I don't know, Batum is thin and wirey . . . he doesn't come across to me as someone who would take someone elses food.
This video might have been put out to confront that myth. TO not working out much in the offseason is what people not in the know have speculated, but didn't the whole team get together and practice for weeks prior to training camp? I recall quotes from Brandon on how everybody looked in great shape for the start of that. I'm not an in the know poster either, but I'd speculate that most every healthy player takes some time off to let their bodies recover from the season grind, but are back at it with trainers after a month or so... the teams have too much invested to not make sure this happens. Travis does have asthma though and reportedly it's at it's worst in the fall. Breathing issues certainly aren't a plus for an athlete, but it's not something that he can be blamed for like being lazy. STOMP
Meh. Nobody guarding him. Big fucking deal. If I see him take a NBA player off the dribble and finish at the rim with the left hand through on-the-ball defense and help defense, I'll be impressed. Not to mention he needs to show me he's a better rebounder and defender. I'd take Batum and a fresh-off-a-foot-injury Martell over Travis any day. Travis has the basketball IQ of Ha Seung-Jin's toenail. That will never change. No amount of weight-lifting, full-court drills, etc., is going to make that man figure out how to box out or how to not shy away from contact or how to know what defensive set we're running. He's been in the league six years and he's still as dumb as that gangly kid out of high school we drafted. He's had his chance. Move the fucker for something valuable.
I understand the asthma issue, but I think the "laziness in the offseason" comes from the reporting that Travis hasn't passed Nate's physical at the start of training camp for (iirc) 3 years now. And he's the only one. I had a great photo of the board from last year's M&G that showed all the times. Travis didn't even finish the last sprint. I'll try to find that tonight.
I certainly appreciate that Travis is working this summer and trying to improve. But one thought ran through my mind as I watched the video - everything I saw was an indication that he could/should be a better 1-on-1 player this season. Is that disturbing at all to anyone else? New ways to score. New ways to dribble to be able to get in a position to score. I'm not claiming that this 4 minute video shows the sum of all that Travis is working on this year. I am saying that this video shows me nothing new in terms of him potentially helping others become better. Is he working on rebounding? Is he working on setting picks? Is he working on defense? Or on passing? Or has his entire summer regimen been all about improved dribbling to be able to go around defenders and developing a better float shot? I hope that this video is not comprehensive. But my fear is that it is more comprehensive than I'm comfortable with.
asthma limits the ability to breath, sprinting requires breathing. How exactly are you understanding the asthma issue? STOMP
If I remember correctly, Travis was one of the few guys that didn't show up early with everyone else last season. I'm pretty sure it was in an Oregonian article. I wonder if we can still find it.
If he never was able to pass the test, or if he had problems during games, I'd feel a bit more like it was a root cause of his failure to pass the test than laziness. As it is, he amazingly enough can pass it a few days after Coach's workouts, so why can't he show up in a bit better shape? (I guess the better way of putting it would have been "I understand that he has asthma, but I don't think it's the cause of the perceived notion that he doesn't work out in the offseason as hard as he should")
Wow. He really makes imaginary defenders look nonexistent. So impressive. I appreciate the video is called Off Season Traning - since it technically doesn't qualify as training.
Seriously ... all that's missing from this Outlaw video is himself doing the play-by-play of his moves.
Oregon's peak asthma season peaks in late September and runs through October. Dismissing its impact on a person with rather severe asthma and using it as a criticism seems a bit ignorant to what the disease does to a person's breathing and conditioning.
Maybe more players should start failing Nate's physical. Outlaw has only missed 1 game over the past two seasons. Not bad for an out of shape hack who doesn't work hard.
I remember stories about Travis cat fishing all summer and taking it easy. Along the lines of Outlaw . . . I read a thread where the talk was about Miller helping Oden, particualrly because Miller is good with the lob pass. Maybe Miller will raise Outlaw's game. Rudy and Outlaw could be benefitting from that lob pass.
Once again damn Blazer fans over-analyzing every little snide-bit they get their hands on. Summer time is when players have the most time to work on their individual skills. Not ones that involve the rest of the team ie; defense, rebounding, motions. You wanna help your self out in those areas you go to the weight room! Trout is lookin stacked! Must be good fishing this summer. What do you haters know about life in the south?
