Podcast 337 – This Chamblee Gym Is the Next Step in My Son’s Basketball Journey – Lee Miller

Podcast 337 – This Chamblee Gym Is the Next Step in My Son’s Basketball Journey – Lee Miller

Lee Miller, founder and owner of EHB (Elite Hoops Basketball), joined me on the podcast to talk about the training facility in Chamblee that families just outside Dunwoody, Georgia are quietly working into their kids’ basketball routine. EHB Chamblee opened in 2018, and about 500 kids now move through that gym every single week.

In This Episode

• Lee Miller, founder and owner of EHB (Elite Hoops Basketball), joined the podcast to talk about the Chamblee training facility just outside Dunwoody, Georgia
• EHB Chamblee opened in 2018 and now sees about 500 kids move through its gym every week
• EHB’s skills memberships (Starter, All-Star, and MVP) run month-to-month with no long-term contract
• EHBL, EHB’s in-house league, runs opposite the traditional winter rec season across all four of EHB’s metro Atlanta locations
• EHB has been the official NIKE Basketball Camps provider for the Southeast since 2005

Does a Rec League Season Cover Everything Your Kid Needs?

A lot of Dunwoody kids are already playing rec basketball. Some play in the Dunwoody Metro League at Dunwoody United Methodist, Dunwoody Baptist, and Kingswood. Others play in All Saints’ own league. Those leagues are great. They give kids real games, a jersey, a team, and a coach who knows their name.

But a rec season only runs a few months a year. Then it’s over, and the gym goes quiet until next fall. That gap is exactly what got my attention at EHB Chamblee.

Lee didn’t set out to compete with the church leagues. This is a different thing entirely. Games and team experience come from a season. Skill actually gets built somewhere else, in the reps that happen week after week, all year long.

That’s the case Lee made on the podcast, and it’s the reason a facility a short drive off Peachtree Industrial is worth knowing about if you’re raising a kid in Dunwoody who plays basketball, whether they’re headed for AAU someday or just having fun with their friends. Most kids aren’t AAU-level anyway, and that’s exactly why this works for the typical family. It’s not a fallback for the elite few. It’s an easy, obvious add for whoever’s already on your kid’s team this season.

What a Class at EHB Chamblee Actually Looks Like

EHB Chamblee runs three kinds of classes. Skill Development covers the basics: ball handling, shooting form, passing, some one-on-one and two-on-two work, and small-sided games. Shooting is exactly what it sounds like, 250 form shots followed by another 250 game-like shots, all reps, no fluff. Then there’s 3-on-3, which Lee built specifically because kids don’t play pickup outside anymore the way they used to. That’s the one my son is most excited about. The freedom of 3v3 with some instruction here and there. Every class runs 75 minutes.

Classes are also grouped by level, not just age. Academy is for first through fifth graders who are newer to the game. Premier steps up for third through seventh graders with a couple years of rec experience. Select fits fifth through ninth graders ready for advanced offensive moves and live small-sided games, and Elite is built for seventh through twelfth graders getting ready for high school varsity or beyond. A kid can move between levels and classes as they grow, which is exactly what’s starting to happen with Sam.

Lee explained his approach with an analogy that stuck with me. Everybody brushes their teeth for about 12 hours a year, but nobody waits until December 31st to do it all at once. You do it in minute bursts, every single day, and it works because it’s consistent. Basketball skill development works the same way. One class a week, all year, beats cramming before a season every time.

Shooting is the hardest skill to change, and Lee is upfront about that. He tells parents to expect real improvement after 14 to 15 months of once-a-week classes, or about six months if a kid comes twice a week. That’s not a quick fix. It’s a long game, and that’s the point.

The building itself backs up the promise. EHB Chamblee runs out of a 15,000-square-foot facility with a full-length skills court and four NBA-adjustable goals, plus a separate shooting center with five more adjustable goals, each paired with a Shoot-a-Way Gun 12K that can rebound and reset up to 450 shots in 30 minutes. There are also two Homecourt ballhandling stations and a Vertimax Explosion Training Device for kids working on speed and vertical. It’s built for reps, not just drills.

My Son Sam’s Basketball Journey

I’ll be honest about how we got here. I grew up playing soccer, and that’s the sport I leaned into with my kids. I never pushed basketball on my son Sam. He found it on his own, and I could tell he was serious about it before we ever signed up for anything, because he was already out in the driveway working on his shot everyday.

That’s what led us to EHB Chamblee. Sam started with one class a week, and we’ve already seen real improvement in his game, enough that we’re talking about bumping him up to two days a week. It’s not a full AAU commitment eating every weekend. It’s one manageable trip to Chamblee that he actually looks forward to.

Sam already knew a few kids there from soccer and from school before he ever set foot in the gym. That’s part of what makes it work. It doesn’t feel like starting over. It feels like showing up somewhere he already belongs.

He also has a number in his head now, and I think that matters more than it sounds like it should. Showing up once a week, all year, adds up to at least 52 sessions a year. That’s not a New Year’s resolution that fades out by February. It’s just what Thursday is now, and if a Thursday doesn’t work some week, he can swap in a Monday and it still counts.

