Peyton Seals: My Blueprint for Succeeding at High School Basketball
Peyton Seals warming up before a recent workout.
Peyton Seals is the starting point guard for the 2022 – 2023 state champion Ramapo High School basketball team and one of the top players in Bergen County.
That success did not happen by accident. Peyton has had a plan all along, and he has put in the grueling work day after day to make it happen.
I asked Peyton to provide his blueprint for high school basketball success.
Below are his top five tips.
Be Consistent
Peyton mentioned consistency as his most important tip in getting better as a basketball player. “You’ve got to put in so many hours and, if you’re not super naturally gifted with a lot of talent, you have to outwork everyone.” He recognizes that at a younger age this work ethic can’t come only from outside motivation because a player can eventually burn out. “It really has to come from a love of the game, and you really have to enjoy practicing,” Peyton said.
Peyton’s work ethic started at a very young age. He recalled that when he was two or three years old, he tried shooting a full-size basketball on a ten foot hoop. “I can’t get anywhere near it, but I’d stand out there for an hour or two, tossing the ball up thinking I can make it. Nowhere close at any of the times, but I just kept doing it. I just loved the reps and practice of it,” he said.
In middle and high school, Peyton heavily worked on various aspects of his game outside of his regular team practices. For example, on one day that I came to watch Peyton use the shooting gun at The Shooting Zone in Ho-Ho-Kus, Peyton put up over 500 jump shots in an hour.
Peyton getting shots up at The Shooting Zone in Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey.
Peyton comes into all of his workouts with a detailed practice plan about what he wants to accomplish. For the shooting practice that I witnessed, he worked on a variety of different shots that he’d see in an actual game, from three pointers around the arc, to shooting off curls or the fade, to shooting off imaginary ball screens, to floaters and pull ups. Each segment would not be complete unless Peyton ended with series of makes.
For the month of May 2023, Peyton took over 7,000 shots at The Shooting Zone, connecting on approximately 75% of them. That figure does not count all the other shots he got up at local courts like Hoop City or his reps practicing with his AAU team, Shoreshots Rio.
Peyton’s (#5) shooting stats at The Shooting Zone during May 2023.
Attack Your Weaknesses
According to Peyton, to attack your weaknesses you first must be self-aware enough to recognize them. Peyton watches all of his game film to critique things he needs to work on. “You have to be real with yourself. Everyone loves to work on their strengths,” Peyton said. One nuance that he noticed in game film: while awaiting a pass, he was sometimes standing straight up instead of being down in a stance and shot ready. For a shooter like Peyton, that extra fraction of a second is critical. Now, he makes a conscious effort to be more shot ready during games.
Peyton also relies heavily on advice from his grandfather Roger Mueller, a high school basketball coach in Illinois for over 40 years who taught Peyton the game and continues to watch Peyton’s games via live stream and give him pointers. Peyton said that when he receives advice from his grandfather, his parents or his coaches, he tries to take it to heart and not personally because he knows it comes from an honest place.
Peyton and his grandfather Roger playing basketball together when Peyton was a child. Photo provided by Peyton Seals.
Entering high school, Peyton wanted to develop into a better shooter since he was going to be playing point guard. Previously, he had been one of the taller players on his teams and had operated mostly out of the post. To improve his shooting, Peyton completely changed his form. “I was always a good shooter, but I was never ‘The Shooter’,” he said.
So Peyton raised the release point on his shot. He also knew that he was shooting with two hands and had a little bit of a thumb flick, which he attempted to correct as well. As anyone who has ever tried to change their shooting form knows, it can be painstakingly difficult. Peyton credited his grandfather with helping him, and he cited the wealth of online resources that exist on YouTube. For example, he’d watch Tyler Herro or Klay Thompson’s shooting workouts and study their footwork and form.
Peyton’s picture perfect shooting form in a 2023 game against Bergen Catholic.
Knowing what to do, however, is not enough. “You can have the perfect form but there’s nothing that replaces the reps you have to take. Every day, I’m on the shooting gun, before games, after practices, early mornings, late nights, whenever I can make it here,” Peyton said.
He also emphasized the importance of replicating situations that will translate to an actual game. “While you’re working out, you envision the game, you envision defenders because some people kind of work on what they like to do like fancy ball handling or drills that they see [that don’t translate],” he said.
