Shownotes
Tevin Brown is an assistant coach for the Texas Legends in the NBA G League. He has also served as an assistant for Coach Mike Taylor and the Winnipeg Sea Bears of the Canadian Elite Basketball League for the past two seasons.
Prior to his professional coaching opportunities Tevin worked as a pro skills trainer with Tyler Relph Basketball in Dallas, Texas. He also served as the Special Assistant to the Head Coach and Director of Player Development at the University of Texas at Tyler from 2020-2021. Tevin got his start in coaching at All Saints Episcopal High School in Tyler, Texas as a High School Girls Assistant and 7th Grade Girls Head Coach.
On this episode Mike & Tevin talk about the importance of character, consistency, and preparation at every level. Tevin discusses how his experiences as a player shaped his approach to coaching, highlighting the value of playing with older athletes and learning from mentors. Tevin believes that developing strong relationships and creating value for others are key components for success in the basketball world. As he navigates his role with the Legends, he focuses on maintaining a curious mindset and staying present in the moment, while also preparing for future opportunities. Throughout the conversation, Tevin offers insights on the challenges and joys of coaching, illustrating how the connections built through the game can lead to personal and professional growth.
Get out pen and paper before you listen to this episode with Tevin Brown, assistant coach for the Texas Legends in the NBA G League.
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Tevin Brown:I think the video part is very important.
Tevin Brown:I think if you can just look at yourself as an overall coach and not just put yourself in a box as a video coordinator, they helped your growth the most.
Mike Klinzing:Tevin Brown is an assistant coach for the Texas Legends in the NBA G League.
Mike Klinzing:He has also served as an assistant for Coach Mike Taylor and the Winnipeg Sea Bears of the Canadian Elite Basketball League for the past two seasons.
Mike Klinzing:Prior to his professional coaching opportunities, Tevin worked as a pro skills trainer with Tyler Relf Basketball in Dallas, Texas.
Mike Klinzing: ersity of Texas at Tyler from: Mike Klinzing:Tevin got his start in coaching at All Saints Episcopal High School in Tyler, Texas as a high school girls assistant and seventh grade girls head coach.
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Mike Klinzing:Get out pen and paper before you listen to this episode with Tevin Brown, assistant Coach for the Texas Legends in the NBA G League.
Mike Klinzing:Hello and welcome to the Hoop Heads podcast.
Mike Klinzing:It's Mike Klinsing here with my co host Jason Sunkel tonight and we are pleased to be joined by Tevin Brown, assistant coach of the Texas Legends of the NBA G League.
Mike Klinzing:Tevin, welcome to the hoopette spot, man.
Tevin Brown:Happy to be here.
Tevin Brown:I'm glad to be here.
Tevin Brown:Thank you for the invite.
Mike Klinzing:Absolutely.
Mike Klinzing:We are thrilled to have you on.
Mike Klinzing:Looking forward to diving into all the things that you've been able to do in your career.
Mike Klinzing:Let's start by going back in time to when you were a kid.
Mike Klinzing:Tell me a little bit about some of your first experiences with the game of basketball.
Mike Klinzing:What made you fall in love with it?
Tevin Brown:So funny story, right?
Tevin Brown:My dad.
Tevin Brown:My dad actually played basketball in college as well, and he was the one that introduced me to basketball.
Tevin Brown:But it's funny because basketball wasn't my first love.
Tevin Brown:My first sport love was actually football because it's just something that came natural to me.
Tevin Brown:I played football a lot more than I played basketball.
Tevin Brown:I think basketball was easy to do alone.
Tevin Brown:So I kind of gravitated towards it over.
Tevin Brown:Over time.
Tevin Brown:Just throughout my journey of basketball, especially at a young age, I had a lot of mentors around me that was older, like high school guys, guys that was in middle school.
Tevin Brown:So from like the age of 6 to roughly 17, 18, I always play with older guys.
Tevin Brown:Right.
Tevin Brown:So I wouldn't say I didn't fall in love with basketball in the full process of basketball actually, until my freshman year of high school.
Tevin Brown:Up until then, I always mingle between football and basketball.
Tevin Brown:Then throughout my younger years, from like 6th to 8th grade, most of my summers were actually spent in football practice.
Tevin Brown:And I actually own a basketball court.
Tevin Brown:And that's just kind of ironic because I loved football that much, but it was a time in my life where I had got a couple concussions younger during my younger years that I kind of just faded towards basketball because one, I could do it by myself in a park.
Tevin Brown:Then two, it allowed me to be creative and it allowed me to express myself in a way that football didn't allow me to then from my ninth grade on up until now, like, I've always loved football.
Tevin Brown:I mean, basketball, I'm sorry.
Tevin Brown:And basketball just been a part of my life and I love to do what I do now.
Mike Klinzing:So when you were a kid.
Mike Klinzing:So once you started gravitating towards basketball, so as a high school player, what did you do to get better?
Mike Klinzing:And how does that compare to the way that you see kids coming up in the game today?
Tevin Brown:Yeah, for me.
Tevin Brown:For.
Tevin Brown:For me, my growth and development as a younger player.
Tevin Brown:Growing up, I spent a lot of time out on my own.
Tevin Brown:On my own.
Tevin Brown:So my grandma.
Tevin Brown:I saved my grandma during the summers, and she.
Tevin Brown:She built, like, a goal and some concrete.
Tevin Brown:That's all I had for most days, and I had to roll.
Tevin Brown:I wanted more space, so I had to go in concrete.
Tevin Brown:So most of my summer days were spent by myself because my two favorite players were Gilbert Arenas and AI Right.
Tevin Brown:So most of my days were spent in the backyard during the moves that I would see them do the night before.
Tevin Brown:Then, playing wise, I would play with older kids.
Tevin Brown:So I play with kids that were older than me.
Tevin Brown:But once I got to the age of 12 to 13, I was good enough to start playing with adults, right?
Tevin Brown:And that added a side of toughness to me that I didn't know.
Tevin Brown:I needed the IQ and being able to understand how to play with better players and be a leader, right?
Tevin Brown:And understand, like, you're not gonna get the ball, right?
Tevin Brown:They only gonna ask you to play defense.
Tevin Brown:You only can shoot when they pass it to you, right?
Tevin Brown:So you learn how to.
Tevin Brown:I learned how to do other things at an early age.
Tevin Brown:I think, over time, throughout my basketball career, my coaching career, that ultimately helped me become a better leader just through those small fires that I had to deal with at a young age.
Mike Klinzing:I think that one of the things that we've talked about a lot on here, Tevin, is just the way that the basketball landscape has changed when it comes to young players, where now so much of basketball is kids playing in their own age group, with an official, with parents in the stands, with a coach on the sidelines.
Mike Klinzing:And I'm kind of like you in that.
Mike Klinzing:I grew up in an era where I played a lot of pickup basketball with a lot of guys that were older, bigger, stronger than me.
Mike Klinzing:And I felt like my development as a player was impacted in such a positive way by the opportunity to play against older players.
Mike Klinzing:And from what you just described, it sounds like that's the same thing that happened for you.
Mike Klinzing:And it just feels like when you look at the way that kids grow up in the game today versus that ability to play against older players and to be able to develop your iq, as you said, I just think that, man, it's so valuable to be able to play pickup basketball with players who are older because it just forces you, as you said, to play a role, to be able to understand, hey, how can I impact winning in other ways besides just scoring and it's just to me, it's something that I think kids today in so many ways are missing that they just don't get that same opportunity to play pick up basketball the way you did.
Mike Klinzing:Did you have one or two guys that you lucked up to or that kind of took you under their wing in that time when you were playing with some of those older players, was there one or two guys that sort of served as a basketball mentor to you?
Mike Klinzing:For lack of a better way of saying it?
Tevin Brown:Yeah, for sure.
Tevin Brown:So my hometown is Pine Bluff, Arkansas, which most people probably don't know where it is, but it's 45 minutes south of Little Rock, the capital of Arkansas.
Tevin Brown:So my cousin Brandon Patterson, which was a standout basketball player in Arkansas at the time, he ended up going to Ole Miss, 66 Wing.
Tevin Brown:Then he transferred to University of Arkansas, Little Rock and he played there for his last two years of his basketball career.
Tevin Brown:And he took me on his.
Tevin Brown:He took me under his wing, right.
Tevin Brown:So he's roughly 15 years older than me.
Tevin Brown:But we spent.
Tevin Brown:When he came home for his Christmas breaks, Thanksgiving summers, he kind of just mentored me.
Tevin Brown:He taught me the game.
Tevin Brown:He loved Kobe.
Tevin Brown:I love Kobe.
Tevin Brown:So we always had that in common then obviously my dad, right, My dad was a great leader for me.
Tevin Brown:And as you just mentioned about parents, right.
Tevin Brown:My dad wasn't like overbearing.
Tevin Brown:He didn't scream at me ever.
Tevin Brown:Throughout my career of playing basketball, from the age of three until I finished at 23, never once yelled at me.
Tevin Brown:We had like a verbal, non verbal communication of eye contact during the game, right.
Tevin Brown:Like I knew what he expected.
Tevin Brown:He had standards for me and I executed him.
Tevin Brown:And we have a post game talk and that's that.
Tevin Brown:And he allowed me to develop through work ethic and just toughness and showing me tough love, being honest.
Tevin Brown:And so I think those two people are my two biggest mentors.
Mike Klinzing:When you think back to your time as a player in high school, what's your favorite memory of playing high school basketball?
Tevin Brown:Wow.
Tevin Brown:It's a great question.
Tevin Brown:That's an amazing question.
Tevin Brown:I think just all the experiences I had with my teammates, being able to just build different relationships, especially my sophomore year coming in, I wasn't planned, right.
Tevin Brown:And going through the journey had been name starter my sophomore year and just being able to build those connections with the seniors.
Tevin Brown:And I think that's like the, my favorite part probably my sophomore year, spending time with older guys getting different experiences.
Tevin Brown:They have cars, so obviously you can do more with people who had cars in High school.
Tevin Brown:So my sophomore year was probably my greatest memory.
Tevin Brown:And I think I had a breakout game my sophomore year where I had like 18 points and like 7 assists as a sophomore, first time starting.
Tevin Brown:So right away that's like the memory that sticks out the most.
Mike Klinzing:With college basketball always on your radar from the time you were young or at what point did you start to think, hey, I might be able to play a little bit beyond high school.
Tevin Brown:So it's funny, I played EYBL with Arkansas wings from my freshman year of high school up until my junior year of high school.
Tevin Brown:And I could.
Tevin Brown:I never thought about it in a grand, great, grand scheme of things.
Tevin Brown:I was always just like, I'm just playing AG basketball.
Tevin Brown: layers because I was class of: Tevin Brown:So we had Devin Booker, Tyler Yul, is those guys in our class.
