In this week's basketball coaching conversation, former NBA player and NBA/WNBA head coach Derek Fisher joins The Basketball Podcast to share lessons from a champion.

Fisher played in the NBA for 18 seasons and won five NBA championships with the Lakers. Fisher, often considered one of the greatest role players of all time, was part of a three-peat Los Angeles Lakers championship squad with Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal from 2000-02 and then again with Bryant and Pau Gasol in 2009 and 2010.

Fisher coached the New York Knicks from 2014-2016 and the WNBA Sparks from 2019-2022.

NBA Coaching Career

New York Knicks: Fisher was hired as the head coach of the New York Knicks in 2014 by then-president Phil Jackson. Despite facing challenges, he brought a wealth of NBA experience to the sidelines, emphasizing teamwork and resilience. His tenure with the Knicks was marked by a focus on player development and fostering a competitive environment.

WNBA Coaching Career

Los Angeles Sparks: In 2019, Fisher took on the role of head coach for the Los Angeles Sparks in the WNBA. His leadership was instrumental in guiding the team through the competitive landscape of the WNBA.

Crespi Carmelite High School (2023–Present)

On August 7, 2023, Fisher embraced a new challenge by becoming the head basketball coach at Crespi Carmelite High School in Encino, California. This role allows him to impart his extensive basketball knowledge and leadership experience to young athletes, fostering the next generation of talent.

In this week's basketball coaching conversation, Blair Academy head coach Joe Mantegna shares his insights on teaching the game and radical transparency.

Since arriving at Blair in 1999, Mantegna has transformed the school into a national prep basketball powerhouse. Under his leadership, Blair boasts an impressive record of 464-159, securing 16 Mid-Atlantic Prep League (MAPL) titles and 21 trips to the NJ prep “A” state finals, with state championships in 2009, 2011, 2014, 2019, and 2024.

Blair’s program has produced six NBA players, including Luol Deng ’03 and Charlie Villanueva ’03, who both played in the 2003 McDonald’s All-American Game. Additionally, nine Blair alums have participated in the NCAA Final Four, with three winning National Championships. Over 80 players have moved on to Division I rosters, while ten have played professionally overseas. Many former players also coach at the NBA, NCAA, and prep school levels.

Before Blair, Coach Mantegna was an assistant coach at four colleges, including Boston University and Lehigh University. His extensive coaching experience also includes international success. In 2023, he helped lead the South Sudan Men's National Team to three wins at the World Cup in Manila, a historic achievement for African basketball, qualifying them for the 2024 Paris Olympics. At the Olympics, South Sudan became the second African nation to ever win a basketball game.

Mantegna’s international coaching accolades include guiding the USA team at the 2022 NIKE Hoop Summit to victory and assisting South Sudan to a fifth-place finish at the 2021 FIBA AfroBasket. He also played a key role in South Sudan’s qualification for the 2023 FIBA World Championships in Asia. Additionally, Mantegna served as the defensive coordinator for the U.S.-Select U-18 team at the Albert Schweitzer Games in Germany in 2014 and 2016, later becoming the head coach in 2018.

Awesome to welcome legendary Canadian college basketball coach and current Senior Director Sr. Director of Basketball CEBL

Joe Raso is Senior Director of Basketball Operations for the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL). He leads the league's player procurement program both domestically and internationally, oversees the CEBL Draft, directs team and player compliance issues, supervises officiating, and plays a key role in the CEBL's relationships with FIBA, Canada Basketball, other basketball organizations, and player agents.

As a college coach, Raso is the all-time winningest coach in McMaster University history and one of the most successful coaches in Canadian University Sports history, with a record of 389 wins against only 155 losses (a .715 winning percentage) over 18 seasons, including 17 seasons with 20 or more wins.

Raso's basketball resume includes four OUA titles, 12 CIS National Championship tournament appearances resulting in four Silver medals, and six OUA Coach of the Year awards. He has produced five All Canadian players and two National Player of the Year winners while leading McMaster.

Raso has been a national and international consultant, clinician, committee member, speaker, and basketball analyst for the past 25 years. A former National team assistant coach, he has coached in World Championships and Olympic qualifiers, working with some of Canada's greatest players, including NBA two-time Most Valuable Player and Hall of Fame inductee Steve Nash. He has also served as Head Scout with the Canadian Men's National team and is an advance scout with the NBA's Atlanta Hawks, Brooklyn Nets, and Denver Nuggets.

