GITG101 Book Club Starts Next Week!

Working in the NBA

One of the common questions we receive are along the lines of, “What books are you currently reading?” Or “What books would you recommend?”

Just like summers are big for player development, they are just as important for personal development. 

One of the things I always recommend as you build yourself into being someone who would be hired for an NBA job is to be an interesting person. Have hobbies. Have a range of things you can carry a conversation about and connect with others about.

In an interview, when someone would tell me that they didn’t do anything outside of basketball, they ate, drank, and slept basketball… I didn’t see that as a positive, I saw that as someone who was unable to discuss any aspects of life outside of one single thing.  Even basketball is made of more than just basketball. It’s relationships, team dynamics, leadership, and so on.

I remember doing an interview with David Kaplan, who has now worked for 3 NBA franchises.  In our interview, we got sidetracked and talked more about food and cooking than we did hoops.  Eventually he got hired for an Internship with the Trail Blazers and in his first week on the job, he came over to my house and cooked a meal for 25 young people who were coming through Portland to catch a game. 

It was the full circle of being someone who was interesting, who could speak of things beyond basketball, who had hobbies and interests, and then was able to utilize it to the benefit of others.

One of many ways to becoming an interesting person is to read.

As we grow GITG101, one thing we want to do is create more community amongst our subscribers and specifically our paid subscribers here (thank you!). 

We will have book recommendations and some weekly notes from specific titles culminating with an open Zoom session for all who took part.

The first book recommendation is Atomic Habits.

It is a great book for the off-season as you have time to learn and engage in new rhythms and habits.

I always like getting physical books to write notes and highlight in but another (free) option is to use the Libby app.  It’s connects to your local library and you can get free audio books through it. 

Let us know if you’re taking part!  We’ll cover Chapter 1 next week!

Any paid subscriber who joins the Book Club will get the next book for free.