Tevin Brown:And obviously I saw them right, Like I saw they had NBA talent or NBA skill sets from early on.
Tevin Brown:But for me it didn't hit me college basketball until my junior year.
Tevin Brown:Like, okay, like I played against this guy, he's going to college.
Tevin Brown:I played against that guy, he's going to college.
Tevin Brown:That's why I believe in myself enough that I believe I can play college basketball as well.
Tevin Brown:So it worked out perfectly.
Tevin Brown:My high school coach helped me a ton starting my junior year and that led me, ultimately led me to the schools that I ended up going to.
Mike Klinzing:Tell me a little bit about the recruiting process.
Mike Klinzing:What was it like?
Mike Klinzing:Obviously you had your high school coach involved in it.
Mike Klinzing:Was your dad involved, your AAU coach?
Mike Klinzing:Just what was the process like for you?
Tevin Brown:So my process was honestly pretty slow, especially early on because at the time my playstyle was a quick guard who can get in the lane, crave for others.
Tevin Brown:I wasn't the greatest shooter being five'nine five'ten not.
Tevin Brown:Not being the great, the greatest shooter definitely hurt my development a lot.
Tevin Brown:I mean my recruitment process a lot.
Tevin Brown:So my high school coach had a close friend by the name of Chris Parker at Arkansas State Mid south, which is a junior college in West Memphis, Arkansas.
Tevin Brown:And that was honestly my only offer.
Tevin Brown:He brought me in on a visit.
Tevin Brown:I played with the guys.
Tevin Brown:I impressed him.
Tevin Brown:He offered me as, as we was driving back home two hours and I committed the next day because that was the only coach that showed interest in me.
Tevin Brown:He brought me in, he showed me love.
Tevin Brown:The team was great, the environment was great.
Tevin Brown:So I didn't have much coming out of high school recruitment wise.
Tevin Brown:And that's why I ultimately chose the juco route and it worked out perfect for me.
Mike Klinzing:What was it like playing at the juco level?
Mike Klinzing:I know we've had several coaches on that have coached at that level and they've talked about obviously the positives of giving guys opportunities both academically and athletically.
Mike Klinzing:And then they've also talked about some of the challenges of.
Mike Klinzing:You may have guys in there who maybe aren't serious about their academics or guys who have that talent to be able to play at the D1 level, but forever, whatever reason, they end up at the juco.
Mike Klinzing:So what was your juco experience like?
Tevin Brown:It was eye opening.
Tevin Brown:I didn't know.
Tevin Brown:Like I said, I knew zero about juco basketball.
Tevin Brown:Zero about juco basketball.
Tevin Brown:I didn't, I didn't understand, I didn't have a understanding of D1, D2, D3, you know, I, I didn't know the difference between levels.
Tevin Brown:So My juco experience, especially my freshman was eye opening, especially coming in as a three year start in high school.
Tevin Brown:I'm coming in with 22 year old sophomores or 21 year old freshmen that have been injured or took other routes before coming to juco.
Tevin Brown:So I had no real feel of what my experience would be like.
Tevin Brown:So my freshman year of juco I didn't play a ton because we had a sophomore point guard and our head coach wanted him to get recruited which, and I completely understood it.
Tevin Brown:I got my, I got my minutes.
Tevin Brown:I impacted winning by not turning the ball over.
Tevin Brown:Then my sophomore year I was granted the opportunity to start and our team, we had a really good year.
Tevin Brown:That led to me getting more D2 entrance my sophomore year of junior college and that ultimately led me to D2UT Tyler in Tyler, Texas.
Tevin Brown:So I think my juco experience overall was great eye opening and just, just made me realize that it was much more basketball out there.
Tevin Brown:There's really good players.
Tevin Brown:We played against a ton of D1 guys, especially the schools that were in Mississippi.
Tevin Brown:The guys were high level.
Tevin Brown:And that kind of showed me like, okay, I kind of have still have a long way to go.
Tevin Brown:And that kind of just motivated me to continue to work on my game and continue to grow as a player.
Mike Klinzing:Funny how many people have no idea again how good all these different levels of college basketball are.
Mike Klinzing:I'm sure that you've seen it over the course of time and I know you've coached some AAU and obviously in the position that you're in now, you talk to people all over the basketball world, but there's so much I don't Even know if it's misinformation, but just lack of knowledge of people understanding how good you have to be to play at any level of college basketball.
Mike Klinzing:I don't care if you're playing division one, I don't care if you play division three.
Mike Klinzing:You're going juco, whatever.
Mike Klinzing:There is players everywhere and it's just the level of skill and talent that you have to be able to.
Mike Klinzing:Have to be able to play college basketball.
Mike Klinzing:I think it's one of the most underrated things.
Mike Klinzing:When you start going around to watching AU tournaments all over the country, there's just, there's a huge misconception about how good you have to be to play college basketball.
Tevin Brown:Absolutely.
Tevin Brown:Absolutely.
Tevin Brown:I think people don't understand how athletic the players are at that level and how fast those gaps close when you transition from high school to juco, then from juco team in a D1 level.
Tevin Brown:Right.
Tevin Brown:Those gaps, those decisions, the standard accountability is much more higher at higher levels.
Tevin Brown:And I think a lot of people should watch more juco basketball, watch the NAI level, watch the D2, D3 level because there's some phenomenal players at all, at all of those levels.
Mike Klinzing:There's no question about that.
Mike Klinzing:When you're in your, during your college basketball career, what are you thinking about career wise, long term, and is coaching on your radar while you're still playing?
Mike Klinzing:We always say that there's kind of two camps of people who get to coaching.
Mike Klinzing:Right.
Mike Klinzing:That one camp is somebody who's been drawn up plays on napkins since they were like 8 years old and they thought the game as a coach and they always knew they wanted to be a coach.
Mike Klinzing:And then there's another faction of people who they play the game and they play it.
Mike Klinzing:They're focused on being a player and then at some point they're playing.
Mike Klinzing:Career comes to an end, they look around and they're like, well, what do you mean basketball's over?
Mike Klinzing:Like how, how can that be?
Mike Klinzing:And then that's kind of how they get to coaching.
Mike Klinzing:So I don't know if coaching was already on your radar while you, while you're still playing in college or what's the process for getting to coaching?
Tevin Brown:So funny.
Tevin Brown:I'll just take you back to me.
Tevin Brown:It's like a player where I was the workout guy, the kid that you see on Twitter, Instagram, workout two or three times a day, got the ball handling gloves, got the ball handling outside shooting, all of those things.
Tevin Brown:So that right there allowed me to get creative with player development.
Tevin Brown:Right.
Tevin Brown:I didn't even know at the time what I was doing.
Tevin Brown:I was more so in the moment, like you just stated, in the moment.
Tevin Brown:Focused on my game, just getting better as a basketball player and just doing what I love.
Tevin Brown:Right.
Tevin Brown:I transferred to ut Tyler stress fracture early on, like my junior year early on, like in October had a stress fracture.
Tevin Brown:And at the time, a couple years before, Paul George had just hurt his leg, right.
Tevin Brown:So doctors were overly cautious of that injury.
Tevin Brown:So I had to take two to three months off with nothing but pool workouts.
Tevin Brown:Had pool workouts.
Tevin Brown:I could lift or I could just go in the gym and do form shots.
Tevin Brown:So that was my workout routine for two, two and a half, three straight months my junior year.
Tevin Brown:So I came back my junior year.
Tevin Brown:I didn't play as well.
Tevin Brown:Starting point guard.
Tevin Brown:We were winning.
Tevin Brown:I played spot minutes.
Tevin Brown:Then season ended.
Tevin Brown:Our head coach at the time, Jamie Copeland, was working with a company called pgc.
Tevin Brown:I saw a great opportunity to join pgc, did an interview.
Tevin Brown:They hired me.
Tevin Brown:That became my summer job.
Tevin Brown:Did I.
Tevin Brown:Was I still focused on coaching after basketball?
Tevin Brown:No, I was just looking at PGC as an opportunity to do something I love.
Tevin Brown:I'm helping the next generation to get better at basketball.
Tevin Brown:And that's all I was looking at.
Tevin Brown:Just like, okay, I'm making solid money as a college student in the summer coaching basketball.
Tevin Brown:It was fun.
Tevin Brown:Then I hit some adversity, right?
Tevin Brown:And I might go off the rails a little with the story, but I had some adversity.
Mike Klinzing:Go for it.
Mike Klinzing:Go for it.
Tevin Brown:I got in like obviously being a college student, having fun, not focused on the right things, more so focused on basketball.
Tevin Brown:More so than the school part of it, right?
Tevin Brown:So had a.
Tevin Brown:The following year, I didn't take care of my business, but second half of my junior year, so I was in.
Tevin Brown:Ended up ineligible for my senior year.
Tevin Brown:That was supposed to be my senior year.
Tevin Brown:So I couldn't play, right?
Tevin Brown:So I went down the dark, dark alley, dark mindset.
Tevin Brown:I was like, basketball is gone.
Tevin Brown:Like what?
Tevin Brown:Like what?
Tevin Brown:Like I can't play basketball.
Tevin Brown:So I was supposed to stay in school.
Tevin Brown:I.
Tevin Brown:I was still in a dark place.
Tevin Brown:I flunked out of school.
Tevin Brown:So I had school go.
Tevin Brown:And basketball disappeared within five months.
Tevin Brown:Had a great summer.
Tevin Brown:PGC come back August, I'm ineligible.
Tevin Brown:Go all August to December.
Tevin Brown:Wasn't focused again because I just wasn't in my right headspace.
Tevin Brown:Ineligible again.
Tevin Brown:So now I'm out of school.
Tevin Brown:My mom wants me to come back home to figure it out.
Tevin Brown:So I went home for Christmas for Like two weeks.
Tevin Brown:And I was like, mom, I can't.
Tevin Brown:Like I can't stay.
Tevin Brown:I have to figure this out, right?
Tevin Brown:So I went back.
Tevin Brown:I went back to Tyler, Texas to figure it out.
Tevin Brown:Like, didn't have a place to stay or have family to depend on, but I didn't have a residence.
Tevin Brown:I only have my things in my car.
Tevin Brown:In a basketball dream that I didn't know if it's going to ever come true again.
Tevin Brown:That's all I had at the time.
Tevin Brown:So during that time, I just got a job at Chick Fil A.
Tevin Brown:Got a job at Chick Fil A, Was working at Chick Fil A on my lunch breaks at 3 to 4 o'clock, I would leave.
Tevin Brown:I would leave.
Tevin Brown:I would leave and go to the gym because I had.
Tevin Brown:My friends were still on the team and I, they obviously we still had a connection.
Tevin Brown:So I would just leave and go play with them for an hour, then go back to work.
Tevin Brown:Then every morning at 5am before I go to work at Chick Fil A, I get in the gym, lift weights, shoot, go to work at nine, work from nine to three, go hoop, then work from four to seven.
