Before I tell you about The Painted Possession and the reasons you need to subscribe, allow me to introduce myself.
My name is Eric Fawcett, and I love basketball.
Look, I know a lot of people say this–but allow me to demonstrate with some evidence. Let me take you through a few of my jobs:
-I consult for teams and coaches around the world
-I coach basketball
-I make coaching content and resources through Slappin’ Glass
-I write about basketball
-I podcast about basketball
-I have a video show about basketball
-I do color commentary for basketball games
If there is something related to basketball in terms of coaching or the media side of things–I’m doing it. And that is out of pure love.
That love has brought me well beyond the borders of North America when it comes to the game. Many of you will know me for the tactics I post to Twitter of actions around the world, and my knowledge of international basketball has been a huge piece in my consulting, and ultimately joining the team at Slappin’ Glass. Ultimately, the insights gained by my work with high performing teams around the world and the knowledge I have from regularly conversing with coaches around the world is the big reason why I wanted to start The Painted Possession.
Let me bring you back to a day in February. I had just returned from a trip with my wife to Korea, where we attended several basketball games, ate incredible food, and walked 30,000 steps a day. This was the heart of the season for most leagues around the world, and you can tell a whole lot about my life and my influences when you look at my phone in the morning when I wake up.
Thankfully my phone was silenced, but if it wasn't you would hear a symphony of different pings, dings, and bells from the various messaging apps I need to frequent. You see, simply texting doesn’t really do the trick when you’re actively dealing with coaches around the world.
Most of the notifications are from WhatsApp, the preferred system for many countries around the world.
I also have red “1” badges over Kakao Talk, the app they use in Korea.
It’s next to WeChat, China’s superengine of a messaging (among a million other tools) app.
I see Telegram lit up, and I know it’s going to be some coaches from the middle east.
Then, I manually check Viber, because I can’t yet figure out the notification settings–though I’m going to need to, as many Balkan coaches prefer it.
By the time I get to good old fashioned texts and iMessage, I know I’m back to American coaches.
I am incredibly thankful for the community of clients and friends that I have around the world, as it has allowed me to gain the knowledge and insights that has made me valuable to my many clients. These clients include teams from the NCAA, NBA, Europe, and Asia, from the absolute tops of these leagues trying to win Championships, down to the bottom of these leagues where hungry coaches are looking to find an edge that can allow them to win enough games to earn a bigger job.
Speaking of earning bigger jobs, many of my clients have done this, and some have had their personal salaries increase by 10x since I started working with them. Though this isn't the type of metric for success many people would admit they are looking at–I know some of my clients do. And it’s an example of how finding edges in coaching can be game changers, and finding edges is exactly what I do.
When people ask me what my consulting work looks like they’re often expecting a straight-forward one sentence answer, but that just isn’t the case. My diverse sets of skills and interests within the space has meant savvy coaches across the globe have thought of me to help them with all kinds of different tasks. Analytics, scouting, front office strategizing, game planning, scheduling (in college basketball), and interview prep are just a few of the sub-categories I can see on a recent spreadsheet, but all of these are probably secondary to the number one biggest category that my clients use me for.
On court creativity and innovation.
My clients look to me when they want something new, fresh, or innovative to best utilize their talent and win more games. Finding edges that drive winning is the north star of all my work, and the biggest way this has manifested itself is coaches coming to me with questions of how they should play, or how they can innovate or iterate on previous ideas to do something new. Much of this work is on the offensive end, though I’m starting to get many more inquiries about what trending defensive strategies in Europe could be incorporated. I absolutely adore this work as it allows me to constantly innovate and keep my eye on trends around the world, and there is nothing I love more than talking to coaches about how the game is moving globally and how they can utlize that information with their teams. It’s a way I have brought a lot of top programs value, and I want to bring that value to you.
This brings us to The Painted Possession.
Despite all the outlets I have for my basketball thoughts and knowledge, I still felt there was a lot I had to say and deliver without a clear outlet for it. I have thoughts on culture, NIL, trends, and basketball around the world that don’t fit cleanly into any of my current outlets. I also have edits upon edits upon edits of some of the greatest concepts and plays from around the world, and in the past many coaches have asked if I had a library which I didn’t, because at the time I didn’t want it to be publicly available.
My work with Slappin’ Glass remains a top priority for me, and that’s where you will find our work with deep dive breakdowns of innovative topics, among all kinds of other brilliance that makes it nearly a requirement for every elite coach around the world. If you have got to this point reading this, you are probably someone who either already subscribes, or should subscribe. It remains the most valuable tool in coaching, and I couldn’t recommend it enough even before I joined the team–if you think I’m showing bias.
I will also continue to pour my soul into my consulting clients, all of whom I love dearly and want to see have incredible amounts of success.
