AS Featured in:

Here are some ideas for your next practice. Please be sure to #thankthepasser and credit Transforming Basketball if you share these on social media!

Here are some ideas for your next practice. Please be sure to #thankthepasser and credit Transforming Basketball if you share these on social media!

Transforming Activities

AS Featured in:

The Transforming approach to warm-ups is also unique! In this video, see some of the different wrestling and battling games that feature in the Transforming player development framework. Constraints can be changed easily to change these base activities. These are used as an alternative to stretches and routine-based movements.

Warm-Up Wrestling Games

Players receive a PVC pipe and complete various activities to interact with the pipe in different ways. Gamified activities can be created accordingly, as well as providing a level of autonomy by allowing the players to create their own warm-ups with the pipe.

Warm-Up With PVC Pipes

Players can play touch football with different types of ball, which may change every 30 seconds (e.g. a basketball, a football, a soccer ball, etc). Players then progress to different types of tag game, including chain tag.

Warm-Up Touch Football and Tag

Differential learning is a unique approach fostered on maximising variability and expanding the solution space. In this video, players invent their own DL shooting activities. Every shot is unique and different.

DL Shooting Invent Your Own

Differential learning is a unique approach fostered on maximising variability and expanding the solution space. In this video, players explore different movement prior to every shot. The shooter must change range and location every time, with passes also coming from different angles.

DL Shooting Different Movements

The coach stands behind an offensive player and puts their left or right hand up to create the advantage. The offense attempts to convert the advantage while the defense gets back to neutral. This can then progress to bursts with the continuous hi-5 used on any possession change or score.

4-on-4 Hi-5 Advantage Bursts

Players compete in small groups of 2, 3 or 4 players per basket. They must attempt to continuously keep the ball up without it bouncing on the floor by scoring alley-oop finishes. A missed put-back attempt leads to a letter being gained. A player is out when they get all five letters (H-O-R-S-E).

1-on-1-on-1 Keep it Up Finishing

The Transforming version of knockout! To start, instead of players going out when the person behind scores first, players must get as many points possible over a certain timeframe. Then for the next round, players go out but become extra defenders to block gold medal shot attempts.

Transforming Knockout

A dynamic start is used where the offense, defense, offense, defense start in a straight line under the basket (train). Once they get out to space, they can initiate any two person trigger to score. A variable shot clock can be applied to this.

2-on-2 Train to Trigger

Players run a 2-on-1 through the middle of the floor where they can only score a gold medal shot (score inside the smile). Players cannot leave the imaginary wall (lane lines) and have a one pass maximum after the initial get.

2-on-1 Wall Gets

Players pass the ball back and forth like a hot potato. The offensive player can drive at any time. This can be played on the spot or moving. In this example, players perform continuous mini plyometric jumps.

1-on-1 Hot Potato

Use these activities now, then take the next step when you are ready. Our products and membership give you the full systems and support that help coaches win with confidence.

Meet the              Behind the Movement, 

Alex Sarama is the founder of Transforming Basketball and one of the world’s most respected voices in evidence-based coaching. As the Assistant Coach and Head of Player Development for the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers, Alex blends research, innovation, and real-world experience to help coaches unlock what truly drives performance.

His mission is simple — to transform how basketball is taught and played. After years of working with elite teams and players, Alex has distilled decades of global coaching experience into practical systems that any coach can use to elevate their program fast.

His bestselling Amazon book, Transforming Basketball, released in April 2024, has become a cornerstone for modern coaching. Alex has delivered clinics in over 40 countries and trained coaches across every level of the game — from youth to professional. His previous roles include positions with NBA Europe, Paris Basketball (EuroCup), and the Rip City Remix (Portland Trail Blazers’ G League Affiliate).

Today, through the Transforming Community, Alex is on a mission to empower coaches worldwide with the same proven principles he’s used to develop top-tier players and winning programs.

alex sarama

Assistant Coach and Head of Player Development for the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers

alex sarama

coach

Trusted By

The Transforming approach to warm-ups is also unique! In this video, see some of the different wrestling and battling games that feature in the Transforming player development framework. Constraints can be changed easily to change these base activities. These are used as an alternative to stretches and routine-based movements.

Warm-Up Wrestling Games

Players receive a PVC pipe and complete various activities to interact with the pipe in different ways. Gamified activities can be created accordingly, as well as providing a level of autonomy by allowing the players to create their own warm-ups with the pipe.

Warm-Up With PVC Pipes

Players can play touch football with different types of ball, which may change every 30 seconds (e.g. a basketball, a football, a soccer ball, etc). Players then progress to different types of tag game, including chain tag.

Warm-Up Touch Football and Tag

Differential learning is a unique approach fostered on maximising variability and expanding the solution space. In this video, players invent their own DL shooting activities. Every shot is unique and different.

DL Shooting Invent Your Own

Differential learning is a unique approach fostered on maximising variability and expanding the solution space. In this video, players explore different movement prior to every shot. The shooter must change range and location every time, with passes also coming from different angles.

DL Shooting Different Movements

The coach stands behind an offensive player and puts their left or right hand up to create the advantage. The offense attempts to convert the advantage while the defense gets back to neutral. This can then progress to bursts with the continuous hi-5 used on any possession change or score.

4-on-4 Hi-5 Advantage Bursts

Players compete in small groups of 2, 3 or 4 players per basket. They must attempt to continuously keep the ball up without it bouncing on the floor by scoring alley-oop finishes. A missed put-back attempt leads to a letter being gained. A player is out when they get all five letters (H-O-R-S-E).

1-on-1-on-1 Keep it Up Finishing

The Transforming version of knockout! To start, instead of players going out when the person behind scores first, players must get as many points possible over a certain timeframe. Then for the next round, players go out but become extra defenders to block gold medal shot attempts.

Transforming Knockout

A dynamic start is used where the offense, defense, offense, defense start in a straight line under the basket (train). Once they get out to space, they can initiate any two person trigger to score. A variable shot clock can be applied to this.

2-on-2 Train to Trigger

Players run a 2-on-1 through the middle of the floor where they can only score a gold medal shot (score inside the smile). Players cannot leave the imaginary wall (lane lines) and have a one pass maximum after the initial get.

2-on-1 Wall Gets

Players pass the ball back and forth like a hot potato. The offensive player can drive at any time. This can be played on the spot or moving. In this example, players perform continuous mini plyometric jumps.

1-on-1 Hot Potato

Use these activities now, then take the next step when you are ready. Our products and membership give you the full systems and support that help coaches win with confidence.

Alex Sarama is the founder of Transforming Basketball and one of the world’s most respected voices in evidence-based coaching. As the Assistant Coach and Head of Player Development for the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers, Alex blends research, innovation, and real-world experience to help coaches unlock what truly drives performance.

His mission is simple — to transform how basketball is taught and played. After years of working with elite teams and players, Alex has distilled decades of global coaching experience into practical systems that any coach can use to elevate their program fast.

His bestselling Amazon book, Transforming Basketball, released in April 2024, has become a cornerstone for modern coaching. Alex has delivered clinics in over 40 countries and trained coaches across every level of the game — from youth to professional. His previous roles include positions with NBA Europe, Paris Basketball (EuroCup), and the Rip City Remix (Portland Trail Blazers’ G League Affiliate).

Today, through the Transforming Community, Alex is on a mission to empower coaches worldwide with the same proven principles he’s used to develop top-tier players and winning programs.

meet the
behind the movement, 

coach

alex sarama

Assistant Coach and Head of Player Development for the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers

alex sarama

trusted by