Tevin Brown:And that was my routine every day for almost like a year and a half until I was at UT Tyler.
Tevin Brown:Then Lewis Wilson became the head coach and he's at Lower Marymount now with Stan Johnson.
Tevin Brown:And that was the coach that gave me my opportunity to play my senior year of basketball.
Tevin Brown:Played there, injuries again, got a concussion, right?
Tevin Brown:But with Lou, with Lewis Wilson, why we call him Lou, he.
Tevin Brown:He gave me a perspective of basketball that I've never experienced before.
Tevin Brown:And that was he cared about the person first.
Tevin Brown:And that had meant so much to me because what, like the dark place I was coming out of and like, I just needed like love at the time, right?
Tevin Brown:And somebody to just show me, like the way to go, like, give me a light.
Tevin Brown:And he showed me that by just loving me of who I was and accepted what I had to bring.
Tevin Brown:So to get back on the team, he challenged me.
Tevin Brown:I had to get a 3.5 in my summer classes and I got.
Tevin Brown:Ended up getting like a 3.8.
Tevin Brown:And I was able to get on the team my senior year, got back on the team, got injured.
Tevin Brown:So he kind of, to long story short, he kind of mentored me.
Tevin Brown:I became like a player coach my senior year.
Tevin Brown:Studied all the scouts.
Tevin Brown:I was in a coaching meeting sometimes.
Tevin Brown:Still no direction of like, oh, I'm gonna coach afterwards.
Tevin Brown:Then after my senior basketball doing that, I helped the players player development work the guys out.
Tevin Brown:Then after the season, I was sitting in his office one day and he was like, juwan, come file these papers for me.
Tevin Brown:And I was in there filing papers.
Tevin Brown:Then the next week he was like, yeah, I'm gonna have you as my special assistant to head coach.
Tevin Brown:And it's kind of how I fell into it.
Tevin Brown:So I'm sorry for the long story right there.
Mike Klinzing:No, man, it's an awesome story.
Mike Klinzing:I mean, when you start talking about having the game pulled away from you because of injury and then trying to figure out, hey, how can I come back and get involved with this thing that I love?
Mike Klinzing:And as you said, when somebody takes the time to invest in you not just as your worth as a basketball player, but your worth as a person, as a human being, and does something like that for you, I mean, that's a powerful thing that anybody who, who, anybody who has a mentor like that, I mean, just, it makes all the difference, right?
Mike Klinzing:Makes all the difference in your life and, and puts you on a path that, you know, that you're still on today.
Mike Klinzing:Tell me about what it's like to kind of go behind that curtain of the coach's office for the first time when you're sitting in those meetings.
Mike Klinzing:And I think it sounds like from your description of kind of how you were, you're similar to when I was playing.
Mike Klinzing:I didn't think at all about coaching.
Mike Klinzing:Like I kind of thought, hey, coaches, they show up at 3:00 for practice and practice ends at 6:00 and they go home and you know, I go do my stuff and then I'll, I'll see them again tomorrow and practice at 3.
Mike Klinzing:I had no idea what coaching was all about.
Mike Klinzing:So how did you, when you first got that look behind the scenes, were you surprised, shocked?
Mike Klinzing:Did you kind of know what you were getting into?
Mike Klinzing:Or just what was your perspective when you first sort of went behind the curtain?
Mike Klinzing:The coaching curtain?
Tevin Brown:Yeah, I was just wide eyed kid that had no idea.
Tevin Brown:I was just excited to be there.
Tevin Brown:So anything they asked me to do, I was like, yes, I do it.
Tevin Brown:Yes, I do it.
Tevin Brown:Yes, I do it.
Tevin Brown:Didn't understand our workflow or exactly what they wanted.
Tevin Brown:I was like, yes, I do it.
Tevin Brown:So I was just open to any opportunity, right?
Tevin Brown:But again, Lewis Wilson, for example, he set a great example for me, right?
Tevin Brown:Because every, every single day he reminded me of, he reminded me of a simple quota.
Tevin Brown:If you care enough, one day, you'll be good enough.
Tevin Brown:And that's just something that stuck with me.
Tevin Brown:And he was Also me saying, if you work hard enough, you're gonna get exactly where you want to be.
Tevin Brown:And he showed me that every single day, challenged me with that every single day.
Tevin Brown:So behind the scenes, it was more so of.
Tevin Brown:This is just like me playing basketball.
Tevin Brown:Like me as a player, I have to put in time now and just in a different way.
Tevin Brown:Breaking down film, copying papers, typing out practice plans, working guys out, picking guys up, getting them checking classes.
Tevin Brown:Right.
Tevin Brown:Same exact thing I had to do for basketball as a player.
Tevin Brown:Go to the weight room, watch film, pick up my teammates.
Tevin Brown:So the moments me, I had as a player ultimately prepared me for the moment of as a coach.
Tevin Brown:So I wouldn't.
Tevin Brown:I wouldn't say it was a huge adjustment, because I think those moments as me as a player is building that those characteristics allowed me to adjust to coaching more smoothly.
Mike Klinzing:Yeah, the good thing about that was you were making a ton of money during this, right?
Tevin Brown:Yeah, my.
Tevin Brown:Yeah, actually, Lewis Wilson, he did a great deal for me.
Tevin Brown:I remember.
Tevin Brown:I never forget, he walked out the office, he was like, I'll be right back.
Tevin Brown:I got a surprise for you.
Tevin Brown:And I was, like, so excited.
Tevin Brown:Looking forward to it.
Tevin Brown:Because he.
Tevin Brown:He was a great.
Tevin Brown:He's a great guy.
Tevin Brown:So he always had stuff up his sleeve.
Tevin Brown:He came back in the office.
Tevin Brown:I was sitting at the desk.
Tevin Brown:He was like, look, I got 600 for you a month to be a student assistant, special assistant to the head coach.
Tevin Brown:And I was just so excited.
Tevin Brown:And I was still living at the dorm.
Tevin Brown:I called my mom.
Tevin Brown:I was like, mom, I'm.
Tevin Brown:I'm getting 600.
Tevin Brown:I was so excited.
Tevin Brown:Had no idea.
Tevin Brown:No idea.
Mike Klinzing:Yeah, it's.
Mike Klinzing:I mean, your story right there is one that has been repeated many times on the podcast of somebody who gets their dream job and is making nothing or next to nothing.
Mike Klinzing:And then there's always a story of the guy who's on the staff that looks out for somebody who is not quite at the same level that they are.
Mike Klinzing:And I think that it's.
Mike Klinzing:It's a very, very common story in terms of starting out.
Mike Klinzing:People have this glamorous vision of what coaching is, and those people are the ones that they.
Mike Klinzing:They watch TV and they see the coaches on the sideline that are coaching in the Final Four, that are coaching in the NBA, and they think that those things just kind of happen and fall into people's laps.
Mike Klinzing:And the reality is that 99.5% of the coaches out there in America have a story similar to yours, that it's not just, hey, I wake up one day and I'm on the sideline as a head coach and making a ton of money.
Mike Klinzing:It's, it's work and it's.
Mike Klinzing:At the same time, it's fun.
Mike Klinzing:Right?
Mike Klinzing:I mean, you talked about it like you just.
Mike Klinzing:That first experience, you got to do all those different things and you got to get your hand in a bunch of different things.
Mike Klinzing:And that allowed you to learn and to grow and to be around the game and around the players and around the coaching staff and around a mentor that cared about you.
Mike Klinzing:And again, that's really when you start talking about the road to the coaching profession.
Mike Klinzing:It's a common one.
Mike Klinzing:I mean, it's one that, that a lot of guys take.
Mike Klinzing:And you know, you get to that first stop and I think you said it really well that you, you keep working hard and you keep doing what you're supposed to do and you keep learning, you keep growing, and then eventually you get opportunities and, you know, who knows where it eventually ends up leading you to.
Mike Klinzing:And let's.
Mike Klinzing:If you circle back to your mentality at that time, I mean, obviously, I'm guessing at that point you're just, man, I'm just thrilled to be able to coach college basketball and get your 600 bucks a month.
Mike Klinzing:And those things that you just talked about, did you have any kind of a path, a plan, a thought in mind of, hey, someday maybe I'd like to coach at the professional level.
Mike Klinzing:Someday maybe I, maybe I want to go and coach at the high school level, which I know you did before.
Mike Klinzing:Did you want to stay at the college level?
Mike Klinzing:Did you have any plan at all or was it just kind of, hey, let's just kind of see where this thing takes us.
Tevin Brown:Yeah.
Tevin Brown:When I first started, I think I just see where, see where, see where the journey takes me.
Tevin Brown:Right?
Tevin Brown:I, I didn't, I.
Tevin Brown:As.
Tevin Brown:Even as a player, I'm not sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing, but I didn't have many short term learn, long term goals.
Tevin Brown:Right.
Tevin Brown:I was just trying to be the best I can be, play well when the moment came, work as hard as I possibly came when the lights were off.
Tevin Brown:And that was my mindset with as, with coaching as well.
Tevin Brown:I mean, I think as I went throughout the year, my first year of coaching at ut, Tyler, Lewis, Wilson and other people just spoke so much life into me.
Tevin Brown:As far as validating, like, Juwan, you're doing a great job.
Tevin Brown:Continue to keep it up.
Tevin Brown:So it kept encouraging, they kept encouraging me, kept encouraging me, and that just fed the curiosity in me, like, what more can I do, right?
Tevin Brown:So immediately I have.
Tevin Brown:I had a lot of player development responsibilities throughout my first year of coaching.
Tevin Brown:And the players enjoyed the workouts.
Tevin Brown:They wanted to watch film, they wanted to get in the gym more.
Tevin Brown:So my thing was.
Tevin Brown:My thing was okay, like, this is good, this is cool, this is cool.
Tevin Brown:I'm okay.
Tevin Brown:I'm gaining my confidence.
Tevin Brown:Season went on, and I finished my season.
Tevin Brown:And then Tyler ref.
Tevin Brown:Which he's a trainer in Dallas, Texas.
Tevin Brown: I worked out with him from: Tevin Brown:Right?
Tevin Brown:Young at the time.
Tevin Brown:I was 23, 24, young.
Tevin Brown:I did the coaching for a year.
Tevin Brown:I was like, okay, skills training, player development for a business full time.
Tevin Brown:Sure, let's do it.
Tevin Brown:I took the job in April.
Tevin Brown:I finished at ut, Tyler in June.
Tevin Brown:But in between June and October of that year, I went back home to Jacksonville, Florida, and I ran my training business.
Tevin Brown:And during that time, I was training pros all the way down to kindergartners first grade.
Tevin Brown:And that just allowed me to get even more experience as a coach, create my brand, like, create a business, get creative with my development plans, and help kids get better.
