NBA summers are long.
Really long.
While most of us hoops fans are sitting around, drooling over shortened clips of the league’s top stars messing around in various pickup games, Olin Simplis is putting in several hours of work with some of the NBA’s most talented players.
Here at ACT Sports Media, we were lucky enough to talk with “The Guard Whisperer” about the off-season schedule and about the prospects of some of his clients going into the new season.
Archie: Firstly, how did you get into coaching originally?
Olin: “When I was a young kid, I had a pretty successful high school career. Only playing two years of high school ball was enough to draw attention from a lot of HM programs after averaging 26/12/6 as a junior.
My senior year I had a run in with my coach and walked off the bench in a big game in my senior year which lead to a stall in my recruitment for the obvious reason. At that point I knew I wanted to get into some level of mentoring kids from my background – single parent home, little help.
I wanted to utilize basketball to teach life lessons and help kids use the sport to further their education. It just evolved from there.”
Archie: What does it take to effectively coach players at the highest level?
Olin: “I would say trust and respect!!! The players have to respect and trust you unequivocally to get them to follow your guidance. If the above don’t exist it doesn’t matter your level of expertise.”
Archie: You’ve coached both Yuta Watanabe and Rui Hachimura, both of whom are Japanese. How do you think they can better the reputation of players coming out of Asia and playing in the NBA?
Olin: “I guess the first thing I would say is toughness. There’s a label that most international guys, regardless of where they’re from, lack toughness. Both Yuta and Rui are highly skilled but possess toughness and grit that I look for in all the players I work with.
I truly believe skill without grit is useless.”
Archie: You’ve also done workouts with a few guys from this year’s draft – namely De’Andre Hunter, Nikeil Alexander-Walker, and the aforementioned Rui Hachimura among others. What do you think of their prospects in making it in the NBA?
Olin: “I believe each of those guys will have a long and successful career. What each of them possess is ‘coachability’ and a skillset that translates to the Association. With continued work with their mindset I expect all of them to evolve into high level NBA talent.”
Archie: The Hawks showed they were hugely committed to drafting Hunter at all costs. From your experience with him, what do you think they saw in Hunter to take him with the 4th overall pick?
Olin: “He’s a WINNER!! He takes pride in the defensive side of the floor, which is rare for a young man at this stage. He’s able to guard three positions on the floor which is huge in today’s pick n roll and spread offense.”
Archie: You’re clearly very close with Spencer Dinwiddie and you’ve also been working out with Caris Lavert recently. How do you think those two will do next season considering the major moves the Nets have made this off-season?
Olin: “With today’s game evolving into a ‘positionless’ sport, Spence and Caris are two dynamic players being able to play multiple positions and guard multiple positions. I think it will be a seamless transition for them to alongside the star power of Kyrie and KD.
It makes Brooklyn scary team for years to come.”
Archie: Lastly, what’s the one key message you try and instil in players you coach to make them work as hard as possible?
Olin: “I try to keep the message the same from middle school on up.
To never settle and be comfortable.
In basketball there’s no such thing as remaining the same. You’re either getting better or worse. You’re either trying to catch the guy ahead of you or your losing traction to the guy behind you. At the end of the day it’s something you LOVE, so why not got full throttle and fall in love with The Process?”
Want to find out more about the story of Olin Simplis? Then follow his journey through his Instagram updates: @TheGuardWhisperer
He’s regularly posting videos working out with the likes of SGA, Chris Paul, Spencer Dinwiddie as well as heaps of other world class talent. As well as this, he posts about morality and helping those in the community, something Olin clearly holds close to his heart.
Be sure to drop him a follow!
https://www.instagram.com/p/ByL3LTtnaMT/?igshid=1x1cew4t4mwvb
ACT Sports Media 