Beyond the Weekly Class: EHBL and NIKE Basketball Camps

I asked Lee about EHBL, the in-house league EHB runs at all four of its metro Atlanta locations, Chamblee, Alpharetta, Buford, and Peachtree City. Lee built it to run opposite the traditional winter basketball season on purpose. EHB runs a fall season in August, September, and October, and a spring season from February through April. Kids practice at their home facility, then travel to the other three EHB locations on Saturdays for games, which gives it a travel-team feel.

EHBL splits kids into third-and-fourth, fifth-and-sixth, and seventh-and-eighth grade divisions. Each kid has a home team at their own facility, but they play two games every Saturday, one week at home and the rest on the road at EHB’s other locations. It gives kids a real taste of travel basketball, new gyms, new opponents, without turning every weekend into a full-day commitment.

We also talked about NIKE Basketball Camps, which EHB has run as the official Southeast provider since 2005. EHB ran 196 camps across its locations and partner states this past summer alone. MVP members get one free week of NIKE camp built into their membership, which is a nice perk if your kid is already coming in weekly.

It’s Not Just Training, It’s a Community

The thing that stuck with me most from the podcast wasn’t a stat about shooting percentages. It was Lee telling me that roughly 500 kids move through the Chamblee gym on a regular basis over the course of a week or a month. That’s a lot of kids from a lot of different schools, all ending up in the same gym because they love the same game.

Sam has made real friends there, kids he wouldn’t have crossed paths with otherwise, from other schools and other parts of the community. Lee talked about that on the podcast too, how basketball gives kids a reason to talk to the person next to them that school doesn’t always provide. It becomes their own inner circle, built around something they chose for themselves.

It’s easy on the parents too. About a third of parents stick around and watch practice. Another third park it out in the lobby, working on a laptop or catching up on email while their kid trains. The last third drop off and knock out errands before swinging back 75 minutes later.

Meet Lee Miller

Lee Miller founded EHB in 2003 and still owns all four of its metro Atlanta locations. Before EHB, he was a student assistant at the University of Georgia under head coach Jim Harrick, then an assistant coach at Blessed Trinity and South Gwinnett high schools, where he helped lead a team built around future NBA veteran Lou Williams, a three-time NBA Sixth Man of the Year, to the 2004 state championship. He later coached at Norcross High School to a 2007 state title, and at Georgia State University under 2001 Naismith Coach of the Year Rod Barnes.

Along the way, Lee worked the Kobe Bryant NIKE Skills Academy in California and took Elite Hoops staff overseas to train players in Italy, Germany, and Australia. Since 2009, EHB has trained more than 1,500 players, 113 of whom went on to play Division I basketball. Lee has worked with future NBA players including Malcolm Brogdon, the 2017 NBA Rookie of the Year, along with Malik Beasley and Kobi Simmons. In 2021, he even brought the Nigerian Women’s Olympic Team into EHB Chamblee to train for a week before the Tokyo Olympics. That’s the coaching pedigree behind the guy running drills in Chamblee every Thursday night.

Membership, Pricing, and How to Get Started

The skills membership itself, which is what Sam does, is month-to-month. There’s no long-term contract. EHB offers three tiers: Starter runs $118 a month for one class a week, All-Star runs $168 a month for two classes a week plus 20 percent off additional clinics, and MVP runs $198 a month for three classes a week, 20 percent off clinics, and one free week of NIKE camp. If you do stop paying, you just stop going. It’s a great, low-risk starting point that won’t break the bank, and it gets your kid used to just showing up for training every single week.

EHB Chamblee sits near to Chamblee Plaza off Peachtree Industrial, a short drive from most of Dunwoody. The gym is open six days a week, closed only on Fridays, with weekday hours from 1:30 to 8:30 in the evening, Saturday mornings for the shooting center, and Sunday afternoons for classes.

Connect with Lee Miller and EHB

You can check out all four EHB locations, Chamblee, Alpharetta, Buford, and Peachtree City, at elitehoopsbasketball.com, and register for a class or membership right from there. If you’re moving to Dunwoody with a kid who loves basketball, or you already live here and are looking for something to keep them sharp between seasons, EHB Chamblee is worth a look.

As always, thanks to our show sponsors, Dr. Bret Freedman and Village Orthodontics, and our friends at Discover Dunwoody, for supporting this episode and this community.

What Is What’s Up Dunwoody?

What’s Up Dunwoody is a local media platform created by REALTOR® Matt Weber, focused on living in Dunwoody, moving to Dunwoody, and staying connected to the community. It began as a podcast and has grown into social media content, local guides, and two of the largest Dunwoody-focused Facebook groups where residents share recommendations and stay in the loop. Matt has expanded slightly outside of Dunwoody and now covers the entire top end of the Perimeter through his Top End ATL channels.

Matt is a Dunwoody REALTOR® who helps people navigate buying, selling, and moving in the area. Stay in the loop with local updates, listings, and insights by signing up here: whatsupdunwoody.com/email

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