If Rip had more muscle mass, do you think he would have been able to wrap around sheeds screens as quick? Or would Sheed have been able to roll to the hoop as quick? Weight lifting was a must for that Bulls team because they never really had a true big. Strength is muscle mass. Muscle is the heaviest tissue. Many players might be stronger, but then lose their speed, which offsets or even makes them worse.
Yes. And I realize that muscle is the heaviest tissue. Ed Davis is having a down year and most will try to attribute that to the weight gain he had over the summer. I disagree that adding muscle mass slows you down as much as you think. Gaining 20 pounds of lean muscle doesn't mean you just add 20 pounds. You lose a lot of fat when you do that too. Most players come into the league skinny. Mostly all of them gain weight afterward. Weight gain hasn't hurt Lillard or CJ's quickness. Maybe if we Hamilton would have gained a little muscle mass he would have not been bumped off some of those screens he was using to get open. Maybe Sheed would be able to send a better one. In most cases adding muscle mass is a good thing. And Yusuf can get in the weight room. It won't hurt him at all IMO.
I don't think he needs to change his weight at all, but his play would be improved if his body fat % decreased.
Nurkic is already stronger than like 98% of the players in the league, if not more. What I think he needs to tap into more is his athleticism. You can tell he's not maxing out in that department, and a lot of it has to do with conditioning. If he gets into top shape cardio wise, watch the fuck out. I watched some of his games with Bosnia this past summer, and he was in top shape just running up and down the court like it was nothing.
I always use this example but MJ and Scottie reportedly spent every morning in the weight room, even before games. They also spent even more time in the gym. So yes he should spend time in the weight room, the gym, and probably the yoga room too....with the right supervision. They all do.
Here's Nurkic this past summer against Russia (and Mozgov.) He's pretty close to being in this kind of shape now, but yeah, look at that first play for example and how runs the court. There are probably less than 5 centers in the league that can do that.
A little weight lifting is fine to stay in condition, but really it's hard to say he really needs to focus on any one thing. He does so many things well for a 22 year old, you just want him to continue to work on the whole package of skills. If he were to focus on one area in video sessions, it'd be to make him realize he doesn't need to make the clever pass that often leads to a turnover. This isn't Denver. Between him, CJ, Dame and Turner, we have a lot of guys who can create. Don't throw the risky pass--the offense will still generate high percentage looks without him doing so. He's giving up 3 turnovers a night--that's probably a 4-6 point swing we're conceding that we really don't have to.
Of all the big guys in the NBA right now he probably has spent list time in the gym and has lot of space for improvements there .You can tell by the look of his arms and shoulders that he has barely spent any tome of the upper body strength at least. There are only 2 or 3 players in NBA that had caused hime a problem physically . So there is lot more improvements to do on this part , gaining strength without adding up to much of mass. With that will should probably come improved rebounding too ... With some more strength he will be real white man Shaq ..
To be fair a lot of those turnovers are offensive fouls. ( 2 of his 3 last night) But I agree that sometimes he gets a little too cute and tries for the spectacular pass. But at the same time I have to give him credit last night for the times he did not attempt the tough pass....he held back when it looked like he was thinking about it.
Muscular arms don't do much for you in basketball. Pushing and pulling people is a foul. He should do basketball related sports-functional exercises. Leg and core strength is much more important. But I don't believe in having pro athletes doing olympic weights and body building style isolation training. That's bullshit. It's a waste of their energy. If you think having muscular arms is so important, look at pics of the greats of all time, Jabbar, Walton, Russell...they weren't jacked muscle bound men.
I agree to a certain degree .. but his arms and shoulders are so underdeveloped .. for a big guy using hook shots it is important .. typical east europe training philosophy where weight lifting is not good for basket ball game ..
Sheed kept his weight down though, I have questions about Nurk being 7', 285 and being able to hold up over 82+ games on 30+mpg for the next 4-5 years. I don't know of many Centers in todays nba who thrive being so close to 300. Drummond is the only one? Gasol brothers/Lopez brothers are around the 250-260 mark. Andrew Bynum was listed at 284. I think weight lifting is just a way for Nurk to drop weight that is low impact on the knees. Unless he wants to jump in the pool(which is even more low impact on the knees) I think the Blazer training staff will attempt to get him to the 250-260 mark.
There is a ton of pushing in basketball for big men. Howard for many years relied on his strength and athleticism alone to in Orlando. Core strength is one of the most important things any human can have.
If you get caught it's a foul though, you can't push people in basketball with your upper body. Howard had big arms, but it didn't do him much good. That's not why he had success.
NBA athletes waste time and energy doing traditional weight training. I think more trainers are realizing this, training needs to be sports-functional related.