Tevin Brown:So I did that.
Tevin Brown: o Dallas, Texas in October of: Tevin Brown:So did that for a year.
Tevin Brown:So I started.
Tevin Brown:We worked with like many pros, right?
Tevin Brown:Tyler has a huge clientele from kindergarten all the way up to NBA players.
Tevin Brown:And even the top players in Dallas worked with him as well.
Tevin Brown:And during that time, again, people spoke life.
Tevin Brown:They spoke life, encouraged me a lot.
Tevin Brown:Curiosity, right?
Tevin Brown:You're doing a good, good job.
Tevin Brown:Good job.
Tevin Brown:Pat on the back there.
Tevin Brown:Then I met some NBA people and I was like, okay, I love the NBA game, so start setting an NBA game.
Tevin Brown:And then that just led on to me.
Tevin Brown:Started posting on Twitter, posting on Instagram, Just putting content out there and just start to add value to other people.
Tevin Brown:Then over time, the right people saw it.
Tevin Brown:The assistant coach with the Texas Legends at the time end up recommending me for interview, and the rest was history.
Mike Klinzing:All right, so tell them.
Mike Klinzing:Let's talk a little bit about the training part of it, and then we'll come back to getting the job with the Legends and that part.
Mike Klinzing:Tell me a little bit about the training side of it, what you liked about it, what was challenging about it, and sort of what your process was for how you went about training kids.
Tevin Brown:Yeah, for sure.
Tevin Brown:So, number one process for me, what I really liked about it was the opportunity to really impact people again, like, going back to my experience, like, that feeling that I felt when Lewis stepped in my life as, like, a player.
Tevin Brown:Like, he put.
Tevin Brown:He always said, I'm gonna put two feet in, two feet in your life at all times.
Tevin Brown:I got two feet in your life, right?
Tevin Brown:So when I started working with players on my own, like, that was the same thing I was trying to do for them.
Tevin Brown:I had opportunity to be around the game I love, had opportunity to build relationships.
Tevin Brown:Then ultimately I had an opportunity to just be around so many people.
Tevin Brown:It impacts so many people.
Tevin Brown:And that's what kept driving me every single day.
Tevin Brown:Yeah, I think the challenges for me early on, especially with the training business, was like, how.
Tevin Brown:How would you market people to get more business?
Tevin Brown:Like, what separates you from the next person, right?
Tevin Brown:And people say comparison is the enemy of joy.
Tevin Brown:Great.
Tevin Brown:But at the same time, I'm a young coach in a business where it's a lot of trainers, so I tend to compare myself, right?
Tevin Brown:I'm looking at this trainer's page, right?
Tevin Brown:I'm looking at that traders page.
Tevin Brown:I'm sending coaching clinics, right?
Tevin Brown:And my process of learning was, okay, I'm learning from all these different people, right?
Tevin Brown:So how now can I.
Tevin Brown:How can I put on the headphones and quiet the noise and build my own philosophies and build my own niche?
Tevin Brown:So that's my process of getting players better, right?
Tevin Brown:So for me, especially with young players, everything started with dribble, pass, shoot, super simple.
Tevin Brown:Then base it off your needs.
Tevin Brown:Put you in situations to showcase what you need to work on, but also what you're good at.
Tevin Brown:And that's kind of like how I process things.
Tevin Brown:Then for professional players at the time, I use something called SWOT analysis, which is strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
Tevin Brown:It's normally like a business plan.
Tevin Brown:Fatherly strengths are what you do well.
Tevin Brown:Weaknesses or what you're not as good at.
Tevin Brown:Opportunities or like opportunities for growth, growth areas.
Tevin Brown:Then threats would simply be, what could the defense do to take you out of the game?
Tevin Brown:And that's kind of like how I evaluated and handled my player development with my professional athletes, high school athletes.
Tevin Brown:It was more once you got to your junior year, sophomore, junior year.
Tevin Brown:Let's start fine tuning, right?
Tevin Brown:If you can shoot really well, catch and shoot, how can we now get you really comfortable with making decisions off the balance?
Tevin Brown:And I'm talking about just catch and shoot.
Tevin Brown:Use your pump fake as your threat.
Tevin Brown:Now how can we get you to 1, 2, 3, 4 bounces to the rim, then that's when we get into the passing decision.
Tevin Brown:So that was my process and how I looked at player development during that time.
Mike Klinzing:Did you use a lot of film while you were doing your player development stuff or was that something that wasn't a part of it?
Mike Klinzing:Because I know there are some guys that use a lot of film while they're training that others just don't have access to that.
Mike Klinzing:With, with some of their, with some of their people.
Mike Klinzing:How'd you go about using or not using film?
Tevin Brown:No, absolutely.
Tevin Brown:Again, I loved film, always have loved film.
Tevin Brown:So film was a huge part, even from the kindergarten.
Tevin Brown:The, the kindergartners, right?
Tevin Brown:The thing about kindergartners writing younger players that they love the icons of the NBA, right?
Tevin Brown:The Kyrie's, the Lucas, the LeBron James, the KD's, Devin Bookers.
Tevin Brown:Right.
Tevin Brown:The better players, right.
Tevin Brown:So if you can find a simple clip of them doing the move that they're working on, they're instantly bought into that, right?
Tevin Brown:So that was my way of, I wouldn't say tricking the mind for younger kids to get engaged, but that was my way of grabbing their attention.
Tevin Brown:It's like, hey, look, your favorite player is doing this right now.
Tevin Brown:I believe in you enough that you can do the same.
Tevin Brown:And they're all excited.
Tevin Brown:Then for the professional players, it was more synergy and numbered breakdowns along with the film.
Tevin Brown:So with the professional players, there's way more detail than with the younger players.
Tevin Brown:It was, how could I create curiosity and engagement?
Mike Klinzing:I think that really when you talked about, and initially when you answered this question about how do you kind of try to differentiate yourself from other trainers?
Mike Klinzing:I think that's always the challenge.
Mike Klinzing:And it comes back to me to, right.
Mike Klinzing:Being prepared and being able to demonstrate your value to the players, to their families, and can you get a guy better or can you get a player better?
Mike Klinzing:And if you can do that, I think there's, there's value.
Mike Klinzing:Unfortunately, a lot of times, as I'm sure you know, out in the market, there's trainers that are out there just kind of collecting their hourly paycheck and not necessarily getting players better.
Mike Klinzing:And just like in a lot of other spaces in youth basketball, there's people that are doing it really, really well and there's other people who are just kind of out there going through and sort of milking the system.
Mike Klinzing:And so I think when it comes to training, whether you're from a coach's perspective or whether you're an athlete looking for a trainer, I just think that what you need Is to look for somebody who's prepared, who's getting to know the player.
Mike Klinzing:Getting to know, as you said, you mentioned the SWAT piece of it, which I think is a great way to be able to analyze a player's game and to be able to help them to figure out, hey, how can we get this player better?
Mike Klinzing:How can we help them to perform better in games?
Mike Klinzing:Which ultimately is what it's all about.
Mike Klinzing:And so the training business is just very interesting as it's exploded.
Mike Klinzing:It's just become a market that is extremely saturated.
Mike Klinzing:And it's always interesting to talk to people who have done it and.
Mike Klinzing:And the people who have done it well, like yourself, are the people who have put the time in to study their craft and understand what it is that they're actually trying to do to help a person get better and not somebody that's just gone and found some videos on YouTube and throwing those out there with whatever players they're working with.
Mike Klinzing:So the training business is always an interesting one to me.
Mike Klinzing:Let's jump to your experience and getting the legends job.
Mike Klinzing:What do you remember about the interview process of actually getting the job?
Tevin Brown:Yeah, I remember it was six weeks.
Tevin Brown:It was six weeks.
Tevin Brown:So I was excited.
Tevin Brown:I was like, okay, is this.
Tevin Brown:Is this working out?
Tevin Brown:Or like, what's happening?
Tevin Brown:Or is I'm.
Tevin Brown:Am I moving on?
Tevin Brown:Did I get the job?
Tevin Brown:Did they choose somebody else?
Tevin Brown:So it was like me, I was very anxious because it was new and I was so excited for it.
Tevin Brown:Interview process was like six, seven weeks or whatever.
Tevin Brown:So I had to have to do like some workouts in front of the coaches, obviously.
Tevin Brown:Then during the time, obviously we have the G League tryouts, right?
Tevin Brown:Had two G league tryouts.
Tevin Brown:And I was.
Tevin Brown:That was part of my interview process to come coach, right?
Tevin Brown:They wanted to see how well I can coach, command the room, draw, draw plays on the board.
Tevin Brown:Like kind of gauge where I was as a coach.
Tevin Brown:I did that.
Tevin Brown:Then the following night, well, the same night, I had to do like a private workout where I had to lead a station, right?
Tevin Brown:Pick and roll breakdown.
Tevin Brown:Like, how well can you break down pick and roll defense but also teach it to the players well enough so they can execute and understand.
Tevin Brown:Then long.
Tevin Brown:That night I also had to coach a team, right?
Tevin Brown:Eight.
Tevin Brown:Eight players that were really good college basketball players that are now trying to make to the NBA or G League.
Tevin Brown:So again, another opportunity to showcase map value and what I can do.
Tevin Brown:I did that process, end up getting the job, ended up going well for me.
Tevin Brown:So it was.
Tevin Brown:It was Definitely a anxious process for me because it was new and I was just so excited and I was just so ready for a new challenge and opportunity.
Mike Klinzing:What was your initial role with the Legends right after you get the job and how has it changed to where you are now?
Tevin Brown:Oh yeah.
Tevin Brown:So my initial role was head video coordinator, player development coach, which I did the last two seasons.
Tevin Brown:Then this last season, this last past summer, I got a bump up to an assistant coach role.
Tevin Brown:So overall, like I was responsible for all video sending to front offices between Dallas and the Legends, organizing every all film with the assistant coach and head coach, scout reports, providing scout videos, typing out the rim reports with the assistants.
Tevin Brown:Obviously being on the court, working guys out, but also being a body, which is also very important at our level is being able to be a body on the court and play with the players.
Tevin Brown:Then obviously I had to travel live code games.
Tevin Brown:So that was my first initial role in the G League.
Tevin Brown:This year is more so a leadership role which is will be new for me because I now have to guide people and manage people and help them grow, but also continue to grow as a coach as well.
Mike Klinzing:What does that leadership look like on a day to day basis?
Mike Klinzing:When you say taking over more of a leadership role, explain to us what that looks like.
Tevin Brown:Yeah, so just like right, you have a coaching staff, right.
Tevin Brown:As a video coordinator or assistant coach that I'm still responsible for all the video, but now I'm teaching others how to organize, manage and operate the video as an NBA video coordinator.
Tevin Brown:Right.
