Estimated read time: 3 minutes
Every coach says it.
“Watch film.”
And players do. They sit down, they press play, they watch themselves for twenty minutes. Then they go to practice and do the exact same things.
Because nobody told them what to look for. Nobody told them what to do with what they saw. Nobody defined what watching film actually means.
That was Mike Carlson's whole thing, long before he joined SAVI.
Mike played professionally overseas for years. And while he was still playing, he had a teammate. A buddy. A guy who came in as a rookie and, as Mike put it, stunk…which happens. There's always a learning period when you move from high school to college, or college to pro.
The game speeds up. The reads get harder. Players who were great suddenly look lost.
Mike started using film to help him. And in the process of figuring out how to help his buddy, he figured out something bigger: a system for using film to actually change how players play. Not just show them what they did, but truly change it.
That became his work. That's what he's been doing for years.
And now he's at SAVI, doing it for you.
We sat down together for our new segment: Film Don't Lie. Watch the first one here:
Mike is building Film Don't Lie inside Basketball Training by SAVI - film study, player mentorship, weekly workouts and progressions, development challenges. The Premium membership gives your player open DMs with Mike for personalized weekly film feedback. That is a different category of development than anything else out there at this price. 👉 Try it free for 7 days.
The first thing to understand: watching film as a fan does nothing.
When you watch a clip and think "what a great read" or "what an amazing move", you appreciated something - you didn't learn it. You went back to practice the same as you were before.
📽️ The only version of film worth doing is film that changes behavior.
And here’s how you do that:
Frame it before you show it. Before you press play, tell players exactly what to look for. Turn "watch this clip" into "watch how the guard moves their eyes from the hedge to the helper the moment they turn the corner." When they know what they're looking for, they can actually find it. If you name it after the clip, you've already lost them.
Watch it in triplicate. Show the clip three times. Stop rewinding. Stop fast-forwarding. The repetition does the work you're trying to do with commentary.
Let them take in the context. What happened? What's the situation?
Direct their attention to the one thing that matters.
Let them absorb it again with that new lens.
Ask for the behavior change. After the clip, don't move on. Ask: “what's the one thing you'll do differently next time you're in this situation?” They write it down. They say it out loud. Until they can name the behavior change, they haven't learned from the film. They've just watched it.
And one more from Mike, which is one of the sharpest things I've heard on player development: if you're showing a player what they should be doing - don't show them an NBA clip. Show them a U16 player doing it right. When the example is at their level, they believe it's possible. When it's LeBron, they just think "yeah, that's LeBron."
The model has to be believable to create belief.
Stay SAVI,
— Tyler
P.S. Film study is at the center of what we build inside SAVI Basketball. If you want weekly custom film breakdowns of your own team, that's what Premium is for. $997 for the year. Everything included.
P.P.S. Mike is doing direct film feedback with players inside Basketball Training by SAVI. Premium is $97/month and includes open DMs with Mike for film feedback once a week. If you have a committed player, this is the most direct development they'll get.
P.P.P.S. Listen to more of our discussion with Mike on The Hours this week - Episode 124 dives into our rules for defense.
