Glenn
07-07-2007, 03:35 PM
Holyshit.
http://www.nba.com/pistons/news/langlois_blog_070706.html
Max Effort
by Keith Langlois
Friday, July 6, 2007
Whenever his basketball skills betray him, Jason Maxiell has career opportunities bristling with potential awaiting him in the field of weight-loss management. One month after the Pistons’ season ended in the Eastern Conference finals, the third-year power forward showed up for the Las Vegas Summer League somewhere between 25 and 30 pounds lighter than the Pistons saw him last.
And this will really gall millions of Americans who starve and punish themselves and pay big money to fitness centers and health gurus in losing battles to shed a few pounds: Maxiell wasn’t even necessarily trying to lose.
“I don’t know, exactly, how I lose that much weight,” he shrugged in the sauna of Las Vegas, where temperatures tied the all-time record of 116 on Thursday before cooling down to 114 as of late Friday afternoon. “I lift every day. It’s that ‘green diet,’ I guess – salads every day and eating healthy bab...um...grilled chicken. My fiancée cooks great – bakes chicken for me every day. Just eating healthy, pretty much.”
It’s pretty much how Maxiell showed up for last fall’s training camp, too. He gradually put weight back on during the season, finishing the year at around 260 to 265 pounds. Maxiell says he doesn’t think the weight fluctuation affects his play much at either end of the variance, though he admits he thinks he’s a quicker jumper at the lower weight.
“He looks great,” Pistons vice president of basketball, John Hammond, said as he watched Maxiell during the team’s morning practice Friday. “I compare it to Corliss Williamson. When Corliss had his best year with us – when he won Sixth Man of the Year – he’d lost a lot of weight, too. You hardly recognized his body.
“I think Max has to find the weight that works best for him and then try to maintain it. Because it’s not like guys like Max or Corliss are ever going to lose their strength.”
“I think that’s a lot of weight between the end of the season, the first week of June, and the first week of July,” Pistons assistant coach Michael Curry said. “It tells me in order to lose that weight, he had to do some things with his diet and working out. We have to figure out whatever that is and continue to do that during the season. A lot of times during the NBA season, especially when you’re not playing as much, you’re not getting that kind of work.
“What we’ll try to do is continue to do that individual work regardless of the minutes the guys are playing and monitor their conditioning and their weight so when they are called upon, they’re at their peak performance level.”
The Pistons aren’t terribly concerned with Maxiell’s body, either way, and even less distressed about his mind. Indeed, it speaks volumes to management that Maxiell – a relatively established third-year player of whom Joe Dumars has said a greater role is deserved – asked if he could play with the Summer League team, which is largely populated with rookies and free agents desperate to hook on with somebody, European teams if not the NBA.
The way Maxiell figures it, he’d be working out somewhere and looking for a high-level pickup game – so why not Las Vegas? He brought his fiancée with him on the promise of scoring tickets to a Toni Braxton show. But his larger motive, which speaks to the qualities Dumars and his staff have loved about him since the scouting process before the 2005 draft, is his broad understanding of what’s involved with being a teammate.
“I just came here wanting to help out the new fellas,” he said, referring to draft choices Rodney Stuckey, Arron Afflalo and Sammy Mejia plus 7-footer Cheick Samb, all of whom the Pistons believe have bright futures. “This team is getting older, so this will be the team the next couple of years. The guys on this team don’t know how it’s going to be, so we get a close bond with the young players by doing this. And for me it’s staying in shape and working out.”
Maxiell began giving the Pistons in larger doses the potential he flashed in training camp last fall as the season unfolded. Since it ended, Dumars has mentioned him prominently as one of the young players who merits more playing time next season.
“It’s a great confidence booster,” he said, “knowing that next year there’s a chance to come out there and play hard every possession. This is a championship team and I’m tyring to do as much as I can to get back to the finals.”
“He looks at this as a good opportunity to get quality reps, get into a game and get the touches he needs to get better,” said Pistons assistant coach Terry Porter, running the team in Las Vegas. “He’s been great for us with the energy he brings off the bench. He’s determined now to be the guy, to get some touches and just play. The things for him this summer will be the opportunity to work on his perimeter shot and finishing the ball in the post area and probably rebounding.”
As diligently as Maxiell works, the Pistons are confident his game will round out over the next few years to include a more consistent 15-foot jump shot and a go-to post move with a counter move to keep defenses honest. What they want more than anything is an immediate improvement in his free-throw shooting. A 70 percent shooter in college, Maxiell hovered around 50 percent for much of the season
“In college, I was in the game all the time and I knocked them down when I had to,” Maxiell said. “The last couple of years in the league, whenever I’m in, I’m eager, and the energy is all balled up. I have to slow down, breathe, relax and shoot it.”
Curry spent considerable time after Thursday’s afternoon practice working with Maxiell on post moves and thinks with a little more experience and continued attention to skills work, Maxiell will become someone who demands playing time. As someone who spent a career in the NBA undersized at his small forward position, Curry can relate to Maxiell, who often gives up 3 or 4 inches to power forwards.
“Undersized always means where you’re at a disadvantage defensively is in the post,” Curry said. “The way I took that disadvantage and turned it into an advantage is I would front the post. Front the post and make him step out on the perimeter, now I’m at my strength. Jason will have to get in front of post guys that are bigger and can demand the ball down on the low block. Get in front of them, make them come out on the perimeter, now he should be quicker than they are.
“Offensively, it’s just a matter of being able to face bigger guys and get by them and use his explosiveness. Guys his size, he’s able to back them down and jump over them with jump hooks and power post moves.”
