Basketball player development isn’t just about reps in the gym. Trey Drechsel walked on at a D2 school with about a hundred kids in his graduating class - no scholarship, no recruiting buzz. Seven years of pro basketball later, his journey is proof that real basketball player development starts between the ears. In this episode, host Mitchell Kirsch sits down with Trey to break down the mental and physical systems that took him from a small-town kid to a 7-year overseas pro.
The Shooting Slump That Redefined His Basketball Player Development
At Western Washington, Trey was shooting mid-40s from three - first-team all-league, wildly consistent. After transferring to Grand Canyon, it fell apart. He finished the season at 15% from three. His fix? Two extra workouts a day. Sleeping in the team snack room. None of it worked. “I was treating the mental side as unimportant,” he says. That slump became the turning point in his basketball player development - the moment he realized physical effort alone couldn’t solve a mental problem. Every coach working with athletes needs to hear this story.

The 10-Minute Mental Warmup for Basketball Player Development
Trey journals for 10 minutes every morning - not gratitudes, not to-do lists, but expanding on the big concepts he’s processing. On game days, he writes three personal execution items and three team goals. “It’s the same idea as your warmup before practice,” he says. “But for your headspace.” Over a nine-month season, that daily 10-minute commitment adds up to a massive investment in basketball player development - the kind coaches should be teaching their athletes. If you’re serious about basketball player development, start with 10 minutes of journaling before anything else.

Physical Systems That Keep a Pro Basketball Player on the Court
After knee surgery in Lithuania revealed three meniscus tears and cartilage floating everywhere, his surgeon told him: “Your boat was sinking. You were just incredible at patching up the holes.” Trey identified himself as a quad-dominant mover by studying film and comparing his deceleration to players like Luka Doncic. He reverse-engineered his entire warmup - glute activation, posterior chain work, core trunk stability - arriving 90 minutes before every practice. That level of basketball player development and body awareness is what separates guys who last from guys who don’t. Coaches investing in basketball player development should be teaching their athletes this kind of body awareness from day one.

Atypical: Basketball Player Development Beyond the Court
Trey’s brand, Atypical, is built on one idea: basketball is the sandbox of life, not life itself. He believes real basketball player development means using every experience - slumps, injuries, new environments - as fuel for growth, not just on the court but as a person. That mindset is the missing piece in most basketball player development programs. It’s the kind of holistic approach that the best training programs and coaches are building into their systems.