However, The Painted Possession will become my outlet for everything of value I can bring coaches that doesn’t have a home in one of these other places. I have thought deeply about what this means, and am incredibly excited for this:
Firstly, it will be a place for me to bring tried and tested actions that have helped my clients around the world. The Painted Possession will be the library that coaches have always asked me about with the best sets, actions, and concepts from around the world. Notably, every single set that I share will be one that I have used in consulting and one that has had success. Plus, not only will I share the film–I will have commentary and analysis of each of these actions that will give valuable context. Right now the social media space is littered with people sharing film–but it always lacks context. This has always been a slight bother to me, and though some great people that I love use this phrasing, tacking “must add action” or “set you need to start using immediately” doesn’t provide much insight or value, and that insight and context is what I will share with each clip.
There is already a small library that is established just to get something started, but it is going to be added to twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays. If there is one thing I deliberated a ton on when I decided to start this, it was the amount I was going to post. Initially it was going to be daily, then five days a week, and ultimately–twice.
This is because when I post something, I need you to know that it was truly picked with intention, and is something that is truly valuable. A daily post would dilute that greatly, and would go against the vision of what I want, actually, NEED The Painted Possession to be. Instead of seven mediocre posts a week, you will get two that truly matter and are worth your time.
Here, you will get incredibly curated and thoughtful content that will be diverse in origin. There are all kinds of basketball resources out there, but there is a massive negative in there being so much searchable coaching content out there.
When searching is so powerful, coaches only search for the stuff they THINK they need. Here at The Painted Possession, I will help bring you things you didn’t know you needed, with a fresh perspective that will give you the advantage in your league–wherever that may be.
The other piece here is that because there is so much social media content out there, so many coaches are watching and reading the same stuff. If you are taking in all the same content as everyone else–how are you going to get an advantage?
When the New York Knicks run a gorgeous sideline out of bounds play that everyone is looking at and every X’s and O’s account posts, are you really getting an advantage by watching that, when every other coach is doing the same?
This is where I want The Painted Possession to bring you a massive advantage–you will get unique, valuable insight from around the world that your rival’s staff is probably not watching, and that’s how you can gain a true advantage.
There will also be a written piece every two weeks where I bring stories and analysis that will give you viewpoint, knowledge, and value about something going on in the basketball world that I am dying to tell coaches about, all from the lens of someone with consulting clients around the world. This is the piece that I am most excited for, as I have thoughts on all kinds of things that I have had to keep to myself or to a few clients, but is finally something I am ready to bring to all of you. Thoughts on culture, NIL, trends, coaching, and information on basketball around the world that you need to know. This is an area where The Painted Possession will have immense value. Many of the coaches I know come from a rather narrow viewpoint, having worked in the same basketball systems for similar coaches–and I’ve learned that they value me for the perspective I have of knowing basketball around the world. I am also planning on doing audio recordings for each written piece so it can be consumed audibly as well–I know some of you would rather listen while you do a chore or other task for efficiency reasons, and I know some of my coaching friends with English as a second language prefer hearing basketball talk as opposed to reading it.
In the first week after launch, you’ll get a handful of these articles right away–stuff I just can’t wait to share.
I will also mention that there will be zero use of generative AI in the writing of these articles. For better or worse, you’ll be getting words straight from my brain.
If you are a college basketball coach quickly trying to learn about the European landscape, I’ve got you by the way–this will be one of the first things I post, as I’ve been dying to clear some things up to a basketball world that still seems to know so little about the topic.
The cost will be $5 a month, and I am confident you will find the return on investment to be outstanding. Something I regularly hear from my clients who pay me, well, much more than $5 a month will tell me “Fawcett, if you help me win one more game this year, every dollar I paid you is worth it.”
What would you pay for one more win a season? Or two, or three?
I think that with the insights gained by The Painted Possession you’ll find this to be one of the best investments you make in your craft, and I want the metric of whether or not it’s worth it to be clear–does it help you win games or not. And I am confident it will help you win games.
At the top of this piece I mentioned my love of basketball. Throughout my travels around the world and meeting a ton of coaches, I’ll be honest–a lot of them do not truly love the game. They love coaching, they love people, and they love the lifestyle, but they don’t actually love the game, and you can see that in the way that their desire to continue to learn, develop, and adapt is minimal.
However, if you’ve read everything and gotten to the bottom of the page reading this, I’m going to guess you truly love the game. You aren’t satisfied with just what you learned in your playing career, or what you gathered from the first head coach you worked under. You are hungry for information, you crave something new, and you want to be on the cutting edge of innovation.
If that’s you, come find your home at The Painted Possession.
Join here: https://www.thepaintedpossession.com/upgrade
