Physical Preparation Podcast · Mike Robertson

Brady Howe on 3×3 Basketball, Mental Performance, and Life After the NBA

·57 min·5 clips

Brady Howe explains why leaving the Phoenix Suns was one of the best things that ever happened to him.

This episode features host Mike Robertson interviewing Brady Howe, a former NBA executive who spent 16 years in professional basketball, including six as VP of Health and Performance for the Phoenix Suns. They explore Howe's transition away from the NBA and his current work in collegiate sports and mental performance coaching. Howe explains his decision to leave the Suns, citing organizational changes under new ownership and his own desire for greater life harmony as a father and husband. He details his current role as Director of Sports Medicine at Grand Canyon University, overseeing care for 500 student-athletes across various sports. Howe pursued a second master's degree in sport and performance psychology, which he distinguishes from clinical mental health services, and is now working toward a PhD. He describes the "underbelly" of NBA life, where athletes and staff often navigate constraints like agent influence and proprietary concerns that can limit openness. Howe recounts the special culture of the Suns team that went 8-0 in the NBA bubble and reached the Finals, noting such cohesion is hard to intentionally create. A key insight is his view that many aspiring professionals have a "shallow mentality" about reaching the top without understanding the significant personal trade-offs involved. He frames mental performance as trainable skills like focus, confidence, and resilience, analogous to physical strength training. Howe shares that even elite athletes often struggle with debilitating negative self-talk, which mental performance work can address. He emphasizes starting with self-awareness as the foundational mental skill, using assessments to understand an individual's goals and motivations. The conversation is educational and conversational, blending personal narrative with practical advice for coaches and high performers. Listeners interested in sports psychology, career transitions in high-performance fields, or the realities behind professional sports operations would find this episode valuable. Those seeking purely technical training content or quick fixes might find the broader life and mental focus less applicable.

As heard by us

A grounded look at what performance means after a long-chased goal is reached.

Brady Howe's path through the NBA, the G League, and six years as Phoenix Suns VP of Health and Performance gives the discussion real weight. What lands harder, though, is how it turns that career arc into a plainspoken look at what happens when a long-pursued goal is suddenly…

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If you want a grounded look at what comes after a lifelong sports goal, start here.

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