Special Feature: NBA Shooting Coach Marc Campbell On Biomechanics, Pro Basketball, and More
Plus, how Life Time Fitness changed his life
Hey all!
Today, we’re chatting with shooting coach and fellow Substacker
, who writes Low Man Help here on the platform. Marc has improved the shooting of high school prospects to NBA All-Stars. With the NBA guys, each player has seen a 6% increase in 3-point percentage on career-high volume. As a former professional basketball player and an NCAA champion at UNC, he has many great stories to share about his insight into the game.Note: Interview lightly edited for clarity, while specific names (due to NDAs) have been redacted.
Jacob: Thanks for taking the time, Marc! Let’s get right to it. So you’re a shooting coach by trade and played pro ball. When you were overseas, did you think, “I want to be a shooting coach?” What made you want to be a shooting coach?
Marc: No, nothing like that. I loved shooting, but I never thought about being a shooting coach. I would always be in the gym, and I’d tell guys to come get shots up with me, but I never thought it would turn into a profession.
As a shooting coach, I got my first client in an unconventional way. I was at Life Time Fitness, just messing around. I hadn't touched a basketball in a while, and this guy was working out on the other end. He came down and asked, “What are you working on? Will you show me?"
I said, sure thing, and that’s how I got my start. His name was Esian Henderson, and I still talk with him to this day.
Jacob: No way!
Marc: Yeah! A week later, I was working every morning with Esian and two of his other friends who played professionally in Europe and the G-league. It snowballed. I loved it.
I also got my first NBA client through one of Esian’s best friends, Richard Gray, an NBA agent who at the time represented Malik Beasley.
Jacob: That's amazing.
Marc: True story.
Jacob: Just at a Life Time Fitness shooting. That's incredible. Sports is such a small world. So, just to give readers a chance to understand your day-to-day, what’s your process when working with players?
Marc: If I’m working with an NBA player, it’s for an entire year cycle, April -> April.
The first priority is building their plan. Then, before we get on the court, I'll show them their plan and another player’s before and after.
I try to show them everything we're going to attack. I want them to cosign it. I want their opinions. The more you can see through the same lens here, the better.
Then we’ll have coffee together, get a meal together, and then, after all that, we’re ready to get on the court to execute.
You have to connect with them on an emotional level so that you can push them and they can trust you to lean in when things get hard.
Jacob: You have to make them struggle.
Marc: You have to.
The core of the program I run is 12 drills, which I call building shots.
Those are the ones that differentiate good from great and great from elite shooters. Those 12 are where you strip away all their superpowers because if you let them do anything just themselves as athletes out there, they will find a way to hide their warts.
Jacob: Athletes find a way to compensate, for sure.
Marc: No doubt! They will find a way to hide the weakness and keep it over here so you can't see it. Their body will shield it. No matter what you put them in, their body will shield it.
From day one to the last day, the standard for those is the highest because the goal is to strip their athletic superpower away, isolate one specific habit within a drill, have them able to execute that habit.
All while convincing them that the point of these 12 drills is NOT if the ball goes in.
A make is:
Can you get the sequencing right?
Can you get to where you load the power in the correct place?
Can you transfer the power correctly?
A make is not if the ball goes in or not. A make is this one specific biomechanical habit. And if you can get that, then when you go out and put it all together, it’s instincts.
Jacob: You'd rather have a miss in practice with the correct fundamentals, right?
Marc: Right.
Jacob: That makes sense. It was similar when I was playing tennis, especially with serving, which is probably the only thing in tennis that's as close to a jump shot from a repeatable standpoint. There are a lot more factors that make forehands and backhands less repeatable. But it doesn't matter. If I had a coach who said, "It doesn't matter if you make the shot; I don't care." It's more about, "Are you pronating at the end? Is your wrist snapping? How are you loading on the back foot?" There's so much involved.
Marc: When you say that, I think of serving more as a free throw.
Jacob: Yeah, a free throw is probably the better comparison because it's more straightforward, more repetitive, and involves fewer external variables.
Marc: I always talk with the guys about how a free throw is a “kind” learning environment. You can shoot it with bad habits because it will always be the same every single time. It's like a golf swing or serving in tennis; it's the same every single time. Nobody can mess with you.
Everything else in basketball is a “wicked” learning environment, right?
Jacob: Is that a reference to the book Range? (Written by the great
)Marc: Yep.
However, the book that influenced how I built the program I run the most is Charles Duhigg's The Power of Habit.
So much of that book shaped the drills and habits I wanted to teach, and even more so, the way I wanted to teach them—the sequencing of how to teach it. Much of it came from that book, specifically how to change habits, but not the feedback loop. The feedback loop will be the same; we just must insert something different after the cue.
Jacob: Right.