Raso has been instrumental in developing basketball at the grassroots level in Canada and has served in various roles, including Technical Director with the World International Children's Games, where his Hamilton teams won international Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals. As a high school teacher for 32 years, he coached St. Mary's high school in Hamilton to an OFSAA championship in 1991 and represented Canada at the Albert Schweitzer Tournament in Germany.

In this week's basketball coaching conversation, NIKE Academy Director Sam Jones joins The Basketball Podcast to share insights on mindset, coaching adaptability and embracing growth.

Jones has served as the Nike Camp Director and is presently engaged in various initiatives aimed at the development of coaches and players in support of the EYBL

Before joining Nike, Jones served as an assistant coach at Colorado State for two seasons. He also spent two seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers in the role of player development coordinator. Prior to these positions, he was part of the coaching staff for the Cleveland Charge in the NBA G-League for three seasons from 2016 to 2019, concluding his tenure there as the associate head coach.

Jones started his coaching career in The Netherlands, working with Den Bosch Eiffel Towers for three years as an assistant coach before taking over as head coach of Den Bosch SPM Shoeters (club changed names). With SPM Shoeters, he led his team to the Dutch Basketball League and NBB Cup crowns in 2014-15 and Dutch Basketball Supercup title in 2015-16. He also spent his final three years in the Netherlands as the associate head coach with the Dutch Men's National Team.

Prior to coaching, Jones played 10 seasons in Europe, including playing in the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Spain and Cyprus. During his time playing, he won two titles with Den Bosch Eiffel Towers and appeared in multiple All-Star games.

In this week's basketball coaching conversation, Sharman White joins The Basketball Podcast to share insights into high school coaching - culture, strategies, and success.

Overall, in 24 seasons as a high school head coach, White has compiled a 522-122 (.810) record. Sharman has been a staple at USA Basketball since 2014 having been a part of 5 gold medal teams including 3 as head coach. White recently completed his sixth season as head boys basketball coach as well as the associate director of athletics at Pace Academy. As the head coach at Pace Academy, White recently picked up his 500th victory and has won six straight state championships.

Prior to Pace Academy, White was an assistant coach at Georgia State University for two seasons (2016-18), where he helped the team to a 44-24 record, including a 24-11 campaign and NCAA Tournament appearance in 2017-18. Before Georgia State, White was a high school coach for 20 seasons (1996-16). Eleven of those seasons (2005-16) were as the boys head coach and athletic director at Miller Grove High School in Lithonia, Georgia. At Miller Grove, White compiled a 268-60 record, including six-straight state championships.

The 2014 USA Today All-USA Coach of the Year, White guided Miller Grove to the 2009-2012 Georgia Class 4A titles and the 2013 and 2014 Georgia Class 5A championships. His final season at Miller Grove in 2015-16 was one of his most impressive, as his team finished 31-3 and earned a bid to the Dick’s National’s tournament. He was named the 2016 National High School Coaches Association Coach of the Year. He was recognized by the Atlanta Tip-Off Club and Georgia Sports Writers Association as the 2013 Georgia Coach of the Year, as the 2013 Georgia Athletic Coaches Association Class 5A Coach of the Year, the Georgia Class 4A Coach of the Year three times (2010-12) and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Georgia Class 4A Coach of the Year in 2010, 2011 and 2012.

White has also been head coach of the McDonald’s All American Game and head coach of the Nike Hoop Summit USA team. Sharman has been a staple at USA Basketball since 2014. While being selected as an assistant coach with USA Basketball, White helped capture a Gold Medal for USA Basketball at the 2015 and 2019 FIBA Americas U16 Championships. In March of 2021, White was named the Head Coach for the Nike Hoop Summit Team. In the summer of 2021 White took the command as the Head Coach for the USA Basketball Junior National Team U16 team and led them to a Gold Medal victory over Argentina in Xalapa, Mexico.

In the summer of 2022, White led the USA Basketball U17 team to a FIBA World Cup Championship and Gold Medal in Malaga, Spain. The following summer, Whitesteered the USA Basketball Junior National Team U16 group to a gold medal in the FIBA Americas U16 Qualifier Tournament. This past summer, White helped the USA secure their seventh consecutive FIBA World Cup Championship with a gold medal performance in Istanbul, Turkey. It gave the USAB Junior National Team a record of 51-0 in the FIBA World Cup competitions.