Tevin Brown:So day to day is either early morning meetings, teaching players, teaching people how to start the cameras, how to code games, how we play calls, how we read coverages in video, how we organize like our scout schedule, three to five out.
Tevin Brown:But also knowing how to like helping them grow as coaches on the court as well.
Tevin Brown:I think the video part is very important.
Tevin Brown:I think if you can just look at yourself as an overall coach and not just put yourself in a box as a video coordinator, it helps your growth the most.
Mike Klinzing:When you were in the video room, obviously we've had an opportunity to talk to several guys who have spent time as video coordinators, whether at the college level, the G league level, the NBA level.
Mike Klinzing:And one of the things that they always say is that the amount of time that you're spending breaking down tape, both of your team, your opponents, that the level of learning from an X's and O standpoint that you get an opportunity to do just by virtue of being exposed to the amount of film that you have to watch and Break down and code and do all those things.
Mike Klinzing:Just talk to me a little bit about how you feel like your time in the video room.
Mike Klinzing:Improve your ability to see, recognize, understand the X's and O's part of the game compared to when you first step into that role.
Tevin Brown:Yeah, big time.
Tevin Brown:Right.
Tevin Brown:I go back to again, everything for me kind of goes back to ut, Tyler and Lewis Wilson, right.
Tevin Brown:He was the one that kind of introduced me to how to break down film.
Tevin Brown:Right.
Tevin Brown:So going back to that, my.
Tevin Brown:The process of film was every game we played, I had to watch the last 100, 150 offensive clips, last 150 defensive clips, right.
Tevin Brown:And provide him a report of what do I see as far as the X's and O's, where they're doing ATOs, what's the coverages, right.
Tevin Brown:And at that time I didn't understand that was preparing me for the NBA video room, right.
Tevin Brown:Because I didn't understand the difference between college and NBA basketball game at the time.
Tevin Brown:So I think during that time, my first year in the G League, it was strictly studying the NBA, right.
Tevin Brown:I had a great coach that I worked for that built urgency and gave me great projects to study and just watch the game as much as possible, right?
Tevin Brown:Because ultimately we all want to coach, right?
Tevin Brown:So for me the process was watch film.
Tevin Brown:But within watching film, also take 15 to 20 minutes out of your day to just work on your board game, right?
Tevin Brown:Which like I, we tell players all the time, work on your game.
Tevin Brown:Same thing for coaches, right?
Tevin Brown:Work on your game.
Tevin Brown:So, right.
Tevin Brown:So breaking down the film, watching games, pulling ATOs, X and those, but within that, just also drawing out what I would do in certain situations.
Tevin Brown:15 to 20 minutes every day, then get right back to it.
Tevin Brown:Then you can just rotate that, right?
Tevin Brown:So that was my kind of my process of learning the X's and no's and growing as a young video coordinator.
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Mike Klinzing:Learn more@gc.com hoopheads that's gc.com hoopheads Would you say that your knowledge of offense or defense, which one did you know more about from an X's and O standpoint?
Mike Klinzing:Do you feel like going into it and just tell me a little bit about the differences in learning G league offense, G league defense, which one was easier to figure out, to navigate?
Mike Klinzing:Maybe neither one was.
Mike Klinzing:Maybe there wasn't one versus the other, but just the difference in looking at offense and defense on tape.
Mike Klinzing:Which one maybe do you prefer?
Mike Klinzing:Just talk about the differences between looking at offense and defense.
Tevin Brown:Yeah, I think for early on it was the terminology defensively and offensively and that that's huge thing in the NBA, right.
Tevin Brown:Speaking the same language.
Tevin Brown:I wouldn't say either was.
Tevin Brown:Was easier.
Tevin Brown:Easier for me because both were pretty tough offensively.
Tevin Brown:The thing is like the personnel and style of playing the G league is super fast, right.
Tevin Brown:So it ranges from you can have anywhere between 100 to 115 possessions every single game.
Tevin Brown:Right.
Tevin Brown:So understanding teams, running habits, whether they're trying to do early offense and flow, also their sets and how they end, how they end possessions, whether it's a pick and roll, ISO, it's an angle pick and roll, a middle pick and roll and how do they space, right.
Tevin Brown:Or they're a flat team.
Tevin Brown:They three out, one in, I mean four out, one in, five out, right.
Tevin Brown:Then defensively, again same thing as offense.
Tevin Brown:Everything starts in transition, right.
Tevin Brown:So how they crash them, how you, how they're crashing, what's their crash rules, how they're spreading back defensive coverages, shell rotations, Are they a heavy, heavy, heavy nail team or they're a heavy low man team, Right.
Tevin Brown:Do they switch ball screens at the level?
Tevin Brown:So all of those things were pretty difficult for me starting out early on.
Tevin Brown:But again, repetitions of watching family, watching games kind of helped me a ton to speed up that process.
Mike Klinzing:What's the interaction like between you as a video coordinator and the assistant coaches and head coaches when you're in that role.
Mike Klinzing:And then now obviously you're going to sort of experience that on the flip side now when you're dealing with somebody else in the video room.
Mike Klinzing:But just what's that communication like between the video room and.
Mike Klinzing:And the coaching staff?
Tevin Brown:Yeah, it's huge.
Tevin Brown:Similar best of best ability is availability.
Tevin Brown:Right.
Tevin Brown:So the thought is as long as assistant coaches and head coaches are there, I'm there.
Tevin Brown:Phone is always open.
Tevin Brown:You make, you try to make their job as easy as possible.
Tevin Brown:Right.
Tevin Brown:If there's cutting some clips for the scout, if that's providing extra Ideas to the offensive coach.
Tevin Brown:Hey, I saw this Euroleague team do a 77 this way.
Tevin Brown:Hey, maybe this could be good for our shooter.
Tevin Brown:Coming off, going to his right, his right hand, right.
Tevin Brown:That's providing film for our head coach.
Tevin Brown:Right?
Tevin Brown:Always been open for our head coach.
Tevin Brown:Always asking what he's, what he needs and almost kind of predicting the next thing he's going to ask for.
Tevin Brown:Kind of working ahead as a video coordinator.
Tevin Brown:Right.
Tevin Brown:You start thinking like a head coach.
Tevin Brown:Right.
Tevin Brown:And that's also something Lewis Wilson taught me when I was a young special assistant for him.
Tevin Brown:It's like, think like a head coach.
Tevin Brown:Right?
Tevin Brown:If you know we're prepared for a game that they're playing, they're going to blitz a lot of ball screens.
Tevin Brown:Right?
Tevin Brown:Okay, perfect.
Tevin Brown:Let's go to the college team that was the best versus blitz.
Tevin Brown:Hey, hey, coach.
Tevin Brown:Here we go.
Tevin Brown:There's 15 clips of let's go Gonzaga killing bliss covers last night.
Tevin Brown:Here you go.
Tevin Brown:Right.
Tevin Brown:So just been creating value, always being available and just always been open, being an open ear.
Mike Klinzing:I would think that that communication is critical, as you said, to be able to think like a head coach and try to anticipate what that coach is going to need and be able to provide that as quickly as possible and keep those lines of communication open so that you can make sure that everybody's on the same page as you prepare for your next opponent or you're helping your own team to be able to improve what they do.
Mike Klinzing:The role that you have now as an assistant and being able to get out on the floor a little bit more, what's your favorite part of kind of taking on that role compared to what you were doing before?
Tevin Brown:Oh, that's a great, great question.
Tevin Brown:More so this responsibility, just taking ownership of your work, that's the biggest thing in like the ownership of now you in a bigger role again to lead people and help people grow again.
Tevin Brown:And that's, that's ultimately what it, what matters most to me.
Tevin Brown:I had the past two summers, not to get off track, but the past two summers I went to Canada, Winnipeg, Sea Bears in the cbl.
Tevin Brown:Not an opportunity to be an assistant coach there as well the last two summers.
Tevin Brown:Right.
Tevin Brown:So again, different because the season is shorter.
Tevin Brown:It's two, two and a half, roughly three months seasons.
Tevin Brown:So it kind of prepared me for the moment that I'm in now.
Tevin Brown:But so I think, again, I think it just goes back to me now having a great opportunity to help people and lead them and help them become better coaches.
Mike Klinzing:Day to day challenges of Being in the G League in that you have the players that you're working with, right?
Mike Klinzing:Their ultimate goal is to be able to get to the NBA.
Mike Klinzing:And so by nature of that goal, there tends to be, or at least in my mind, those players, right?
Mike Klinzing:That's an individual goal.
Mike Klinzing:We know how important basketball is a team sport when it's played at its best and when guys share the ball and there's camaraderie and all those things, right?
Mike Klinzing:And yet each individual player on your team has the individual goal of improving, of attracting the attention of the NBA club to be able to get a call up or get an opportunity with a different NBA team.
Mike Klinzing:And so how do you guys as a coaching staff, how do you build the type of culture, camaraderie within your team so that you can play team basketball and yet also know that and have your players know that you guys are also helping them to develop to reach their ultimate goal?
Mike Klinzing:How do you balance out those two sort of.
Mike Klinzing:They're not competing goals, but sometimes they can be at odds, for lack of a better way of saying it.
Tevin Brown:Absolutely.
Tevin Brown:I think again, communication, right?
Tevin Brown:Setting the standard early, right?
Tevin Brown:And that when I say set the standard early is obviously meeting, right?
Tevin Brown:This is, this is what we need from you, right?
Tevin Brown:And this is also what the big club needs from you.
Tevin Brown:So identifying the standard and setting the standard for the players early on, but also communication individually, having those one on one conversations, right?
Tevin Brown:And letting players know, like this is where you've been, this is where you are and this is where you need to be to get to where you want to go, right?
Tevin Brown:So we're all on the same page.
Tevin Brown:And listen, long season, right?
Tevin Brown:Every moment isn't going to be perfect, right?
Tevin Brown:But as long as we communicate, continue to push our vision, also continue to push the vision for yourself, hold yourself to a higher standard, right?
Tevin Brown:The G League is a tough league due to the season long season, obviously and smaller staffs.
Tevin Brown:But I think if all.
Tevin Brown:Everybody's on the same page, right?
Tevin Brown:Constantly giving players the reminder, if you do these things right, you're fitting a role.
Tevin Brown:Now just buy into it.
Tevin Brown:Humility, just be humble enough to accept your role.
Tevin Brown:Don't lose your confidence, right?
Tevin Brown:But if you want to play, you have to do these two or three things.
Tevin Brown:And that ultimately within development as you continue to develop people in their game, the winner, the product, the byproduct is winning, right?
Tevin Brown:And everybody loves winners.
Tevin Brown:And that brings even more attention to your team at any level.
Tevin Brown:Not only the G League, right?
Tevin Brown:Same thing for us, right?
Tevin Brown:Byproduct of buying into the team, but also having your own goals of playing the right way, getting to where you want to go to the NBA also combine those things and everybody's on the same page, at least to win it, which equals most times, sometimes more NBA eyes on you, which is going to help you ultimately get to your NBA dream.