Marc: So much of how I built the program was based on that book. I've worked with three players; the biggest one is [REDACTED NBA ALL-STAR]. All three guys went through the same core program, and I worked with each one of them for two-year blocks. All three made a six percent jump in their three-point percentage, and they all shot career volume (up to that point) during the season we worked together. It's something I'm super proud of.
As they went through the program, each one said they'd never done anything like it. It's just very different, which I’m even more proud of.
I care deeply about epicenters, very specific epicenters. I’m quite particular and detailed when we’re on the court; I hold them to the highest standard; they’re the best in the world.
I don't get an unlimited amount of time to work on the court with them; I get 40 to 50 sessions, and that's it. I don't get them during the season, so it has to be a big cold plunge from the jump.
Jacob: You have to shock the system.
Marc: Exactly. I must uproot bad habits, reprogram good habits, and change what’s inside the feedback loop.
So much of it came down to identifying the correct epicenters and the body movement patterns players use most while playing. It’s a wicked environment, and being efficient with your time on the court is vital because you can't work on everything.
I don't do things that are big movement drills. You'll see Steph Curry doing big star shooting drills, running like crazy. I think those can be great for Curry, but he's not trying to change something.
Jacob: No, he's trying to maintain.
Marc: Yeah, he's trying to maintain. He’s already got the best software programming in his feedback loop.
When you're trying to change something, the approach I took is we must uproot it. We can't avoid it; we're going to get to this point every single time. So, we need to pull this out and insert something new into the feedback loop. It was important to me to dial it down to the most layered epicenter in this wicked learning environment and then spend the majority of the time there.
The first time I did this was in the summer of 2018 with Malik Beasley. He had finished his second year with the Nuggets and was about to be out of the league. I heard from two different people on different teams that Denver was thinking about cutting him.
I think we did about 50 sessions. The next season, he went from three points to 11 points—a massive jump—from 28 threes to 163.
I remember thinking during that summer working with Malik, "This might be the stupidest thing I've ever done." I played for Roy Williams. I played overseas. The summer before, I had worked with three overseas players and had done everything I had been taught, and it went well. Why am I doing something different?
But the summer before, I realized I had no voice; there was nothing I believed in because I hadn't yet developed my own beliefs.
Jacob: You had absorbed it from other coaches, right?
Marc: Right, I was just regurgitating everything that I had heard.
Jacob: There’s no identity there.
Marc: Exactly. I didn't have a core, and you can’t get buy-in if you don’t have a core belief.
Players ask or want to ask “Why” so many times during practice or workouts, and I’ve heard so many coaches reply with some version of “Because I said so.”
I actually said this to Danny Green one time. I’ll never forget it.
Danny Green was my college roommate, and I was working him out in San Antonio. We were doing something, and he asked, Why?
And I responded, “Because I said so.”
Then I asked him, “Would you ask Roy [Williams] or Pop [Greg Popovich] that?”
And Danny interjected, “No, but they’re Roy and Pop, and you're you.”
I took it to heart and realized he was exactly right—maybe not in the moment, but shortly thereafter.
It hit me that he should ask me, “Why?” It’s his game, the thing that provides a life for his family. He should be protective of it, and I should have a response way better than “because I said so.”
If anybody had said that to me when I was playing, I would have tuned out, too.
Jacob: For sure.
Marc: I always had this experience in the forefront of my head when I went into the tank after Esian’s summer, I knew I needed my own system, something I believed in.
Now, I know exactly what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. Everything’s going to compound. I’m going to build up from the base foundation level, working in compound interest.
I tell every client to ask me “Why” as much as possible, and if I ever tell you “Because I said so” or anything that’s not a simple, direct answer that makes sense, fire me on the spot.
The answer “because I said so” should never be acceptable at this level. There needs to be a simple answer for everything we’re doing.
Yes, I want them to understand what we’re doing, but I also want to build buy-in because I’m going to ask them to do things that are different from what they’ve always done.
I need them to understand there is a “Why” behind everything.
To me, that was the thing that separated me.
So anyway, that first summer doing it with Malik, I pitched this system and did it with him on the court, but I had never done it before.
Jacob: So essentially, you’re saying, “I have no clue if it's going to work.”
Marc: Zero clue. But I'm committed.
I've seen it all work in a wicked environment. I think I have it properly reverse engineered for an install package. These are the epicenters. We're going to get great at these specific things. We're going to get as tight as we can with these eight building blocks. We're in.
The whole time, I was committed to it, but I had never done it yet; I was working off blind faith.
I remember there was a game in Memphis. Denver was down 20 or so, and I think he went off for 25 in the second half and came back in the fourth to win. He closed that game.
I remember sitting in the chair watching it and texting Richard things like “Heck yeah!” and, In my head, I could see it all coming together; I was like, holy crap, it worked.
This might have been 40 games or 30 games in. I could see it translating, and that empowered me. Malik called me after that game and said, “Man, can you believe that? It was one of those moments where I felt your impact.”
