When Miles Simon was playing college basketball at Arizona from 1994-98, “player development” wasn’t much of a thing.
The way you worked on your skills apart from official team practices or games was to call up some buddies, head to a gym, and pick sides.
But things have evolved considerably over the last 20 years, as more and more money has poured into youth sports, specialization thus increasing in search of trophies and scholarships, creating a growing market for experts to teach younger athletes.
That’s extended to the NBA level in recent years. In 2017-18, every NBA team employs its own coaches that specialize in player development.