There might be a little less power in his power post move these days, but the tradeoff is a jump hook that gets off quicker than before. At either end of his weight variance, the Pistons are excited for Jason Maxiell’s future. The basketball future, not that weight-loss guru thing.
http://www.nba.com/pistons/news/langlois_blog_070706.html
Max Effort
by Keith Langlois
Friday, July 6, 2007
Whenever his basketball skills betray him, Jason Maxiell has career opportunities bristling with potential awaiting him in the field of weight-loss management. One month after the Pistons’ season ended in the Eastern Conference finals, the third-year power forward showed up for the Las Vegas Summer League somewhere between 25 and 30 pounds lighter than the Pistons saw him last.
And this will really gall millions of Americans who starve and punish themselves and pay big money to fitness centers and health gurus in losing battles to shed a few pounds: Maxiell wasn’t even necessarily trying to lose.
“I don’t know, exactly, how I lose that much weight,” he shrugged in the sauna of Las Vegas, where temperatures tied the all-time record of 116 on Thursday before cooling down to 114 as of late Friday afternoon. “I lift every day. It’s that ‘green diet,’ I guess – salads every day and eating healthy bab...um...grilled chicken. My fiancée cooks great – bakes chicken for me every day. Just eating healthy, pretty much.”
It’s pretty much how Maxiell showed up for last fall’s training camp, too. He gradually put weight back on during the season, finishing the year at around 260 to 265 pounds. Maxiell says he doesn’t think the weight fluctuation affects his play much at either end of the variance, though he admits he thinks he’s a quicker jumper at the lower weight.
“He looks great,” Pistons vice president of basketball, John Hammond, said as he watched Maxiell during the team’s morning practice Friday. “I compare it to Corliss Williamson. When Corliss had his best year with us – when he won Sixth Man of the Year – he’d lost a lot of weight, too. You hardly recognized his body.
“I think Max has to find the weight that works best for him and then try to maintain it. Because it’s not like guys like Max or Corliss are ever going to lose their strength.”
“I think that’s a lot of weight between the end of the season, the first week of June, and the first week of July,” Pistons assistant coach Michael Curry said. “It tells me in order to lose that weight, he had to do some things with his diet and working out. We have to figure out whatever that is and continue to do that during the season. A lot of times during the NBA season, especially when you’re not playing as much, you’re not getting that kind of work.
“What we’ll try to do is continue to do that individual work regardless of the minutes the guys are playing and monitor their conditioning and their weight so when they are called upon, they’re at their peak performance level.”
The Pistons aren’t terribly concerned with Maxiell’s body, either way, and even less distressed about his mind. Indeed, it speaks volumes to management that Maxiell – a relatively established third-year player of whom Joe Dumars has said a greater role is deserved – asked if he could play with the Summer League team, which is largely populated with rookies and free agents desperate to hook on with somebody, European teams if not the NBA.
The way Maxiell figures it, he’d be working out somewhere and looking for a high-level pickup game – so why not Las Vegas? He brought his fiancée with him on the promise of scoring tickets to a Toni Braxton show. But his larger motive, which speaks to the qualities Dumars and his staff have loved about him since the scouting process before the 2005 draft, is his broad understanding of what’s involved with being a teammate.
“I just came here wanting to help out the new fellas,” he said, referring to draft choices Rodney Stuckey, Arron Afflalo and Sammy Mejia plus 7-footer Cheick Samb, all of whom the Pistons believe have bright futures. “This team is getting older, so this will be the team the next couple of years. The guys on this team don’t know how it’s going to be, so we get a close bond with the young players by doing this. And for me it’s staying in shape and working out.”
Maxiell began giving the Pistons in larger doses the potential he flashed in training camp last fall as the season unfolded. Since it ended, Dumars has mentioned him prominently as one of the young players who merits more playing time next season.
“It’s a great confidence booster,” he said, “knowing that next year there’s a chance to come out there and play hard every possession. This is a championship team and I’m tyring to do as much as I can to get back to the finals.”
“He looks at this as a good opportunity to get quality reps, get into a game and get the touches he needs to get better,” said Pistons assistant coach Terry Porter, running the team in Las Vegas. “He’s been great for us with the energy he brings off the bench. He’s determined now to be the guy, to get some touches and just play. The things for him this summer will be the opportunity to work on his perimeter shot and finishing the ball in the post area and probably rebounding.”
As diligently as Maxiell works, the Pistons are confident his game will round out over the next few years to include a more consistent 15-foot jump shot and a go-to post move with a counter move to keep defenses honest. What they want more than anything is an immediate improvement in his free-throw shooting. A 70 percent shooter in college, Maxiell hovered around 50 percent for much of the season
“In college, I was in the game all the time and I knocked them down when I had to,” Maxiell said. “The last couple of years in the league, whenever I’m in, I’m eager, and the energy is all balled up. I have to slow down, breathe, relax and shoot it.”
Curry spent considerable time after Thursday’s afternoon practice working with Maxiell on post moves and thinks with a little more experience and continued attention to skills work, Maxiell will become someone who demands playing time. As someone who spent a career in the NBA undersized at his small forward position, Curry can relate to Maxiell, who often gives up 3 or 4 inches to power forwards.
“Undersized always means where you’re at a disadvantage defensively is in the post,” Curry said. “The way I took that disadvantage and turned it into an advantage is I would front the post. Front the post and make him step out on the perimeter, now I’m at my strength. Jason will have to get in front of post guys that are bigger and can demand the ball down on the low block. Get in front of them, make them come out on the perimeter, now he should be quicker than they are.
“Offensively, it’s just a matter of being able to face bigger guys and get by them and use his explosiveness. Guys his size, he’s able to back them down and jump over them with jump hooks and power post moves.”
There might be a little less power in his power post move these days, but the tradeoff is a jump hook that gets off quicker than before. At either end of his weight variance, the Pistons are excited for Jason Maxiell’s future. The basketball future, not that weight-loss guru thing.