Devin Cannady: ‘I want to do my part to make sure the basketball community stays connected’

Devin Cannady, the Long Island Nets shooting guard, is like most of us staying inside to avoid the coronavirus. But the Princeton University product isn’t sitting still. He’s set up what amounts to a dribbling school for anyone who wants to sign up.

On Friday, Cannady finished his tenth dribbling class in his ISOwDev Ball Handling Class. It runs on Zoom. With him at his suburban home and his students scattered around living rooms and family rooms in the New York area and beyond,

Here’s how he’s described it...

The class, which is free, featured 19 individuals of all age groups and each class continues to draw larger crowds.

Cannady, 24, began his dribbling class with the goal of keeping the basketball community united during the global pandemic. In addition, Cannady’s class is open to all skill levels and anyone who wants to participate.

“COVID-19 has caused people to do their part to help others by practicing social distancing, which at times can make us feel isolated or alone,” Cannady stated in his dribbling class ad.

“Basketball is not meant to be played alone; it’s most fun when you can play with others. So, while we are living through a peculiar situation, I want to do my part to make sure that the basketball community stays connected.”

In his tenth class, Cannady organized a 20-part session, focused around improving dribbling and being creative. His drills include a series of fifteen, thirty, and forty second sets that concentrate around using both hands, strength, speed, control, and conditioning. In addition, Cannady structured his workouts with good pace between each drill that benefited the participants.

During and following drills, Cannady told jokes putting smiles on his participants faces and encouraged everyone to keep getting better during a time like this.

“If they keep working, they will come out of this time much improved ball handlers,” Cannady said.

Cannady’s next dribbling class will be held on Monday, April 6 via Zoom.

The Long Island Nets guard is no stranger to helping the community.

Back when the Long Island Nets played at the Barclays Center on January 29, it was Education Day. The crowd was filled with kids from New York and before tip-off, Cannady addressed the crowd to talk about the importance of education. At the time, Cannady was finishing up his undergraduate degree in Sociology at Princeton University.

Cannady finished his rookie season posting averages of 30.9 minutes, 14.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.6 assist, and 1.2 steals. In addition, Cannady shot 36 percent from deep, went and 41.2 overall, and 94.6 percent from the charity strike.

He started 29 of the 39 games he played with Long Island.