Deron Williams felt sluggish. The pressure on his joints was hampering his ability to move quickly, to stay healthy.
The bottom line, the Nets point guard concluded during the 2012-13 season, was that he was too heavy.
'I was up around 215 to 218 pounds, which is way too big for me,' Williams said. 'At that point, I just took it upon myself to start eating right, changing my eating habits. I had done it before, but it was just kind of off and on. This time I made it a lifestyle.
'I just feel better. I just feel like I have more energy. The food that I'm putting in my body is giving me more energy, so it works for me.'
NBA players dropping weight and getting lean is hardly a new fad. But with LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony slimming down in a visually noticeable way over the summer, the idea has entered the public's consciousness through social media as photos of their physical transformations circulated.
The benefits of a body with less fat, particularly in basketball, are obvious. In an era of nine-figure contracts, it's about prolonging careers and keeping up with a quicker game. Changes in NBA rules have reduced physicality, thus emphasizing speed over strength and size.
It's especially imperative for players with miles on their Nikes - such as James, Anthony and Williams - who have each played at least 10 seasons in the grueling NBA.
A similar commitment to health helped fuel Michael Jordan's dominance into his mid-30s.
'This goes back awhile,' said renowned trainer Tim Grover, whose clients included Jordan, Charles Barkley and Hakeem Olajuwon. He currently works with Dwyane Wade, among others. 'Just with social media, people are more aware of it now. Going back to the Michael Jordan days, we were very meticulous later in his career about when he ate and what he ate.
'When players are younger they think they're indestructible with what they eat, what they drink, soda and so forth, and they can still perform at a high level,' added Grover, who is releasing a book on the subject entitled 'The List: 21 Days of Relentless Fat Loss.' 'What happens is as they get older, they understand that it's more important to fuel your body with proper nutrients, get the proper amount of rest, and that will help them perform at an even higher level. For my clientele, I have what I call the list. It has foods you can eat, things you can drink, and it has foods that you can't eat or drink. Simple 'Yes or No' thing.'
James, who is about two months shy of his 30th birthday, trimmed his massive physique to around 250 pounds by cutting out all dairy, sugars and carbs for 67 straight days. Anthony, 30, also rejected carbs while slimming significantly. Williams, 30, started his diet with a juice cleanse during the 2013 All-Star break and dropped more than 10 pounds just by changing his diet, alleviating some of the pressure off his oft-injured ankles.
'I know guys in this league, I see them and they're eating cheese fries and French fries and chicken tenders before games. I don't have that type of body,' Williams said. 'If I do that, I'm going to be 230 (pounds) in two weeks. So some guys can do that. I'm just not one of them.
'The older you are, the less weight you have, the better you are going to move. You're already aging, you slow down a little bit. And then if you're heavier, you're going to slow down even more. . . . To me, 90% is eating right. I've always been a hard worker, even when I was 218. I worked out hard, I worked in the weight room. But if I don't eat right, if I'm eating burgers, if I'm eating late, if I'm drinking alcohol - whatever the case may be, I'm going to gain weight. So I cut all that stuff out. I don't really drink much alcohol. I try to stay away from fast food, fried food, a lot of sugar. But I do have my cheat day, which comes in handy - Sunday. I have to. I'd go nuts.'
Anthony has a similar body type in that his weight can fluctuate and he was accused of playing too heavy at different points in his career. Going into a season that tips off a five-year, $124 million contract, Anthony said he took his training to another level and showed off a smaller frame in an August Instagram photo. He's already No. 40 on the NBA's all-time scoring list with nearly 20,000 points and is younger than everybody ahead of him except for James. If Anthony maintains that output for another seven seasons - and a lighter body boosts longevity - he'd join a list of only five players to eclipse the 30,000 mark all time.
'My weight loss is something that I was just doing my job,' he said. 'It's my job. I put in the time. I put in the work. I took only maybe a week or two weeks off. It wasn't anything that I changed dramatically. It's something that's been an ongoing process from last offseason and putting in the work last offseason and going through this season and only taking a week off or two weeks off. Of course, I've changed some things, diet here, diet there, different training, new techniques. It wasn't anything that I really focused in on. I just kept on working and kept on doing it. This is the result that you're seeing.'
In an era of nine-figure contracts, it's about prolonging careers and keeping up with a quicker game. Changes in NBA rules have reduced physicality, thus emphasizing speed over strength and size.
Knicks president Phil Jackson said the discussion of weight loss began early under his tenure at last season's exit meetings. He was obviously pleased with Anthony's response.
