At the end of the 2026 basketball season, we asked Hoops Lab users a simple question:
“How likely are you to recommend Hoops Lab to another coach or team?”
We received nearly 90 responses from a mix of coaches, administrators, and players.
The result:
- A Net Promoter Score of 38
- Over 60% of users identified as promoters
- An average ease-of-use rating of 4.1 out of 5
(For context, Net Promoter Score ranges from -100 to +100, and a score above 30 is generally considered strong; meaning a high percentage of users would actively recommend the product. In simple terms: far more users would recommend Hoops Lab than discourage others from using it.)
But more important than the score itself is what teams told us.
1. Simplicity Is a Competitive Advantage
One theme came through clearly:
Coaches don’t want more tools; they want simpler ones that actually work.
Hoops Lab scored highly on ease of use, reinforcing what matters most during a busy season:
“User friendly.”
“Easy and useful.”
In a space filled with complex team management platforms, simplicity isn’t a limitation — it’s an advantage.
2. The Playbook Is the Foundation of the Season
For many teams, Hoops Lab isn’t just a tool, it’s part of their workflow.
Coaches are using it to:
- Install systems
- Share plays with players
- Keep everything organized in one place
As one coach put it:
“It’s a one-stop shop to manage a team during the season.”
Another shared:
“Consistently been an asset to the basketball program.”
And sometimes, the feedback is even simpler:
“Amazing tool for coaching.”
“Best thing since sliced bread.”
This reinforces something we believe strongly:
The digital basketball playbook isn’t just a feature, it’s the center of everything.
3. Coaches Love It but Player Engagement Is the Next Frontier
One of the most important insights from this feedback was the difference in how Hoops Lab is experienced:
- Coaches and administrators consistently rated it highly
- Player feedback was more mixed
This makes sense.
Coaches are building and organizing.
Players are learning and consuming.
And those are fundamentally different experiences.
Some feedback pointed to opportunities to improve how concepts are understood:
“Sometimes it is slightly difficult to get some parts to do what you intend…”
“Hard to understand.”
At the same time, others reinforced the potential of Hoops Lab as a teaching tool:
“Appreciate the technology to use as a training and visual resource.”
This highlights a clear opportunity:
Making the player experience more engaging, intuitive, and educational.
4. The Opportunity: Turning Playbooks Into Teaching Tools
This feedback points to a bigger shift in how teams use technology:
The future of a digital playbook isn’t just about drawing plays it’s about helping players learn the game of basketball.
Coaches are increasingly looking for ways to:
- Reinforce concepts outside of practice
- Help players visualize real game situations
- Improve retention and understanding
That means going beyond static diagrams and toward more complete teaching experiences.
For example, many coaches are looking for ways to better connect play design with real on-court context, helping players understand not just where to go, but how and why it works.
5. Where We’re Focused Next
Based on this feedback, we’re continuing to invest in making Hoops Lab not just a planning tool, but a teaching platform.
That includes:
- Improving how players interact with the playbook
- Making concepts easier to understand and retain
- Creating more engaging ways for players to learn outside of practice
Because at the end of the day:
The best teams aren’t just organized, they’re prepared.
6. What This Means for Coaches
The biggest takeaway from this season’s feedback is simple:
Coaches want tools that help them teach, not just manage.
If you’re a basketball coach looking for a simpler way to:
- Build your basketball playbook
- Plan practices
- Keep players engaged
Hoops Lab was built for exactly that.
Get Started
Start building your team’s playbook with Hoops Lab today.
Hoops Lab is a digital basketball playbook and practice planning tool designed to help coaches organize their teams, share plays, and improve player understanding both during and outside of practice.