Mike Klinzing:I mean, that makes sense when you start talking about.
Mike Klinzing:Right.
Mike Klinzing:Obviously, winning attracts attention.
Mike Klinzing:And when guys buy into their roles on a team, that allows the team to function more efficiently, which should eventually lead to more wins.
Mike Klinzing:I want to ask you a question that.
Mike Klinzing:It's one that talked with other guys that coach at various levels in the professional basketball.
Mike Klinzing:And it's.
Mike Klinzing:It's a concept that I always find to be sort of fascinating.
Mike Klinzing:And let me kind of lay it out for you, and then I'll get your take on it.
Mike Klinzing:So when players are young and they're at the lower levels of basketball, we try to teach our players to be well rounded.
Mike Klinzing:We wanted to be good kind of at everything, right?
Mike Klinzing:We teach a kid to handle the ball.
Mike Klinzing:We teach a kid to rebound.
Mike Klinzing:We want the kid to be able to play defense.
Mike Klinzing:We don't want to lock them into one position.
Mike Klinzing:We want them to be good at everything, right?
Mike Klinzing:And then every step of the way, as you go up the basketball ladder, your role becomes more and more defined.
Mike Klinzing:Like, there are guys in high school who get a chance, Their coach kind of gives them the ball and says, hey, go do your thing.
Mike Klinzing:And they're the best player on the team, they're the star, and they get to do that.
Mike Klinzing:And then those players move on to college basketball.
Mike Klinzing:And there's not that many college basketball players who the coach just hands in the ball and says, okay, go ahead and do what you want.
Mike Klinzing:And then obviously, you get to the pro level and what.
Mike Klinzing:There's 15 guys, 20 guys in the NBA that maybe have that freedom to just kind of do what they want with the ball in their hands and everybody else.
Mike Klinzing:And you said it in your previous answer.
Mike Klinzing:There's two or three things that you have to do really well in order to be able to maintain or keep your job or to be able to get a job in the NBA.
Mike Klinzing:And to me, it always feels counterintuitive.
Mike Klinzing:And I remember when Mike Procopio, who was with the Mavericks at one time as their player development, he was one of Kobe's player development guys, that he's the one who first said this to me.
Mike Klinzing:He's like, you know, you get to this level and like, we don't need you to be able to do everything.
Mike Klinzing:Like you have to be able to do your role.
Mike Klinzing:If you can shoot 45% on wide open corner threes and play good defense, guess what, man, you're going to make a lot of money in the NBA.
Mike Klinzing:You don't need to have to do all these other things.
Mike Klinzing:So how do you have, what are those conversations sound like when you're trying to.
Mike Klinzing:I don't know if convince is the right word, but when you're talking to a player about like, hey, this is the archetype of player that you are and if you're going to get an opportunity of the NBA, it's going to be because you need to do these two or three things well.
Mike Klinzing:And I just wonder because obviously all the players that are playing at your level are unbelievable players, right?
Mike Klinzing:I mean, they're super talented, they've been the best player probably at every level they've ever been at.
Mike Klinzing:And now suddenly you're asking them to.
Mike Klinzing:I don't know if it's take a step back, but just decided to sort of zero in on what are the most important things that they can do.
Mike Klinzing:So what are those conversations like for you and your staff if you've had a chance to sit down on any conversations that kind of follow along those lines?
Tevin Brown:Yeah.
Tevin Brown:So I would say conversations are especially with players, right?
Tevin Brown:What can you do to get on the floor?
Tevin Brown:Right.
Tevin Brown:Identify.
Tevin Brown:What do we need from you to get on the floor?
Tevin Brown:We're not going to take away the things you want to do, right?
Tevin Brown:But what can you do to get on the floor right now?
Tevin Brown:What is your team asking you to do?
Tevin Brown:What are your coaches asking you to do?
Tevin Brown:Right?
Tevin Brown:You do those two or three things consistently.
Tevin Brown:That builds trust.
Tevin Brown:And ultimately with all coaches, we play the players we trust.
Tevin Brown:That's on every level.
Tevin Brown:If we trust you enough, we don't have any problem putting you in the game.
Tevin Brown:Then once you get in the game, you get those minutes and it builds up over time then, then you can start showcasing even more.
Tevin Brown:But right now, like just get on the floor.
Tevin Brown:We have to get on the floor, right?
Tevin Brown:Get on the floor.
Tevin Brown:You play 30 minutes now, you get more opportunity to showcase what you truly can do.
Tevin Brown:And again, you continue to do that over time.
Tevin Brown:Consistency is the biggest thing, especially with younger guys.
Tevin Brown:Just be consistent every single day.
Tevin Brown:Carry the water, chop wood.
Tevin Brown:Every single day.
Tevin Brown:Every single day.
Tevin Brown:Small things I don't think I need to do is get on the floor, right?
Tevin Brown:Once I get on the floor now I can start showcasing my Ability to shoot, drive, play, make or whatever, but you still have to do it within the confinement of our team system.
Tevin Brown:And that's how most times the conversations go, right?
Tevin Brown:It's an honest conversation of this is what the team needs.
Tevin Brown:Do you want to play?
Tevin Brown:Yes or no?
Tevin Brown:Yes.
Tevin Brown:Okay, perfect.
Tevin Brown:Right now.
Tevin Brown:That's all we need from you right now.
Tevin Brown:If you, once you get your 20, 30 minute stretch and you showcase that you have the ability to do more skills, then perfect.
Tevin Brown:You, you gained that trust because now you plan, but now trust even grows more into, in you because now you showcase us more.
Mike Klinzing:It makes sense.
Mike Klinzing:I mean, as you said, the first thing you have to do, and I think any basketball player can relate to this, is right, you first, you first need an opportunity.
Mike Klinzing:And you need an opportunity to be able to get on the floor.
Mike Klinzing:And once you're on the floor, then now, hey, can I do the things that my coaching staff has asked me?
Mike Klinzing:Can they trust me to do those things?
Mike Klinzing:And now you can take it to that next step and maybe be able to expand your role, expand your game a little bit.
Mike Klinzing:But as you said, the first thing is you got to get on the floor.
Mike Klinzing:I just always think it's really interesting when you start talking about again, guys who have been the player with the ball in their hands, the one, they've been the star, they've been able to do kind of all these different things and now suddenly they get to the pro level and they're being asked to scale back.
Mike Klinzing:For lack of a better way of saying it, to, hey, make sure you do these, these things.
Mike Klinzing:And if you do these things, that's what's going to get you on the floor and give you a chance to win and then you can expand your role from there.
Mike Klinzing:I just always think that that's a sort of a fascinating back and forth between what seems like, hey, once you get to that pro level, everybody's kind of doing everything and you realize, yeah, no, that's not the way it is.
Mike Klinzing:Because there aren't, there just aren't very many guys at that level that get to just take the ball and hey, go do what you want.
Mike Klinzing:There are very few.
Mike Klinzing:They're very few.
Mike Klinzing:Yeah, they're very few and far between.
Tevin Brown:No, I mean, absolutely, I agree.
Tevin Brown:And I think just also taking a step back and being honest with yourself and your development, are you doing every single thing you need to do to get minutes?
Tevin Brown:Are you, are you spending extra time on your film?
Tevin Brown:Are you eating right?
Tevin Brown:Are you going to the gym late night to get extra Shots to put in the work for your moment, right?
Tevin Brown:So especially for young guys, right?
Tevin Brown:It's easy to get discouraged.
Tevin Brown:Coaches taking my confidence coach isn't letting me play my game, right?
Tevin Brown:But take a step back and take ownership.
Tevin Brown:Like on your development, right?
Tevin Brown:Am I doing every single day?
Tevin Brown:Am I doing what I need to do to play and get better, right?
Tevin Brown:If I'm not shooting the ball well, maybe, okay, I'm not shooting the ball well.
Tevin Brown:I need to change my shooting routine.
Tevin Brown:I need to come back at night and shoot even more, right?
Tevin Brown:And that could be a quick and easy fix.
Tevin Brown:Is you just taking that accountability?
Tevin Brown:And sometimes for young players especially, they need failure, right?
Tevin Brown:They need that failure to look in the mirror and be like, okay, this is new, right?
Tevin Brown:So now we can start building those routines and overcome and just continue to get better.
Tevin Brown:As a basketball player.
Mike Klinzing:What sets apart in the time that you've been with the Legends, what sets apart the best guys that have come through and played for you and your coaching staff in terms of not their basketball skill, but their intangibles, the things that they do off the floor, their preparation?
Mike Klinzing:What are the things that stand out about the guys who have been the best players that have passed through and that you've had an opportunity to coach this to this point with the Legends.
Tevin Brown:I think number one right away is character, right?
Tevin Brown:In character, just who you are as a person.
Tevin Brown:Like, who are you as a person, right?
Tevin Brown:Rather, it's if you walk in a room, super simple, smile, even if you're having a bad day, shake hands, speak.
Tevin Brown:Just simple things, right?
Tevin Brown:Showing up on time, showing up early, having a routine, right?
Tevin Brown:Especially young guys sometimes, like we say, have a routine.
Tevin Brown:But most times, like young guys, need guidance, right?
Tevin Brown:Helping them build out a routine to help them grow as a player, right?
Tevin Brown:Then, like.
Tevin Brown:Like I said, routine.
Tevin Brown:The last thing is consistency with everything they do, right?
Tevin Brown:It's purpose.
Tevin Brown:Everything is done with purpose.
Tevin Brown:Everything is done with consistency.
Tevin Brown:It's okay.
Tevin Brown:I want to get here, right?
Tevin Brown:This is.
Tevin Brown:These are things I have to do every single day to get here.
Tevin Brown:If it doesn't work out, I can live with the result because I've done every single thing to get to that moment.
Tevin Brown:It just didn't work out.
Tevin Brown:Now, the thing is about the G League is that you get it.
Tevin Brown:Like you get a call up, right?
Tevin Brown:It didn't go well.
Tevin Brown:Okay, perfect.
Tevin Brown:I got my opportunity to get into the room.
Tevin Brown:I get my feedback from the team that let me go.
Tevin Brown:Now I have to come back and do the same thing over and over again, again.
Tevin Brown:Consistency and endurance and adaptability and no, I think those things are like the biggest things that stand out for me with the players that we've coached that have been the best for us.
Mike Klinzing:Let's throw that question back at you as a coach.
Mike Klinzing:What do you have to do to be at your best?
Mike Klinzing:What are some things from an intangible standpoint?
Mike Klinzing:Obviously there's the X's and O's and you got to know your stuff and you got to be prepared and all that.
Mike Klinzing:But what are some things that you do as part of your routine to help you be at your best as a coach?
Tevin Brown:No, absolutely.
