Title/Author:
“Net Work: Training
the NBA’s Best and Finding the Keys to Greatness” by Rob McClangahan
Tags:
Basketball,
professional, memoir, training
Publish date:
October 1, 2019
Length:
224 pages
Rating:
5 of 5 stars (outstanding)
Review:
Rob McClangahan is not a name that
basketball fans may recognize, but some of the toplayers who have hired him as
a trainer certainly are – players like Derrick Rose, Kevin Love, Kevin Durant,
and Stephan Curry have all hired him to help them work on their games through short
(one hour) but very intense work outs. In this book, McClangahan provides a
fascinating look at not only these players, but life inside the NBA and why
these players took their games to higher levels than most other NBA players.
It isn’t inaccurate to call this
book a memoir, as McClangahan does talk about his early love for basketball and
his story of being a walk-on player at Syracuse for three years while never
getting a scholarship is inspiring. Especially because of his work ethic – he always
put in the extra work required to not only make the team, but also to ensure he
could get some playing time.
Knowing that he wouldn’t be an NBA
player, McClangahan decided to take his basketball passion to help others. He
didn’t start out by training NBA players right away – he would be found at the
workouts that draft prospects would show their skills for the league’s teams. From
there, he would work out players who believed they needed extra help to ensure they
would be selected or who wanted to improve their draft position. His first star client from the NBA was
Derrick Rose, who took his “net work” (McClangahan’s term for the extra work
players put in to improve themselves – it is used frequently throughout the
book) to the MVP award.
Rose’s story is probably the most gut-wrenching
of all the players featured in the book because of his injury history. It was very heartbreaking to read about his
hard work to come back after missing the entire 2011-12 season, only to suffer
another season-ending injury in the first month back in November 2012. Don’t feel sorry for Derrick, however – he still
worked his way back to be a serviceable player. The chapter on Rose starts off
with a great story – when he scored 50 points while playing for the Minnesota
Timberwolves in 2018. It was a moment in which the entire league was
congratulating him because of his dedication to make sure he kept his skills
sharp.
While not as inspiring, the chapters
on some of McClangahan’s other clients like Kevin Love and Kevin Durant are
just as well-written and they provide the reader with an excellent insight into
the life of an NBA player – at least as well as one can state without actually
BEING a player. McClangahan has been
invited to join many of his clients on trips, charity events and of course, their
workouts, including those he hasn’t led. The reader will also see that he
enjoys this lifestyle and is grateful that he can have such a successful career
in the professional game without having ever played in the NBA.
Basketball fans, no matter what
level of interest they have in the professional game, will want to read this
book as it provides a very unique look into the game written by a man who has much
inside knowledge of the best players in the game.
I wish to thank Scribner for
providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Book Format Read:
E-book (Kindle)
Buying Links:
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