From a college basketball career marred by injuries to playing defense on the best player in the world, the unorthodox route British coach Daniel James has taken to achieve his goals is something that deserves respect and acknowledgment from one and all.
You might not know the name yet – but Daniel James is making a career through breaking down the fundamentals of basketball to some of the brightest, up and coming talent in the game. As well as working with already established NBA stars, Daniel takes pride in teaching the next generation of hoopers.
In a Three Point Play UK exclusive, Daniel spoke to us in great detail about almost all aspects of his coaching life. From discussing the honor of training with LeBron James, his take on the rise of “celebrity trainers” and the eventual goals he has set himself in the basketball world, Daniel was fundamentally a British kid with big dreams.
And now with a couple of years under his belt in the industry, Daniel James has a lot to share.
“I was slightly nervous not to hurt him (LeBron James) when playing defense so that was interesting. He constantly wants to improve and fix the small details. It shows that even the best player in the world can get better”.
That’s Daniel’s take on training with LeBron under the guise of the man he describes to be “the best player development coach in the world” Phil Handy. Handy, who Daniel hails as his mentor and “all-round good person”, is currently an assistant coach for the Toronto Raptors and, in his days coaching at Cleveland, was tasked with the development of Kyrie Irving and helping him transition into the league. He’s a well renowned NBA coach.
Daniel emphasises the role of Phil Handy in his life and how he’s helped “provide (him) with the confidence to do this at a high level.”
He went onto say,
“He taught me to pay attention to the details which, after spending time doing this, I now realise how important it is to hone in on. He is very empowering to others and this is the edge that separates him.”
“He uplifts others and is an all-round good person. People respect that and, most importantly, players do and so they listen – which is how they learn.”
There is a clear bond between the two and the extent to which Handy is responsible of Daniel James’s development as a coach is clear. Both men focus on breaking down each and every angle of the game and cater to the player’s individual requirements.
Learning from one of the best in the business is always helpful mind you.
In terms of individual coaching and how Daniel James puts his spin on developing a particular player’s game, he took advice from the aforementioned Handy, who said to “never teach a skill you cannot perfect”. Thankfully, Daniel himself was a talented player at the D1 level playing for Monmouth University (more on that later), and went on to breakdown just what needs to be done to get players out of bad habits.
“I am practically teaching them how to move. I break that down in different ways but the process can be difficult and frustrating for the player at times. Teaching how to be most effective with the body and how to use the correct bio-mechanics for the most efficient output can be more difficult to teach the younger players.”
“It’s a difficult thing to do” he added.
When it boils down to it, no player can have the exact perfect mechanics for shooting, handling the ball, passing or simply moving at all.
However trying to maximize a players potential to get as close to that perfect motion as possible, but feeling comfortable enough to play smoothly, is something Daniel tries to emphasize when going through motions with a player.
When asked what’s the trickiest element of coaching a player is, he highlights the difficulty in teaching a player a ‘same foot, same hand layup’ as one of the trickier moves to feel comfortable doing.
His current dreams for the future are to be the Director of player development/assistant coach on a top NBA team, quoting;
“That would be a dream of mine. I would also love to have a basketball school which develop younger players into pros. Doing that in the UK I believe would be most fulfilling.”
On the subject of the image above of Daniel with NBA star Jimmy Butler, another man to help Daniel in the coaching business is Chris Johnson. He was Jimmy Butler’s personal skills development trainer for 6-7 years and was also mentored by Phil Handy. He originally introduced Daniel to Phil and, Daniel recalls;
“ I spent two summers as his intern where I was defending NBA players and rebounding while soaking up knowledge”.
But this wanting to be a coach at the top level hasn’t always been the case for Daniel. Attending Monmouth University from 2010, redshirting his freshman year, he spent three years at the prestigious school and was able to graduate while on a rare Presidential Scholarship, something which is pretty unheard of in NCAA D1 schools.
His playing days with Monmouth were unfortunately brief, limited to one year of redshirt-freshman basketball.
He recalls, “At the end of my first year I tore my meniscus (for the 2nd time) which required a simple surgery to fix. But two weeks before returning to school for my redshirt freshman year I suffered a setback in the form of a blow to my knee. I didn’t know what it was but I couldn’t walk properly for a solid week or so. Being the ‘stupid tough guy’ I was (and still am in some senses) I didn’t get it checked out and went back to school basically waiving off the pain and doing my best to get on with it.”
Playing with an injury that left him barely able to run, let alone make all the quick lateral movements required when playing any level of basketball, left Daniel frustrated. But he still got a decent amount of playing time.
After his redshirt first year, the head coach at Monmouth was replaced by a coach who came in to shake things up; demanding more work from the players and “changing the culture of Monmouth basketball” with Daniel being part of that first year roster.
Under the new coach, Daniel got some minutes and continued to throughout the parts of the season he was healthy enough to play in. Unfortunately for Daniel, it transpired that he had been playing on a partially torn MCL all season long and that brought an unfortunate end to his playing career.
These setbacks have led to Daniel taking a cautious approach when it comes to coaching, saying; “Life teaches you lessons and this is why I am so big on taking care of the body to my own clients.”
The results of his young career in coaching however are coming to fruition. Daniel highlights one player in Robert Banks Jr (also a fellow Brit) who’s played for GB U18s and is currently attending the Gould Academy Prep School in USA.
“He has completely bought into my holistic approach to teaching basketball. He is an extremely hard worker and sets the bar very high for himself. It is easy when you have someone like that”.
Daniel makes it clear that individually coaching a player is a two-way street. While the player obviously expects a certain standard of coaching to help improve his game, the coach needs to demand an attitude that 100% buys into their brand of coaching, or the dynamic simply falls apart.
When discussing the fairly recent rise of ‘celebrity trainers’ in the basketball world, particularly through platforms such as Instagram and Twitter, Daniel has a very straightforward view.
“If the person can help the people they are training to become better basketball players, I think that they deserve the accolades, sponsors etc that come with it. However, if that trainer is pushing the wrong messages/skills and is teaching questionable material, I would consider those types of ‘celebrity trainers’ to be the ‘one hit wonders’ of the basketball world.”
Because of course there’s nothing wrong with becoming famous through a particular line of work. It’s simply the approach that person takes to their fortunate position and how they deal with it which defines whether it’s considered right or wrong.
Two players that Daniel highlights as particularly respectable characters in the NBA are another fellow Brit, Luol Deng and fellow European guard Thomas Satoransky. He explains;
“Luol Deng epitomizes the word professional. We also share a bit of a history as I met and associated with him years before I got into training. Thomas Satoransky is another top professional and person. One thing these two NBA players share is their low-key personalities who respect the game and others around them.”
Because for Daniel James, the game is all about respect. It’s not about trying to emulate someone else’s achievements and being famous. Sure, it helps massively to become close with those who you look upto and respect like Daniel does with Phil Handy. But at the end of the day, it’s about being yourself and staying true to that. He sums this all up perfectly, saying;
“I aspire to be Daniel James and be the best trainer and coach out there.”
Under the guidance of a top NBA coach who’s respected by some of the best NBA talent to grace the league, Daniel James is in good hands. A blend of this and the hardworking, dedicated attitude Daniel has gives him the best chance of being very successful in the industry.
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