James Harden was already one of the most effective offensive players in NBA history when he met Paul Fabritz. He had the handles, the step-back, the Eurostep that made defenders look like they were moving in the wrong era. What he didn’t have, by his own admission, was the specific explosive capacity the modern game asked of him every night. So he went to PJF Performance.
Watch How They Move. Then Watch the Film.
Most coaches pick one of those. Fabritz doesn’t. He runs athletes through force plate testing before a single rep of training begins. He maps how they generate force into the ground. He captures joint angles during lateral movement. He tracks biomechanical signatures specific to basketball — the plant-and-drive, the pivot, the deceleration that separates a finish from a turnover. Then he pulls up tape of the actual games and designs the program around the gap.
It sounds obvious. Nobody else was really doing it.
50+ NBA Players
PJF Performance, founded in 2012 and based in Southern California, has trained 50-plus NBA players. Harden. Evan Mobley. Isaiah Mobley. Mac McClung. Jared McCain. Different body types, different needs, different readings on the force plate. Same underlying methodology.
The content that cuts through — nearly a million plays on a single post — sounds like this: “It’s okay to be undersized. But it’s not okay to be undersized and slow. That’s a tough combo to overcome at any level.” His signature system, the Explosion Pyramid, moves athletes through four phases: Foundation, Energy Storage, Fast-Twitch Development, and Spring and Elasticity. He connects them across generations of the game — the heel-pivot spin Jordan used, the same move in Hakeem’s dream shake, showing up now in Wemby’s turnaround. “Twitch is not purely genetic. You can rewire your nervous system and transform your twitch. I’ve helped hundreds of clients do it.”
The Blueprint Is Available
What sets the approach apart isn’t just the science — it’s the integration. Fabritz doesn’t operate in a silo. He collaborates with his athletes’ skill trainers, syncing strength work with what’s being installed on the court. The Vert Code, his signature online program, has become one of the most popular vertical jump training systems available. Not because it promises magic, but because it delivers a progression built out of the same force-plate discipline the NBA clients get.
Mac McClung didn’t become a back-to-back Slam Dunk Contest champion on talent alone. He worked with Fabritz. The program is available to anyone. Paul Fabritz built PJF Performance on the belief that the gap between Tier 1 resources and weekend-warrior resources shouldn’t exist.
The blueprint is available. The only question is whether you’re ready to follow it.
