by Sean O'Brien
ASW is always a great opportunity for us to meet with some of our valued partners such as NBA Entertainment, Synergy Sports, NIKE Basketball, adidas basketball, DIME Magazine, NBA scouts and coaches as well as various artists and DJs that we are looking to collaborate with. There are so many amazing synergies with these partners that help us create a unique and authentic basketball experience each and every year.
One of my favorite events over the weekend is the NBA LIVE Challenge. It’s very cool to be able to see some of the best NBA LIVE players out there, watch how they play the game as well as talk to them about the game, what they think of it, how it can be improved, etc. The entire production team spends time with these guys in an attempt to better understand how the elite players are playing our game. It also helps reinforce some of the things that we are focusing on this year. It was quite painful watching the two finalists use the pick and roll control on every single possession and seeing Yao and Z end up with 75% of each of their team’s total points. Obviously something that we are going to address this year with a big focus on help defense, especially during a pick and roll situation. There are other examples that I won’t get into right now. But rest assured, they are ALL going to be fixed this year.
It was a great weekend, the city of Phoenix was a great host and I really enjoyed the collaboration and observations that went on during the various events.