Tag: Chris Brickley

WATCH: UNC commit Ian Jackson goes through workout with Chris Brickley

Highlights of UNC basketball commit Ian Jackson working out with trainer Chris Brickley.

UNC basketball commit [autotag]Ian Jackson[/autotag] took part in one of the most decorated all-star camps in high school last week.

The Chris Brickley Invitational was held in Chicago and hosted by legendary NBA trainer Chris Brickley. It is a showcase for the top talent in the high school game with players hand-selected from any class by Brickley.

Jackson is one of the top players in the entire country regardless of class and is a consensus top-5 player in the 2024 class. He is the No. 5 player in the 247Sports rankings.

Jackson was one of three future Tar Heels in attendance, alongside 2023 four-star guard Simeon Wilcher and 2024 five-star guard Elliot Cadeau.

While the rumors of a potential reclassification to 2023 are out there, Jackson has remained firm that he is staying in 2024.

UNC’s four-man recruiting class in 2024 is ranked No. 1 in the country, highlighted by three five-star prospects in Jackson, Cadeau and Drake Powell and one four-star forward in James Brown.

Below are highlights of some of his workouts before the scrimmage.

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Russell Westbrook seems to have reworked his jump shot but fans aren’t really buying into it

Russ’ jumper looks different but fans still don’t think it works.

Russell Westbrook’s jump shot caused so much pain for Lakers fans last year. It just left them so confused.

The shot was just so bad. Anytime he shot the ball it felt like a live ball turnover. And with the wild bounces it sometimes took off the backboard, that’s absolutely what it was.

That’s why Westbrook was just such a bad fit with James and the Lakers last season. He has never been a particularly good jump shooter and the Lakers knew that when they got him.

That’s why Russ is back in the lab this off-season. Apparently, he’s put in work to improve his jump shot. A video session of him working with Chris Brickley surfaced on the internet and, honestly, the shot looks better.

It’s flatter. He isn’t jumping as high and the ball has more arch to it than it previously did.

This is just a set shot, so we have no idea how it looks off the dribble. But this definitely looks like an improvement. A subtle one, but an improvement nonetheless.

You’d think fans would be happier about this. But nope! They’re actually not buying it at all.

Well, let’s start with this: the …

Well, let’s start with this: the overwhelming feeling among league insiders is that Mitchell is likely to sign outside of Utah at the first available opportunity in 2025. Mitchell considers New York home. Mitchell has spent the majority of this offseason in New York this year. His skills trainer, Chris Brickley, operates out of a gym in the city. It makes sense that he’d be interested in living there full time.

James Harden shoots lights out during drill with NBA skills coach

James Harden is looking good with training camp only a couple of days away.

Training camp will begin this week, which means a new NBA campaign is now upon us. Every team will try and gain an edge on each other during these next weeks depending on the work they put in. For Nets star James Harden, he has already begun his training to gain that edge all summer long. Last week, he was seen working with NBA skills coach Chris Brickley.

After a hamstring injury kept him from competing at a high level in last year’s playoffs, Harden’s number one goal as of late has been getting in shape. The 32-year-old admitted that his conditioning was not where it was supposed to be last season so now he wants to change that.

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NBA trainer Chris Brickley explains what it takes to be an elite player

Some prospects are identified with limitless potential but never amount to anything. Other guys come out of nowhere and shock the world.

Some prospects are identified with limitless potential but never amount to anything. Other guys come out of nowhere and shock the world.

It’s hard to predict which prospects fall under which category but Chris Brickley has a pretty good idea of how to do it. Brickley is the owner of BlackOps Basketball, where he works as a skills trainer for the league’s top stars.

You may recognize him considering his gym often has pickup games featuring everyone from Carmelo Anthony to Trae Young. He also helps train several famous musicians including the likes of J. Cole and Travis Scott. Brickley, who has over a million followers on Instagram, also owns the clothing brand Color Blind NYC.

He has seen so much of the progress many of the game’s best players have made during their careers. This year, he trained seven of the players selected in the first round of the 2021 NBA draft and some of them will go on to make a big impact in the pros.

With that in mind, Brickley caught up with HoopsHype to teach us about some of the traits and characteristics he has noticed from the players who start off as great prospects but evolve into guys who also have excellent professional careers.

Please note this interview was minorly edited in its transcript for clarity.

Ranking Quavo, Justin Bieber and Drake by their basketball skill

These dudes can really hoop!

“Athletes wanna be rappers, rappers wanna be athletes.” Those are words from the illustrious street poet and superstar Lil Wayne back in 2014. It’s true. If you need proof, look no further than your Twitter timeline, folks.

If you’ve logged on today, you’ve been blessed with the incredible privilege of watching rap and R&B superstars Quavo, Drake and Justin Bieber hoop in NBA super trainer Chris Brickley’s gym.

Keeping it real with y’all? They got some skill. Can’t even hate on it.

Jumpers all look a bit goofy, but they look pretty good! Like, I’m pretty sure Quavo could probably hoop on, like, a Division II college level or something! That’s how good he looks.

Drake and Bieber? I’m confident they could try out for the Canadian national team and at the very least make it to the cuts that happen right before the final cuts to the team. That’s a compliment! I swear! Well, to them, anyway. Not to Canada’s national team.

Obviously, this wouldn’t be a prime piece of internet content if we didn’t rank them. So guess what? We’re ranking them!

3. Drake

Yeah, I’m pretty sure Drake is that guy at pick up who can literally only shoot the ball and that’s it. How do I know? This was the first thing we saw him do.

Now, don’t get it twisted. That’s a valuable skill on the pick up court. But… just don’t ask him do to anything else.

By the way, I know y’all peeped that Kawhi Leonard bounce at the end. What kind of basketball magic do they have going on up in Toronto?

2. Justin Bieber

Listen here, man. Not a huge Justin Bieber fan, y’all. Can’t lie about it. But he’s definitely played some sort of organized basketball before.

My man gave us a hit ahead pass, attacked a closeout, got the the rack and gave us a no-look dump-off dish. And he made it look cool, too, which always gets you bonus points in my book.

Yeah, fam, Bieber got sauce. I’m getting hella White Chocolate vibes from the Biebs. Is that because he’s white? Potentially.

1. Quavo

Quavo is really good, y’all. I mean, really REALLY good. He’s pulling up in people’s faces off the rip in the most disrespectful fashion.

 

No, but really, props to Quavo for having game. This is dope. The only flaw that was apparent was his hesi-to-shot combo.

There was nothing wrong with the hesitation move, but fam, when you pull it out for three straight dribbles? Nobody should fall for this. He still hit the shot, though, so ¯_(ツ)_/¯.

This was fun to watch. Hit me for the next game, y’all. I’m down.

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