Tevin Brown:I gotta get in the way room every morning, have to do something physical every morning.
Tevin Brown:Rather walking, taking a walk early in the morning or I have to lift early in the morning.
Tevin Brown:Right.
Tevin Brown:So I'm a morning person.
Tevin Brown:Get up in the morning, read or listen to a podcast.
Tevin Brown:Something outside of basketball that's not with basketball, anything to do with basketball.
Tevin Brown:Something with mental performance, something with teaching, something about how players learn or how students learn in the classroom.
Tevin Brown:Right.
Tevin Brown:And then like spending time with, because I have a daughter, spending time with my daughter, being away from the game helps me kind of settle back in.
Tevin Brown:It's like, okay, everything is not as bad as it may seem, right?
Tevin Brown:So just staying grounded and spending time with family and people who care, care about me.
Tevin Brown:So those are like the things that help me be my best.
Tevin Brown:Obviously we have, we have a great staff here which with the legends that is family oriented and just being around the people that show love and speak life and full of energy.
Tevin Brown:So those are like the things I do every single day is workout, read, spending time with my daughter, just falling off, being present in the moment.
Tevin Brown:Then that allows me to be refreshed and being able to invest in others.
Mike Klinzing:Yeah.
Mike Klinzing:It's so important, right, to be able to have that routine, that ability to step away.
Mike Klinzing:We all know that coaching is all consuming, right?
Mike Klinzing:I mean there's.
Mike Klinzing:There's very few moments in the day where you can just put it aside and not be thinking about what it is that you're trying to do day to day for your team, for your players.
Mike Klinzing:And it's just coaching is one of those jobs that you just, it just doesn't go away.
Mike Klinzing:So you have to have some of those things like you just described to be able to have a routine.
Mike Klinzing:And I think it's always interesting to hear what different guys do to be able to.
Mike Klinzing:I don't know if relax is the right word, but just as you said to be able to step away and get your mind right so you can come back with the.
Mike Klinzing:With the proper framework of mind, to be able to give your best to your players, your team, your coaching staff and all that part of it.
Mike Klinzing:I think it's really, really critically important.
Mike Klinzing:Tell me a little bit about.
Tevin Brown:Go ahead.
Tevin Brown:No, absolutely.
Tevin Brown:I think especially early on in my coaching career, I didn't understand that.
Tevin Brown:Right.
Tevin Brown:I was the young kid.
Tevin Brown:Oh, yeah, sure.
Tevin Brown:Like, I'm never gonna get tired.
Tevin Brown:Like, I'm fine.
Tevin Brown:Like, like, work, work, work, work, work.
Tevin Brown:Like, I'm fine.
Tevin Brown:But no, like, as I've gotten older, those things are so important.
Tevin Brown:Just being able to just close the laptop sometime and just sit back and watch something that has nothing to do with basketball.
Tevin Brown:It's always refreshing and always good for me.
Mike Klinzing:It's hard to do, though, man.
Mike Klinzing:It's.
Mike Klinzing:It's really hard to do.
Mike Klinzing:When you have something that you're passionate about, it's difficult to put it down.
Mike Klinzing:It's difficult to just say, hey, I gotta step away.
Mike Klinzing:And sometimes I read a great thing today that I thought was super interesting, and it's not something that is new, but it just made me think.
Mike Klinzing:And I saw it on Twitter and I don't even remember exactly the context of it, but it was something.
Mike Klinzing:The effect of that.
Mike Klinzing:Coaches need to remember that the gains that you make don't come from the training.
Mike Klinzing:They come from the recovery time between the trainings.
Mike Klinzing:And the whole concept was you have to be able to give your body time to be able to sort of solidify the gains that you make when you're training.
Mike Klinzing:And I think that goes to this exact point that we're talking about, right.
Mike Klinzing:If you're going 24 7, that there's never a time for your mind to be able to slow down and sort of process the growth that you made or the progress that you were going to make from your last coaching session or your last film or whatever it is.
Mike Klinzing:You've got to be able to take some time to be able to take that deep breath, step away, as you said, and then that's when, hey, now you're kind of just bringing all that knowledge, everything together, and then the next time you step back out, now you're fresh and you can bring it to the best of your ability.
Mike Klinzing:I just think that that's something that is super underrated.
Mike Klinzing:I know it's underrated in life, and I've heard plenty of stories about professional sports and obviously how difficult it is.
Mike Klinzing:And I.
Mike Klinzing:I think you would probably attest to that same thing.
Mike Klinzing:But that ability to step away, even if it's just like you said, get in the weight room for 30 minutes or taking a 15 minute walk and do wonders for your outlook as a coach, but more importantly, just as a human being, right?
Tevin Brown:No, absolutely.
Tevin Brown:No, absolutely.
Tevin Brown:I think it's very important because I'm ultimately like I've.
Tevin Brown:In my past I've dealt with mental health, just anxiety issues or whatever it may be.
Tevin Brown:And at the time, like I didn't know what it was, I didn't know what to do.
Tevin Brown:I didn't know the proper steps to take as a young coach.
Tevin Brown:But now as I've been around more people, talked to more people and you start to hear and learn more about reading and obviously being mentored by others, you start seeing the real value in that.
Tevin Brown:And I mean, I think it's one of the most important things for coaches and players to just reset at times.
Mike Klinzing:I couldn't agree more.
Mike Klinzing:I mean, I think it's really a huge part of making sure that you can be at your best when you are where you're at.
Mike Klinzing:You got to work as hard as you can, but you also have to be able to take a step back and, and get that moment to be able to relax and refocus and refresh and then come back so you can be at your best.
Mike Klinzing:Tell me a little bit about the relationship that you guys have with the parent NBA team and how much communication is there between G League and NBA?
Mike Klinzing:How much do you talk to their coaching staff?
Mike Klinzing:How much do they talk to you?
Mike Klinzing:Is there much communication at all?
Mike Klinzing:Just tell me about that relationship between the two coaching staffs, the two organizations.
Tevin Brown:Oh yeah, it's been phenomenal with the Mavs and Legends, right?
Tevin Brown:We spend, we have the opportunity to spend the playoffs with them.
Tevin Brown:Going through playoff preparation.
Tevin Brown:Being a part of the coaching staff was phenomenal.
Tevin Brown:First time going through a finals run, amazing feeling, right?
Tevin Brown:Obviously now we have the two ways which you have three two ways and you have like E10s.
Tevin Brown:They have three, three E10s.
Tevin Brown:Then obviously you have the rookies, right?
Tevin Brown:So the G League coaches are around because ultimately throughout the year you're going to be coaching those guys because they're going to be getting sent to the G League, right?
Tevin Brown:So you're there, an extension of the Dallas Mavericks coaching staff and you building those relationships with the players every single day ultimately because you want to start to know them before you have to demand things from them throughout the year.
Tevin Brown:Then throughout the pre draft process, we spent time with them running the pre draft workouts.
Tevin Brown:Then the last two years, we've had the blessing, an opportunity to be a part of the training camp.
Tevin Brown:The entire training camp.
Tevin Brown:Up until our season starts, we are part of the Dallas Mavericks coaching staff.
Tevin Brown:Then throughout the year, once our season start, we'll go down to games.
Tevin Brown:If we're off, we'll practice or we'll go to the practice.
Tevin Brown:Then like two or three times a month, our G League team actually practices in the NBA facility.
Tevin Brown:So the front office eyes their coaching staff, eyes are on our players, but also on us as coaches because they're evaluating everyone, right.
Tevin Brown:And see how everyone's developing and growing.
Tevin Brown:Then with the.
Tevin Brown:As far as with the coaching staff, we have the direct communication, right?
Tevin Brown:We talk every week or every day based off the things we need from each other.
Tevin Brown:But they're open, open line for us to grow, ask questions, that we ask them questions, they ask us questions.
Tevin Brown:So ultimately, like we, we're a big extension of their coaching staff here in Frisco.
Mike Klinzing:Who's been the coach?
Mike Klinzing:Whether it's one of the coaches with the Legends or somebody with the Mavs organization that you feel like has been your closest confidant or somebody who's really looked out for you or kind of showed you the way, is there anybody that fits that description?
Tevin Brown:Oh, it's a, it's a couple people.
Tevin Brown:I had coach Jordan Sears.
Tevin Brown:He's also a young guy as well.
Tevin Brown:He's 28.
Tevin Brown:Right.
Tevin Brown:Last year was.
Tevin Brown:He was, I believe he was the youngest G League head coach at 27.
Tevin Brown:And Jordan Sears was the head video coordinator in Dallas at the time when I first got hired with the Legends.
Tevin Brown:So we had a prior relationship and he, he, he invested so much time into me and helping me become a video coordinator when I first started.
Tevin Brown:Then I would say Max Hooper, which he played at Oakland University as one of the, one of the greatest shooters in Oakland history.
Tevin Brown:Then also Riley Cream, which he's in a video room, all video guys.
Tevin Brown:So those are the guys, like I'm closest with those three off the top.
Tevin Brown:Then obviously, Jared Dully.
Tevin Brown:Jared Dully has been phenomenal for me, just answering any text messages and questions I have.
Tevin Brown:But also, again, the person dynamic, just being a, being a normal human being and just building their relationship through laughs over food, sitting in video room, spending time with us.
Tevin Brown:So I think those four off the top of my head are like the biggest impact people that I've had in my life as I've been with the Legends.
Mike Klinzing:I asked you earlier about when you first started on your coaching journey, sort of what was the plan and whether you had kind of put together a road map of kind of where you wanted to see your career go.
Mike Klinzing:And at that time you kind of said, yeah, no, at that point I didn't really know where I was going.
Mike Klinzing:But now you're obviously a lot farther along in your career.
Mike Klinzing:What's the pathway again, if you could draw it up ideally, what's the pathway that you see yourself continuing to go down here as your career continues to develop?
Mike Klinzing:Obviously, you're doing the best job in the moment where you're at, and that's how you're going to get an opportunity to advance.
Mike Klinzing:But just what are your career goals?
Mike Klinzing:What do you see in the future, moving forward?
Tevin Brown:Yeah, I believe at some level, whether it's NBA, college, high school, ultimately I want to become a head coach.
Tevin Brown:Right?
Tevin Brown:Just continue to grow, continue to learn.
Tevin Brown:But I think that's just like another step I'm gonna keep growing to.
Tevin Brown:As far as like leadership, right.
Tevin Brown:That was something that was kind of like natural for me because I was a natural, like point guard leader, used my voice a lot.
Tevin Brown:So I think ultimately at some point throughout my career, like, my overall goal is to become a head coach.
Tevin Brown:One day I would love to be a head coach.
Tevin Brown:League people rather than NBA, college, high school.
Tevin Brown:I don't really know where it take me, but ultimately being a head coach is my ultimate goal with my coaching journey.
