alex McLean, who didn’t play organized ball until he was 18 and then had to learn the game at two junior colleges. His dedication eventually earned...

The first thing almost every interviewer asks Alan Stein Jr. about is coaching Kevin Durant. But what they gloss over is that it took two years of calls and faxes (remember those?) for Durant’s prep school, Montrose Academy, to bring him in as a strength and conditioning consultant, that this role was initially unpaid, and that he covered his own travel expenses. There’s also rarely a mention of a...

Imagine seeing talented but raw basketball players like Andrew Wiggins, Lou Dort, Tyler Ennis, and Jamal Murray when they were 15 years old and being tasked with molding them into future NBA and Olympic pros. Dr. Marc Bubbs has lived this life for the past decade, as the sports nutritionist on a holistic, person-first Canada Basketball team of dedicated coaches, talented players, and committed spo...

Lance Hurdle learned to love basketball from his grandfather, who put a basketball in his small hands when he was five. 15 years later and with Lance now starring for the University of Miami, it was the same man who’s imminent passing inspired Lance to record his career high against the UNC Tar Heels. In between, Lance moved from New Jersey to San Diego, where he started playing against his step f...

Todd Wright’s journey to the NBA improbably with living in a closet alongside the costume for the Boston College eagle mascot. This might seem improbable, but it was an indication of the many sacrifices he would make along the path to becoming one of the most respected strength and conditioning coaches in basketball. The fact that he ended up in the sport at all is fortuitous, as he started out pl...

Coach Brendan Suhr is viewed as one of the most respected figures in basketball with nearly 30 years as a coach and executive in the NBA and 13 seasons as a coach at the collegiate level. He has been a part of some of the most historical basketball teams of all time while winning back-to-back NBA Championships with the Detroit Pistons “Bad Boys”, as well as the 1992 “Dream Team” who won the gold m...

During his six seasons with the Lakers, Tim DiFrancesco (TD) saw first-hand how Kobe Bryant pushed through pain and injury to give his all to the game he loved. In one memorable moment, Mamba cemented his Madison Square Garden legacy by overcoming severe low-back tightness to somehow take the hallowed floor and put on another classic performance against the New York Knicks.  In this episode, TD sh...

Chris Winter’s path to becoming a world-renowned sleep doctor began when he was a child. When the power went out in a blizzard and he and his family were huddled up in sleeping bags around their stove, he wondered, “Does everyone like to sleep as much as me?” Fast forward 20 or so years and Chris was studying at the University of Virginia, wondering what branch of medicine to specialize in. A biol...

Few basketball players can claim to have played on the same high school team as an NBA All-Star, but that’s the experience this week’s guest, Trey Johnson, had when hooping with Mo Williams. A gifted scorer in his own right, Trey took his talents to Northeast Mississippi Community College, where he averaged 19 ppg before transferring to Alcorn State. Here he shot 41.5% from behind the arc for a ye...

Sometimes the only way to begin a new chapter in life is to painfully end the previous one. So it was for Andy Barr, whose pro soccer career with Luton Town in England was cut short by injury. With help from the player’s union, he pursued a degree in physiotherapy and right out of college, found himself back in top-level football with Bolton Wanderers FC, where he was part of a forward-thinking sp...

JJ Outlaw’s father, John,  followed an unconventional path in pro sports, playing in the NFL before coaching in the NBA. Two decades later, his son followed in John’s footsteps. JJ was equally adept as a baller and a football player, but decided to focus on the latter when he went to Villanova. During his four-year career with the Wildcats, JJ was a three-time All-Atlantic 10 selection and ranked...

We ended part 1 of our conversation with sports psychologist Dr. Jim Afremow with him quoting Bill Russell as saying, “Commitment separates those who live their dreams from those who live their lives regretting the opportunities they have squandered.” Now Jim’s back to share how you can develop this key attribute and other mindset skills. The good news is it only takes a few minutes a day, and tha...

Dr. J once said, “The key to success is to keep growing in all areas of life – mental, emotional, spiritual, as well as physical.” Yet so often, we focus most of our time and effort on that last one. In working with everyone from college teams like Michigan State and Arizona State to NBA All-Stars and Olympians, sports psychologist Dr. Jim Afremow has developed the 6 Cs of mental toughness. In thi...

In our first interview with Larry Nance Jr., he shared how his tryout got him drafted by the Lakers, what Byron Scott taught him about how to get more playing time, and why Damian Lillard is such a strong leader. Since then, Larry and teammate CJ McCollum got traded from the Blazers to the New Orleans Pelicans. Though Zion Williamson was out injured, Larry, CJ, and Brandon Ingram took a team that...

If a high school, NBA, AAU, or college basketball program wants to make their players faster, stronger, and more resilient, Lee Taft is likely the first person they call. Over the course of his career, Lee has built up a reputation as one of the go-to coaches in basketball, born from his love of the game and his own college hoops days.  But as you’ll discover in this episode, Lee isn’t just “the s...

When Anthony Goods grew up, there were no dedicated basketball skills coaches, so he mastered the moves of NBA players like Penny Hardaway, Kobe Bryant, and Baron Davis by recording them on VHS tapes and then practicing while watching himself in the sliding glass door of his house. He combined this diligence with a fierce competitiveness, getting so mad when his dad beat him 1-on-1 that he refused...

When Ben Bruno was struggling to recover from back surgery, he worried that he might never be pain free again. A doctor’s back pain boot camp not only put him on the fast track to a full recovery, but also demonstrated the power of lifting weights and showed the importance of a winning mindset. Determined to learn everything he could about training, Ben went into a self-described “meathead” phase...