I began to call those types of moments “Matrix Moments.” Like when Neo stopped the bullets in the hallway.
Once you have one of those Matrix moments, you feel it, and there's no going back. You see everything in a different light, and you feel it. For Malik and me, that night was a big Matrix moment.
Jacob: So after all that, working with NBA players and whatnot, now you're working this summer with a lot of high school and college guys, right?
Marc: Yeah!
I live about 25 minutes away from Chapel Hill — for the first time, I've worked in the Dean Dome as a coach, full-circle moment.
One of the most fulfilling projects this summer has been working with my college roommate, Deon Thompson, who's played for 15 years in the Euroleague, Japan, and other places. I've worked with him on changing his shot; my last session with him will be tomorrow. It's been so fulfilling, very different from any other client. It's been enriching.
Even more full circle, Danny Green came here for two weeks, and all three of us worked together.
The guy who set me on this path of figuring out what system I would build—all because he asked “Why” when I told him to pick up the ball with only one hand on a layup.
Jacob: That's amazing. I guess from a current standpoint, this is just a topical question. What is the most common issue you see from a mechanics standpoint? What is the most common issue you're seeing right now with this generation of high school and college guys?
Marc: It's the same thing for the professional players and high school players.
It's how/where you load power and then sequence power up. Shooting is just the transference of energy, and we're trying to make the machine as efficient and smooth as possible.
The biggest influence on how I teach shooting is Jonas Sahratian, he’s the strength and conditioning coach at UNC.
He taught us how to Olympic lift, and I teach shooting using two weightlifting exercises as analogies—power cleaning and dumbbell squat to press.
There's no difference between shooting a basketball and power cleaning. It's all about whether you can load power in the right place and transfer power from the floor through your hips.
The only difference in shooting is you have to get the power to go out through a basketball. But all the same principles apply. If you're power cleaning and the bar gets away from your body, now your arms are actively involved, and all the power you were transferring up through your hips is no longer a part of it.
Jacob: Yeah, you've lost all of it. That kinetic chain must work.
Marc: Yeah!
The way I teach shooting is all about kinetic linking, being able to link the power from the feet through the hips and then up through the ball. I was talking to Deon this morning about it. I call it the Holy Trinity, which is your hips, the basketball, and your shoulders. They have to move in unison to drop, load, and drive power through rhythmically.
Whether it's younger players or NBA players, I use a line that Jonas used to say all the time when he was teaching power cleaning techniques: "Your arms are just hooks."
If they get away from your body, they become actively involved. I always tell guys we don't want them to be involved because if our arms are actively involved in the power supply, it tightens our hands and wrists, and if those get tight, we can no longer do magic.
Jacob: Right. You lose all of the feel. That’s interesting. And you see that, inefficient transference of energy, as the most common issue across the board, no matter the level, right?
Marc: Absolutely.
It’s always about how they load power and how they sequence it. It doesn’t matter if you’re a high school, college, or NBA player—it’s all about those basics.
Jacob: That makes sense. It's interesting to see how players revert to old habits, especially when you analyze it like this.
Marc: Yeah, it’s fascinating.
When I started, I had no clue if it was going to work. This whole thing has been a beta test from the start. It still feels like a beta test because everyone’s biomechanical fingerprint is unique, so the goal is always to find the most efficient way to load and transfer power.
Jacob: I imagine there’s a lot to consider, like wingspan, weight, mobility, and other factors. But when everything clicks, right? That’s when you see the real improvement.
Marc: Exactly.
This is the way I describe it to the guys when they’re starting the 12 Building Shot drills.
I tell them their body is like a Rolex—it’s got a thousand pieces inside. We’re going to take the Rolex apart, pull out one piece and sharpen it, then put it back together.
These 12 drills are just a means to sharpen each habit.
We want those habits to become instincts when they get on the court, and if we work with the right epicenters within this wicked learning environment, those habits will translate into instincts.
Jacob: That’s a great way to look at it. It’s like building muscle memory but on a deeper level.
Marc: Exactly.
Jacob: That’s a lot of pressure, for sure. So, with everything you’ve done and learned, where do you see the future of biomechanics in basketball?
Marc: The future is more advanced tracking technology, like Hawkeye.
If they can start tracking limbs and get detailed biomechanical data, it would be a game changer.
Jacob: That sounds like it could be a real game-changer. That’s really exciting. So, last question. This one’s a little more fun. Outside of the players you’ve worked with, who’s your favorite NBA player to watch right now?
Marc: Steph Curry and I played against each other in high school a lot, and if I could watch anybody, I would watch Steph all day. It’s not even close — it’s by a country mile.
Jacob: Awesome answer. That’s all I’ve got for you. Though I’m sure I could come up with way more questions, you don’t have the time for that.
Marc: This has been fun! Thanks for having me!
Fantastic. I love basketball. 🏀