Steph Curry, Mike Dean, and What it Takes to be Great

A new Steph Curry documentary named “Underrated” dropped this week on Apple TV, and it made me take a hard look at his journey.

How does a champion become a champion?

How does a great stay a great?

The answer isn’t glamorous.

The reality is that greatness isn’t found in the moments where he makes a basket from half-court, or when he has a 50-point game on a sprained ankle.

Greatness happens during practice. Championships are won by consistently working on the basics.

The greats are great because they never stop working on the fundamentals. You know what steph focuses on during practice? Mobility drills & Hand-eye coordination.

Did he also put up 500 shots that day? Sure.

But, before he even put up one shot, he worked on the things that underpin the shot: the Mechanics, the footwork, the flexibility of his muscles.

Again — it’s not glamorous stuff. But he has 4 championships, so that tells us something.

At the same time…

I’ve been watching a lot about Mike Dean interviews this week too.

For those who don’t know, Mike is an acclaimed producer who’s worked with a slew of artists (Ye, Travis Scott, Beyonce, Madonna etc.)

The average music fan may not recognize his name, but if you check the credits, a lot of our favorite music, AND I MEAN A LOT OF IT is produced (or executive-produced) by him.

The biggest lessons I’ve learned from both Steph and Mike are the focal point today.

And, if nothing else, the most important takeaway from both that I’ve internalized is the importance of…

DOING DRILLS.

Take Mike Dean, instance.

Mike is most notably known for his work with Kanye, and the reason I bring him up is because of an exercise he mentioned doing during the making of Ye’s “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” called:

DRUM HELL DAY.

Drum Hell Day happened once a week (see the 13:30 mark in the video above for reference).

The way it worked was Mike Dean and Ye would go to the studio, and the entire day would be dedicated to pulling up EVERY recording session from EVERY song on the album and remaking the drum patterns all day.

For my advertising folks, this is roughly the equivalent of pulling up every brief you’ve got cooking that week and rewriting the strategy/concepting new creative for each one dozens of times.

It didn’t matter if they felt like they nailed it already. Mike said re-did the drums anyway. Dozens of times. Every song. Once a week.

It’s tedious, and it’s unglamourous. But, it’s the work.

Drum Hell Day led to them making that unique bounce which defines the record “All of the Lights.”

My point is this:

Hit records come from drill work. The best creative is rooted in fundamental truths.

“Kevin, it’s so basic” *Al Pacino voice*

Which brings us back to Steph…

He wasn’t supposed to make it.

He was undersized, underweight, and not really a standout. But what really helped Steph standout was…

Mental Toughness

In his first game as a starter at Davidson, he air-balled like 3 shots & ended the game with trash stats.

Any freshman would be rattled by a performance like that. Honestly, if the coach benched him the next game, who could blame him?

But the thing is, Steph shook off that performance, and the next game he immediately put up more shots.

The first few bricked but after that? He shot the lights out.

And even as a pro, he suffered back-to-back ankle injuries before winning his first ring. A lot of players would take that as a cue that maybe their days in the NBA were numbered, but he didn’t.

Instead, he remained focused on the fundamentals: Mobility, strength training, and physical therapy.

Because of that, he’s been able to (mostly) stay healthy and in the process he’s led Golden State to several championships.

EPILOGUE

Practice is everything no matter what field you’re in — especially if you aspire to be great.

Go back the basics & do your own version of Drum Hell Day.

Concept creative as an exercise, find ways to sharpen your copy just because. Hell, write 10 presentation decks a month for no reason at all.

It’s not the most fun work, nor should it be. But it is the most important work you can do.

Peace.