'Some of the guys we actually asked about what was your last body composition, percentage fat. I don't know if I asked Carmelo that but I asked most of the players about that, and the medical check-up about that, skin fold,' Jackson said. 'So we just wanted to know what kind of conditions guys were at the end of the season and to make an emphasis about the fact that we don't think training camp is the beginning of our next season. We think July 1 is the beginning of the next season. People have to appropriately use their time for rest and recuperation, for weight training and then for conditioning. Carmelo took that very seriously.'
Williams' teammate, Joe Johnson, is one of the most durable players in the NBA, trailing only James in minutes played over the last 10 years. At 33 years old, Johnson said he dropped to the weight of his earliest pro days in Boston and Phoenix.
What's his trick? Yoga. And not just regular yoga. Johnson exercises daily with hot yoga - performed ideally in a room with the temperature cranked up to more 100 degrees. No matter the city or hour, Johnson manages to find a class. He acknowledged that it's usually him in a room filled with housewives.
'Doing that, you lose anywhere from 600-1,000 calories a session,' Johnson said. 'I've been pretty much going every day.
'It helps just taking the pressure off my ankles, my Achilles, my knees, things of that sort, really taking care of my body. I think as you get older man, that's when you really start to pay attention to it. Being young in this league, 19, 20, 21, man you eating honey buns and Doritos before practices. So obviously now at age 33 I look at things a lot different.'
The list of NBA stars dropping weight over the last few years is extensive - Wade, Tim Duncan, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Love, Ray Allen, Tony Parker. Gone are the days when the NBA is dominated by 7-foot giants in the post. The nimbler and versatile big men are the new titans of the NBA, headlined by James and Kevin Durant, who proved in the preseason that being skinny doesn't prevent injuries.
Nets center Brook Lopez dropped 15 pounds to weigh in at 275, while Williams is down 15 as well, now a svelte 200, and Johnson has sweated off nearly 20 pounds.
Rule changes have ushered in this free-flowing, fast-paced offense geared toward perimeter play. Hand-checking was eliminated. Penalties for flagrant fouls and fighting increased. A defensive 3-second rule was instituted, freeing up driving lanes.
As a result, scoring and pace increased in the NBA - as former Commissioner David Stern hoped it would - and quickness has bested power.
Jordan said recently he could've scored 100 points in a game under these guidelines.
'The game is definitely played way less physical,' said Grover. 'So there isn't as much contact so you need to be able to move from point A to point B. If you look at the back-in-the-days of the Knicks-Bulls rivalry, the game was so much more physical back then and the rules were different.
'Now the rules have changed a lot, and the emphasis is more about getting up and down the court. You look at a lot of teams. Players don't even have positions anymore. You have a stretch 4, you have individuals who are supposed to be small forwards who are running the point. So it definitely has evolved.'
Williams agrees.
'I don't want to say the game has gotten softer, but there's less physicality,' he said. 'I think a big part of that was how many fights and intentional fouls. The game was getting a little testy, and they wanted to clean up the image of the league and part of that was kind of controlling it, keeping it at a minimum. Also, it allows you to score more points, which I think fans want to see.'
So now, more than ever, It pays to eat right and trim the fat in the NBA.
Entities 0 Name: NBA Count: 10 1 Name: Williams Count: 7 2 Name: Anthony Count: 5 3 Name: James Count: 5 4 Name: Johnson Count: 4 5 Name: Jordan Count: 2 6 Name: Grover Count: 2 7 Name: Michael Jordan Count: 2 8 Name: Tim Duncan Count: 1 9 Name: Jackson Count: 1 10 Name: Knicks Count: 1 11 Name: Tony Parker Count: 1 12 Name: Dwyane Wade Count: 1 13 Name: Ray Allen Count: 1 14 Name: LeBron James Count: 1 15 Name: Brook Lopez Count: 1 16 Name: Charles Barkley Count: 1 17 Name: David Stern Count: 1 18 Name: Kobe Bryant Count: 1 19 Name: Tim Grover Count: 1 20 Name: Phoenix Count: 1 21 Name: Kevin Durant Count: 1 22 Name: Deron Williams Count: 1 23 Name: Kevin Love Count: 1 24 Name: Phil Jackson Count: 1 25 Name: Carmelo Anthony Count: 1 26 Name: Joe Johnson Count: 1 27 Name: Boston Count: 1 28 Name: Hakeem Olajuwon Count: 1 29 Name: Wade Count: 1 30 Name: Nets Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/12C4z9p Title: 70 reasons to watch the 2014-15 NBA season Description: The NBA season tips off Tuesday night and, after 128 days without meaningful hoops, it's about time. In honor of the league's 69th season, here's a look at 70 reasons to watch in 2014-15, in case Cleveland's new-look "Big Three" and San Antonio's title defense weren't enough for you. Why 70?
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