Peyton recently got some shots up on Memorial Day night at Hoop City with teammates and close friends Chris Cervino and Wyatt Eglinton Manner. “There’s nothing else we’d rather be doing. Some people might say ‘you’re doing a workout on Memorial Day, like go hang out with your friends’ but that’s what’s fun to us,” Peyton said.
Teammate Chris Cervino helping Peyton up. There’s nowhere else they’d rather be together than a basketball court.
By attacking his weaknesses, Peyton has developed into one of the premier high school shooters in Bergen County. He has become “The Shooter” he once set out to be.
Now, as Peyton heads into his senior year, he has identified his athleticism as something that he’d like to improve in order to prepare himself for college basketball. Peyton has been performing athletic training with a trainer, Juwan Griffith, who pushes him hard in workouts.
Peyton working on single leg hops. Improving his athletic ability for college has become a major goal.
Emulate Players with Your Playing Style
Peyton recommends watching and emulating players that you’d like to become. “You see a guy in high school doing well, a guy in college doing well, and exactly how you want to be doing it at your position or at your school and see how they work out, see how they operate, see what works for them in games, maybe try to work out with them,” Peyton said.
One player that Peyton models his game after is the Miami Heat’s Tyler Herro. Peyton likes Herro because he’s a very good shooter, but he’s also a slasher and similar to Peyton’s height. Another player Peyton tries to mimic is Klay Thompson. While watching YouTube videos on these players, Peyton analyzes their footwork as well as things like how they shoot the ball, how they prepare for a shot, and how they comes off screens and move without the ball.
It's not as if Peyton has access to some secret treasure trove of information. It’s as simple as Peyton Googling “Klay Thompson Catch and Shoot Highlights” and then taking the time and effort to evaluate what works for Thompson and how Peyton can incorporate those elements into his own game.
Work on Every Option
For different scenarios that Peyton sees in a game, he will practice not just one or two of his preferred options, but all of the possible options. For example, if Peyton is dribbling off a ball screen, he’ll practice going right over the screen and scoring, rejecting the screen, getting to pull ups and floaters, or shooting behind the three point line if the defender goes under the screen. “I just try to rep out every single one of those options, left hand finishes, right hand finishes, all of the different footwork,” he said.
Peyton Seals working on his footwork at The Shooting Zone.
Peyton often practices alone but doesn’t use the lack of a live defender as an excuse. Instead, having been through so many game situations before, he uses his imagination even though he’s in an empty gym. “I picture the defender jumping me or sitting off me, so I can get to the shots I want. When I get to the game, all I have to do is make the read and use the move that I’ve worked on,” Peyton said. The moves come instinctively because Peyton has practiced all of the different options at game speed.
Peyton working on some of his options during a shooting workout.
Keep It Simple
Lastly, according to Peyton, the game of basketball should be simple, While Peyton has tried many of the fancy drills that trainers are now pushing because they challenge him in different ways, he focuses mainly on the basic fundamentals. “If I’m in a gym by myself, I don’t do any crazy ball handling. I do similar drills to what I did in third grade,” Peyton said. Obviously, he can do them a lot faster and more comfortably, but simple stationary ball handling and simple form shooting form the foundation of his routine because he finds they translate to real games. “Be strong on the fundamentals and you can build off that as you get older,” he advised.
Peyton after completing another challenging workout.
Peyton’s “Keep It Simple” philosophy also applies off the court. For instance, did Peyton do anything special after Ramapo won the state title this year? “Nothing specific really,” he answered. His grandfather Roger did attend that state championship game though, and Peyton recalled that Roger said how proud he was of Peyton and all of the practice he’d put in. “You can’t really replace spending time with your grandfather, and I’ll cherish those moments forever,” Peyton said.
I asked Peyton if he had any last piece of advice for the younger players out there.
“Love the game and work hard,” he said simply.
Author’s note:
Peyton realizes that he could not have accomplished success as a high school player on his own. He credits his parents and all the coaches and teammates that have helped him throughout the years, from his youth AAU coach Joe Jackson, to his middle school trainer DJ Sackmann, to his high school coach Nick Vier. And course, Peyton’s grandfather Roger Mueller.