Azeez Ali

Middletown HS Boys Basketball Head Coach| Educator| Husband| Alayah & Zion Dad

[Coach Tony Miller @tonywmiller]

Kid says, “My goal is to play college basketball,” but…

🎮 video games 4-5 hrs/day
🌮 steady diet of Taco Bell/Cookout
📲 scroll TikTok til 2am every nite
📚 grades hover minimum
💪 workout/weights sometimes

Actions must match your aspirations… or change your aspirations.

[Hoop Herald @TheHoopHerald]

“Greatness is boring… there was a lot of boring days in the gym just working on my one dribble pull ups” - Anthony Edwards

Love this

[Azeez Ali @CoachZEEALI]

@chefsevenn Make a BLT!

[Azeez Ali @CoachZEEALI]

Another dub for your! CAVS 6’6 2027 F Amir Akbar lead the team with 30pts. 2028 PG Brian Carey was all over the defensive end with 6 steals.

[Middletown Boys Basketball @Middletown_BB]

New Jersey live complete! 2-0
2027 6’3 guard Shane Lopez lead the attack with 19pts.
2027 6’0 PG Bashir Holmes contribute with 12pts.

[Middletown Boys Basketball @Middletown_BB]

Philly live complete! Coaches we ate competing at New Jersey live tomorrow.
2027 6’3 G Jaelen Murphy 21pts
2027 6’3 G Shane Lopez 17pts
2027 6’6 F Aamir Akbar 8pts

[Azeez Ali @CoachZEEALI]

A balance attack lead by 5 guys in double figures!
2027 6'6 F Aamir Akbar 10pts 7 rebs
2027 6'3 G Jaelen Murphy 17pts 7 rebs
2027 6'0 G Bashir Holmes 11pts 2 rebs 4asst
2027 6'3 G Shane Lopez 10pts 10 rebs
2028 6'0 G Brian Carey 11pts 3rebs 3asst

[Azeez Ali @CoachZEEALI]

Coaches we are back this weekend! Catch us in Philly live 2 Friday and New Jersey live 2! We got prospects for all levels!

[Azeez Ali @CoachZEEALI]

@bballbreakdown What makes you assume he didn’t know the clock resets to 14. How you know he wasn’t playing the long game. You can play it out but if you don’t get a stop it’s only 11seconds left and you down two possessions.

[Azeez Ali @CoachZEEALI]

Coaches will be at Philly Live 2 26th and New Jersey Live 2 June 27th

[Azeez Ali @CoachZEEALI]

College coaches come check us out tomorrow. We have prospects for every level!

[Azeez Ali @CoachZEEALI]

Thank you to all those who served and will be serving to keep our country safe!

[The Players’ Tribune @PlayersTribune]

Keldon Johnson on his role with the @spurs: “I remember a couple years ago, I had a hard conversation with Pop. One morning, we were getting ready to play Dallas, and he pulled me to the side and told me that he thought it would be best for the team if I started coming off the bench. I said, ‘Yeah, of course. Whatever’s best for the team, I’ll do it.’ And I truly meant that, too.

But I’m also just human, man. And I was like 24 years old. If I said that I fully bought into this role from the jump, I’d be lying. I had averaged 22 points in the NBA. I’d won a gold medal with Team USA at the Olympics. So I just didn’t understand. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. And ultimately, I didn’t take it well. I sulked. I let the outside noise affect my play. I didn’t present the best version of myself as I was coming off the bench for the rest of that season. And I knew that I was much better than that.

I’ve been reflecting on that part of my journey a lot lately, with the position we’re in right now.

To backtrack a little bit…. When I was drafted in 2019, that was probably one of the most stressful nights of my life. I’d had a great year at Kentucky, and I thought I was going 9 or 10. In my mind, my floor was 15 to Detroit. The crazy thing is, I didn’t even work out for San Antonio. We talked a little bit on FaceTime, but I honestly didn’t think I’d still be on the board at 19 when the Spurs picked. Definitely not at 29, where I ended up going. I don’t know why I slipped so much, but thank God I did, because I landed at a proven organization with vets who could mold me.

That situation could have gone one of two ways. Thankfully, it went the good way.

Dejounte was young, too, but he knew the ropes better than me, and he made sure that I did everything the right way. I can’t thank him enough to this day for how much he’s helped my career. Same thing with DeMar DeRozan. Those guys really embraced me and took me under their wing as a young guy, and showed me how it was done. I feel like I had such a great group of vets, whether it was LaMarcus Aldridge, Patty Mills, Rudy Gay — all those guys went out their way to make sure I was solid. I feel like they knew how good I could be before I even knew how good I could be. They didn’t let me skip any steps, which was huge for my career early on.

And yeah, fast-forward to summer 2024, and I got to thinking back on my first couple years here in San Antonio, and how I could get that spark back, get back to being me. That’s when I started to see the bigger picture. We had picks. There were all these signs that we were building something that was gonna be special, all these bright green flags.

But there was this one red flag.

Me.

In that moment, I had to take a hard look in the mirror. And man, I just got embarrassed. I hated that feeling — the feeling that I had let my vets down, and especially let my younger teammates down.

This organization believed in me since day one, when Pop and our GM at the time R.C. Buford took a leap of faith on a player who was sliding in the draft and didn’t even have a workout at their facility. They had a plan, and I was a big piece of that plan. I just needed to get out of my own way. Period.

I knew that I could either be the person who tries to fight the change, who makes it about them and their ego, and tries to do everything their way (which never really works). Or, I could trust the process. And the Spurs never gave me a reason not to trust it. So I bought into my role, and I put my best foot forward each and every night. Whatever I had to do to be the best version of myself, I did it. And I feel like this season has been a testament to that.

I’m just really at home here. I think that’s probably obvious, right? The cowboy hat isn’t a gimmick. San Antonio is all me. Being a country boy, that’s just a part of who I am. From Huntington Prep to Oak Hill Academy to Kentucky, I feel like I just carried that country boy vibe with me everywhere I went.” https://t.co/WnVP4cXPll

[Azeez Ali @CoachZEEALI]

How about them 76ers!!!!!!!

[Cool_Ustaaz ☪ @Cool_Ustaz]

FASTING REMINDER!

Tomorrow is aliathnayn! Fast if you can, if not, earn a reward by reminding others.

And remind, for the reminder benefits, the
believers. Q51:55

[Azeez Ali @CoachZEEALI]

Davion Mitchell put em on your back!!!!

[Azeez Ali @CoachZEEALI]

@asim_mcgill Some has to do with recruiting. Majority has to due with parents want their child to have instant success. They want their child to be able to start instead of working for it.

[Cece @mythoughts0530]

Players pay attention: Angela Dugalic came off the bench at UCLA.. and is a top 10 draft pick in the W. Your impact as a player for your team is your most valuable asset. Doesn’t matter if you start or come off the bench….just be your best in the role you’re asked to play. YOU WILL GET NOTICED..

[Azeez Ali @CoachZEEALI]

@JackFritzWIP @SportsRadioWIP You always making excuses for the Phils. They are a .500 club at best this year.

[JOHN LUCAS ENT @JLEnterprises]

Only pride turns feedback into disrespect just to avoid accountability and growth!!!