This episode features Max Hooper, a coach whose career has taken him from Division I shooting specialist to some of the highest levels of professional basketball. Hooper became a viral name in college basketball during the 2015–16 season at Oakland University, where he took 257 three-point attempts (shooting nearly 45%) while playing alongside NBA draft pick Kay Felder. Since then he's built a coaching résumé spanning Brewster Academy, an associate/video coordinator role with the Bubble-era Lakers, an assistant and head video coordinator stint with the Dallas Mavericks (including a 2022 Western Conference Finals run and a 2024 Finals appearance), and most recently a season as head coach of the Texas Legends in the G League. Hosts Tyler Clark and Coleman Ayers dig into his full journey as a player, shooting specialist, player development coach, and first-time head coach.
The conversation covers a lot of ground: what elite, high-volume shooting workouts actually looked like for Hooper in college; the "scientist vs. artist" spectrum of how great shooters think about their own mechanics; and the mental side of being a shooter — building the kind of bulletproof confidence that survives a cold streak. From there the discussion shifts to player development philosophy, with Hooper offering a detailed, practical breakdown of how he's applied the Constraints-Led Approach (CLA) at every level of his career — from freelancing with college players to justifying and "masking" CLA principles inside NBA and G League team structures. He closes by getting into an underexplored topic for head coaches: how to develop and empower your own coaching staff, especially in an environment like the G League where the roster (and sometimes the staff) turns over constantly.
Timestamps:
00:52 — Pre-show catch-up and Max's job search update
05:56 — Intro and guest background
07:51 — Max's 257-three-point-attempt season at Oakland
12:14 — The responsibility behind a shooter's green light
13:20 — A D1 shooter's daily training schedule
16:33 — Adding randomness and decision-making to shooting workouts
17:56 — Why even elite shooters still use cookie-cutter reps
19:33 — Learning from Korver, Duncan Robinson, Troy Daniels, Anthony Morrow, Klay Thompson
24:04 — The "scientist vs. artist" shooter archetypes
30:27 — Knowledge of vs. knowledge how; shooting coaches doing more harm than good
33:48 — Building a bulletproof shooter's mindset
39:36 — Leading the person first (Jamarion Sharp example)
42:52 — The emotional side of player development
44:08 — Building the Mavericks' player development structure
49:34 — Implementing CLA as a player, then as a coach
50:43 — Finding the "appropriate challenge point"
52:41 — Justifying player development methods at the NBA level
54:07 — Mavs example: "Luca passing" vs. "Kyrie passing" drills
55:15 — Translating CLA into NBA coverage language
56:23 — Blending CLA with player and coach buy-in
59:10 — Progressive constraints: bingo cards and scoring systems
1:01:00 — Meeting players where they're at with CLA
1:04:22 — Should the defense know the constraint?
1:05:12 — Intentional CLA vs. CLA as a buzzword
1:07:05 — Individualizing constraints within one group workout
1:08:19 — The three levels of CLA
1:09:08 — Team-wide constraints with the Legends
1:13:11 — Trusting players to think critically
1:16:27 — CLA in high-turnover (G League) vs. stable programs
1:20:10 — How much time a head coach should spend developing staff
1:22:27 — Building an onboarding process for new players
1:26:42 — Coaching adaptability under fast-changing circumstances
1:28:20 — The head coach as "the glue" of the organization
1:29:25 — Empowering young assistants (shoutout to Sharon Dorsey Walker, Doug Levy)
1:33:39 — Closing thoughts
Resources & Links:
Free Resources: https://byanymeanscoaches.com/resources BAM Coaches Platform: https://platform.byanymeanscoaches.com/#/platform Books: https://byanymeanscoaches.com/blueprint-book
If you enjoyed this conversation with Max Hooper, check out these episodes next:
G-League Coach of the Year, Vitor Galvani, on Why Player Development Isn't Linear, G-League Practices, Being Where Your Feet Are and Much More https://www.buzzsprout.com/1911095/episodes/19047395-g-league-coach-of-the-year-vitor-galvani-on-why-player-development-isn-t-linear-g-league-practices-being-where-your-feet-are-and-much-more
Individualizing Group Workouts https://www.buzzsprout.com/1911095/episodes/19111270-individualizing-group-workouts
What Science Says About Shooting Through Fatigue https://www.buzzsprout.com/1911095/episodes/19032348-what-science-says-about-shooting-through-fatigue
