Providing Insights on Leadership and Success. Coach Bechler is a John Maxwell Leadership Team Member.
Adrian Griffin was hired as the head basketball coach of the Milwaukee Bucks just two years after the Greek Freek (Giannis Antetokounmpo) led the team to an NBA World Championship.
His path to becoming the head coach was less conventional than we’ve come to expect, but there are some lessons from Adrian’s story that we can learn from.
Fred VanVleet got paid. I mean HE GOT PAID!
FVV’s contract of 4-years $85 million might not be the largest contract in NBA history but it is the largest contract ever for an undrafted free agent.
Bet on yourself. That has been Fred’s mantra – his philosophy – for a long time.
In fact, he even has his own Bet on Yourself apparel line.
Adrian Griffin won a World Championship as the lead assistant coach for the Toronto Raptors in 2020. He played in the NBA from 1999-2008 after a stellar career at Seton Hall University. In 2010 he was inducted into the Seton Hall athletic Hall of Fame. Prior to serving as the Raptors lead assistant coach, he also spent time on the sidelines for Oklahoma City, Orlando Magic, Chicago Bulls, and the Milwaukee Bucks. Next year he’ll have each of his three children playing Division I basketball (Duke, UConn WBB, and Syracuse).
Lorenzo Brown was the NBA’s 2018 G-League Most Valuable Player and is a member of the Toronto Raptors. He also played with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Detroit Pistons, Philadelphia 76ers, and Phoenix Suns. The six-foot-five combo guard played college basketball at NC State. He led the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) in assists as a junior before leaving early to enter the NBA Draft. He was drafted 52nd overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 2013 NBA draft.
During Brown’s MVP season, he helped lead the Raptors 905 to the G-League Finals while averaging 18.8 PPG, 8.8 APG, and 5.2 RPG. On January 12, 2018, Brown became the first player to score in both a G-League game and an NBA game on the same day. He had 24 points and 12 assists for the 905s earlier in the day and then suited up that night against the Lebron James-led Cleveland Cavs on national TV. Brown would play 19 minutes in the 34-point blowout win, scoring 6 points and dishing out 5 assists.
Brown initially attended Centennial High School in his native Roswell, Georgia, where he averaged 20.8 points as a senior and was named a fourth-team Parade All-American and the Georgia 5A player of the Year. He would eventually spend a post-graduate year at Hargrave Military Academy.
Nicole Arbour is a comedian, entertainer, social media expert, actress, singer, dancer, choreographer, motivator, and business consultant. Her videos have been viewed more than 700 million times worldwide. She has a great story that can be inspirational to those that want to be a victor rather than a victim. After being an NBA cheerleader, choreographer, starring on the top comedy show on Much Music in Canada (Canada’s MTV), helping mass brands create record breaking digital content, and working her way up to feature films and televised stand up specials, Nicole was involved in a car accident in 2008 that left her on disability and a life of medial treatments. Refusing to accept the lifelong disability diagnosis, Nicole utilized unconventional treatments, created the #GOTEAM movement, and very literally cheered herself and thousands of fans back to life and off of pain killers.
Her hard-hitting, real, and innovative debate starting style of comedy has led her to being one of the Top-7 Youtube Channels Crushing It That You Can Learn From by Entrepreneur Magazine as well as being featured by major news outlets around the world in the last two years alone. Nicole has been seen hosting Style New York Fashion Week at Madison Square Garden, joining the BBC Comedy Writing staff, hosting sold out events in Las Vegas and nightclubs around the world, consulting and creating content for brands that has led to tens of millions of views for her partners as well as beginning her music, beauty and book projects.
Nicole has been humbled to receive a series of accolades in including an Honorary Hollywood Walk of Fame star for special achievement in social media. The Hero of Hope Award from the International Pain Foundation and was the online fan vote winner and finalist for a Shorty Award Best Comedian.
We couldn’t be more excited to have Dwane Casey as our first-ever guest. He has had a remarkable career that has spanned from the University of Kentucky to coaching the Japanese National Team to being a successful NBA coach. He is the all-time winningest coach in Toronto Raptors history. The Raptors enter this season with high hopes as they are coming off of three straight 50 win seasons and last year finished tied for 2nd with the Cleveland Cavaliers just one game behind the Boston Celtics.
In today’s episode, we discuss:
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Welcome to the “Success is a Choice” podcast. In fact, welcome to the first-ever episode of the “Success is a Choice” podcast. We are very excited that this has become a reality. The goal of the podcast is to help you maximize your potential for success. Each week we will have some top-notch guests from all walks of life. We’ll have an actor one episode. We’ll have people worth hundreds of millions of dollars. We’ll have professional sports personalities. We’ll have educators. We’ll have people that you have heard of and people that might be new to you. However, the one thing each episode and each guest will have in common is the desire to add value to you, the listener.