Mike Klinzing:Okay, so let me ask you this.
Mike Klinzing:This is a question that I ask to a lot of people who have been assistant coaches and are either looking for their first head coaching job at some point in the future, or getting head coaches to kind of think back to when they were an assistant.
Mike Klinzing:As you are preparing for that eventual opportunity, are you collecting?
Mike Klinzing:And again, it used to be the three ring binder, right.
Mike Klinzing:But that's obviously long since gone now.
Mike Klinzing:No, it's a Google.
Tevin Brown:It's a Google.
Mike Klinzing:It's a.
Mike Klinzing:It's still so.
Mike Klinzing:Or it's a Google Drive or it's.
Mike Klinzing:Whatever it may be.
Mike Klinzing:Maybe you're still old school in the three ring binder, but tell me a little bit about just how you are sort of curating the things that you want to collect that eventually may become part of who you are as a head coach.
Mike Klinzing:How are you collecting?
Mike Klinzing:Whether it's video, whether it's leadership things, whether it's just you're grabbing something that you like and saying, hey, I don't want to forget about this, or maybe you're just your own notes of Hey, I like that we're.
Mike Klinzing:I like this.
Mike Klinzing:I don't like that.
Mike Klinzing:How are you collecting that material to kind of continue to build your portfolio that you're going to kind of look through when it becomes time for you to be able to run your own program at whatever level that ends up being.
Tevin Brown:Absolutely, Mike, Just like you said, the three ring binder in pen and pad.
Mike Klinzing:All right, there you go.
Tevin Brown:Good work, man.
Mike Klinzing:I love it.
Tevin Brown:Again, like Lewis Woodson, like, that's what I learned was the pen and pad.
Tevin Brown:Old yellow pad, legal pad, white paper, yellow paper in the binder.
Tevin Brown:So any ideas that I have, I have them in the bot, either in a binder or in vanilla folders.
Tevin Brown:Whether it's drills, nose that I pick up from podcasts, stuff I pick up off Twitter, even I have to bookmark it and send it to my computer to print off, to put in my binder.
Tevin Brown:Or is it just like simply keeping things in my computer on my notes?
Tevin Brown:So I kind of have everything organized between, whether it's player development, team defense, defense breakdowns, team offense, offensive breakdowns.
Tevin Brown:Everything is kind of organizing its own section, but everything is pretty much pen and pad and vanilla folders and binders still for me.
Mike Klinzing:Old school, man.
Mike Klinzing:I love it.
Mike Klinzing:That's good stuff.
Tevin Brown:It's tough to get away from.
Mike Klinzing:Yep.
Mike Klinzing:All right, so if you had one piece of advice to give to a young coach out there who wants to get an opportunity in the G League, what would that piece of advice be for somebody who is.
Mike Klinzing:Maybe they're a high school coach, maybe they're currently a college player, Maybe they're a college coach who wants to make the leap to the professional ranks.
Mike Klinzing:What advice would you give them?
Tevin Brown:Don't undervalue your opportunities.
Tevin Brown:Right?
Tevin Brown:Where you are right now is where you want, where you need to be, right?
Tevin Brown:Continue to just whether it's high school, middle school, prepare like you're in the NBA already, right?
Tevin Brown:Prepare like where your feet are already, like where you trying to go, right?
Tevin Brown:Like, I'm present in my moment, but my preparation is at an NBA level.
Tevin Brown:Even if you don't have the resource to see that, reach out to people and ask questions.
Tevin Brown:I think secondly is constantly creating value.
Tevin Brown:Always find ways to create value for people, right?
Tevin Brown:We talk about relationships and networking, right?
Tevin Brown:You build a relationship with someone, but now you have to bring something to the relationship, right?
Tevin Brown:Whether it's sending edits to coaches that, you know, reaching out to people after they win the championship, right.
Tevin Brown:The thing about that is everybody send texts, the first two or Three days after something happens, right?
Tevin Brown:Accomplishment happens, everybody's blowing up that person.
Tevin Brown:But send that text sometimes like a week later when everything slows down.
Tevin Brown:And now it's, hey, coach, great, great season.
Tevin Brown:I loved how you all killed so and so with the pick a side.
Tevin Brown:Pick and roll, right?
Tevin Brown:I'm looking forward to meeting you.
Tevin Brown:I'm being your city.
Tevin Brown:Can't wait to catch practice next year.
Tevin Brown:So something as simple as that.
Tevin Brown:Then also just continue to nurture relationships, right?
Tevin Brown:Water plants every single day.
Tevin Brown:Just be authentic in your approach.
Tevin Brown:Because people, I don't want, I don't want to say, like, use.
Tevin Brown:You don't want to use people at all.
Tevin Brown:Like, like I just said, bring some relationship, then that's what I know because that's what worked for me, was just being available for other people and just helping them.
Tevin Brown:Maybe I didn't get a job, maybe they didn't give me a job, right?
Tevin Brown:But now, like I'm in the back of their mind and that's just like the small thing that I could think of.
Tevin Brown:The three or four small things I could think of.
Mike Klinzing:Yeah, that's great advice.
Mike Klinzing:I love that when you start talking about building relationships and building relationships in a genuine way, that it's not just about, hey, man, I'm building a relationship because maybe one day you can get me a job.
Mike Klinzing:It's building a relationship of, hey, what can I do to help you?
Tevin Brown:Right?
Mike Klinzing:I think when you come at that from a genuine perspective, I think that's when you really end up with a friendship and a true person that you can count on and trust and they can trust and count on you.
Mike Klinzing:And then that's when opportunities come, right?
Mike Klinzing:Because somebody hears about this and somebody hears about that, before you know it, there's an opening.
Mike Klinzing:And then somebody says, well, I know that guy and he did right by me before.
Mike Klinzing:And that's, that's really how the business works.
Mike Klinzing:And I think that's a, that's a really good piece of advice.
Mike Klinzing:I want to ask you one final two part question here, Tevin, before we wrap up.
Mike Klinzing:So the first part of the question is, when you think ahead for the next year or two, what do you see as being your biggest challenge?
Mike Klinzing:And then the second part of the question is, when you think about what you get to do every single day, what brings you the most joy?
Mike Klinzing:So your biggest challenge and then your biggest joy.
Tevin Brown:Oh, that's a great question.
Tevin Brown:I think for me, the biggest challenge that I probably see going forward is not being in the mindset of always looking for what's next?
Tevin Brown:Because like, especially as a young coach, right, you get the assistant coach experience at the G league level, but then you start getting the mindset of not being grateful for what you have because Nel was like, oh yeah, I did this already.
Tevin Brown:Now let's.
Tevin Brown:I need to hurry up and get to the NBA, right?
Tevin Brown:So I think the challenge is literally staying present, keeping that same mindset and curiosity as you had when you was a six year old kid just starting playing basketball.
Tevin Brown:You curious, right?
Tevin Brown:You gotta try to find that curiosity over the next few years.
Tevin Brown:And I think that would probably be the biggest thing is staying curious, right?
Tevin Brown:Just keep reaching out to people, keep learning and keep growing as a coach.
Tevin Brown:Don't try not to get stagnant then.
Tevin Brown:Joy, I live by a simple quote of be a light, right?
Tevin Brown:Be a light in people's lives.
Tevin Brown:Be a light in.
Tevin Brown:When you, when you in people's presence.
Tevin Brown:That's my.
Tevin Brown:I love being around people.
Tevin Brown:I love smiling and spending time with people I love.
Tevin Brown:So I think that's like the biggest blessing and joy that brings over the next few years.
Tevin Brown:It's just like the people you get to meet, you get to meet so many unique people.
Tevin Brown:Even through Twitter, right?
Tevin Brown:I've met so many people through Twitter.
Tevin Brown:Even like even with you, Mike.
Tevin Brown:Like just simple Twitter.
Mike Klinzing:Exactly.
Mike Klinzing:Right now it's crazy.
Tevin Brown:I think the relationships you build in this business through just a round ball is a joy you, I don't think you can get anywhere else outside of sports.
Tevin Brown:It's like so simple.
Tevin Brown:They can connect people from millions and thousand miles away.
Tevin Brown:Thousand miles away.
Tevin Brown:So I think over the year, over the next few years, that's the joy, is just the relationships you all build over the next few years.
Mike Klinzing:It's really well said and I think it's very descriptive of kind of what this podcast has been.
Mike Klinzing:I mean, I say this all the time, but we've built so many genuine friendships as a result of this thing that if you'd have told me when we started six years ago that that would have been possible, I would have told you you were crazy.
Mike Klinzing:And so I think to cite the relationships that basketball can create, and it's just, it's amazing.
Mike Klinzing:I mean, the game, I'll never be able to give back to the game anywhere near what it's given me, both in terms of just who I am as a person, that the people that I've been fortunate enough to be able to interact with through the game of basketball, I mean, it's just is.
Mike Klinzing:I mean, it's unbelievable.
Mike Klinzing:And I think it's very well said in terms of of what brings, what brings me joy from the game of basketball and you know, a similar thing for you.
Mike Klinzing:Before we wrap up, I want to give you a chance to share how people can get in touch with you, connect with you, whether you want to share, email, social media, whatever you feel comfortable with.
Mike Klinzing:And then after you do that, I will jump back in and wrap things up.
Tevin Brown:Yeah.
Tevin Brown:So you can Twitter.
Tevin Brown:My Twitter handle handle is underscore Jawan J u W a n.
Tevin Brown:You can find me on Instagram_ Jawan Brown11 Jawan J U W A N Brown11 is my Instagram so you can I'm pretty big on social media.
Tevin Brown:I spend time on social media so I'm very, I'm very responsive.
Tevin Brown:So if anyone has any questions or want to talk hoops or if I have any questions for anybody, you can always reach out and always do my best to respond as quick as possible.
Mike Klinzing:Oh awesome.
Mike Klinzing:Tevin, can I thank you enough for taking the time out of your schedule tonight to join us?
Mike Klinzing:Really appreciate it.
Mike Klinzing:And to everyone out there, thanks for listening and we will catch you on our next episode.
Mike Klinzing:Thanks.
Mike Klinzing:Your first impression is everything when applying for a new coaching job.
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Mike Klinzing:The Coaching Portfolio Guide is an instructional membership based website that helps you develop a personalized portfolio.
Mike Klinzing:Each section of the Portfolio Guide provides detailed instructions on how to organize your portfolio in a professional manner.
Mike Klinzing:The guide also provides sample documents for each section of your portfolio that you can copy, modify and add to your personal portfolio.
Mike Klinzing:As a hoop Headspod listener, you can get your Coaching Portfolio Guide for just $25.
Mike Klinzing:Visit coachingportfolioguide.com hoopheads to learn more.
Tevin Brown:Thanks for listening to the Hoop Heads.
Mike Klinzing:Podcast presented by Head Start Basketball.