In this week's basketball coaching conversation, Chris Oliver shares his thoughts in the latest basketball knowledge brain dump.

Chris Oliver is the founder of Basketball Immersion, a leading resource for basketball coaches and players worldwide. Since 2014, Chris has been dedicated to sharing his passion for the game through innovative coaching methods, immersive videos, and insightful podcasts.

With a decade of experience in educating coaches, Chris Oliver has established himself as a trusted authority in youth basketball development. As a consultant for the NBA's youth basketball development programs, Chris Oliver works to shape the future of the game. He is also involved with the renowned Sierra Canyon basketball program, further solidifying his commitment to nurturing young talent.

Through Basketball Immersion, Chris Oliver provides coaches with the tools and knowledge to enhance their teams' performance. His engaging content, including the popular Basketball Immersion podcast and in-depth video analysis, has resonated with coaches from grassroots to elite levels.

Chris's mission is to empower coaches, players, and basketball communities globally, fostering a deeper understanding and love for the game. Join the Basketball Immersion community to tap into Chris's expertise and transform your coaching and playing experience.

In this week's basketball coaching conversation, Jack Van Deventer joins The Basketball Podcast to discuss the current state of basketball analytics.

Jack Van Deventer is the founder and CEO of Basketball Science, a consulting firm based in North Carolina. With a distinguished 45-year career as a statistician, professor, and data scientist, Jack retired as the Lead Data Scientist of a Fortune 40 company to embark on his basketball analytics venture.

Jack's academic journey includes his role as a professor of Business Statistics at Boise State University and later as a professor of Management Information Systems at Washington State University, where he earned teaching awards at both institutions. His expertise lies in simplifying complex information into actionable insights, a skill he seamlessly translated into the realm of basketball analytics.

Fifteen years ago, Jack began advancing basketball analytics when his daughter, Amy, started playing junior high basketball. Collaborating with fellow data scientists, Jack realized that commonly-used basketball statistics were lagging by about 25 years. He then focused on developing improved metrics and shared his findings with Amy's high school coach, leading her team to a State Championship. Later, Amy's D-II college coach utilized Jack's stats to win the conference championship and advance to D-II March Madness, defeating more talented teams in the process.

As Jack's analytics reached higher-level basketball programs, their success continued to grow. Today, Basketball Science is dedicated to providing better insights to teams that strive to win, consistently pushing the boundaries of basketball analytics.

Vincent is the Program Manager of the Sports & Society Program of the Aspen Institute with responsibility for driving Project Play's school sport and coaching portfolios.

Vincent extensive international research and professional experience in youth sports coaching, coach development and long-term athlete development, his current work at the institute focuses on improving youth experiences in sports, including prioritizing athlete health and safety, bolstering coach training, strengthening national coaching policy and reimagining models of school sports.

Minjares holds a Ph.D. in Coaching & Pedagogy from AUT University (Auckland, NZ), an M.A. in Education from the University of California, Berkeley, within the Cultural Studies of Sport and Education (CSSE) program, and a B.A. in Economics from Claremont McKenna College. His research interests emphasize sports, coaching, education and human development, with published research in the areas of youth sports reform, college athletes, sports coaching and coach development. His dissertation examined the development of coaching practices in high school basketball that facilitate athlete learning.

Professionally, Vincent has held diverse learning and development roles in sport across the United States and New Zealand. Vincent began as a basketball skills trainer in Southern California. Following graduate study in Berkeley, Vincent served the Athletic Study Centre (ASC) as Director of Academic Development, a role responsible for the design and delivery of academic support services for student-athletes in an NCAA Division I sport setting. In addition, Vincent served as a member of the Chancellor’s task force on Academics and Athletics as well as a Special Advisor to Intercollegiate Athletics. In New Zealand, Vincent served as the Development Officer for North Harbour Basketball Association, a regional sport organization and the country’s largest basketball club. In this role, Vincent also served Basketball New Zealand (BBNZ) as a Regional Coach Developer, Special Advisor (Wellbeing and Transition) and a member of the Coach Leadership Group.

Vincent brings extensive experience as a coach and player. Vincent played NCAA Div. III basketball for Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (Claremont, CA) and attended Damien High School (La Verne, CA) where he became a three-year varsity letterman. Vincent first coached high school and junior college basketball in Southern California before returning to coaching in New Zealand at the club, high school, national representative and international representative levels.