Utah Jazz: Players report in top shape
Mehmet Okur and Deron Williams are leaner — and not in a supermodel kind of way.
From the looks of it, Jazz players — from C.J. Miles to Carlos Boozer — came back to fall training camp in tip-top shape.
Even Jerry Sloan noticed — and, yes, in a complimentary kind of way.
"I'm anxious," the Jazz coach said, "to see how all this stuff that they've done — how much it's helped them."
Sloan specifically complimented Okur and Brewer for their offseason physical progress.
While talking about Brewer, the 20-year coach guesstimated his starting shooting guard added 20-25 pounds of muscle mass (about half that is likelier a more accurate amount, but he wasn't trying to win a guess-the-weight contest).
"His arms look bigger," Sloan said. "So give him a lot of credit for that."
The Jazz rewarded Brewer, who earned a starting spot last fall, by exercising their fourth-year option on him for the 2009-10 season.
Sloan also dished out props for how Okur made his weight head in the other direction. He was impressed while watching Okur, and other players, scrimmage against each other over the past couple of weeks.
Sloan believes Okur learned a valuable lesson after he arrived out of shape for his first training camp with the Jazz in 2004.
The bottom line in the NBA, Sloan said, is a simple concept: "Get yourself in great shape, so you have a chance to succeed. And I give him a lot of credit for doing that."
Okur, who is sporting a beard and what could be described as a "mullet-hawk" hairdo, worked out twice a day while in Turkey for three months this summer. That — and playing pick-up ball against fellow Jazz players since early September here in Utah — helped the 6-foot-11 center trim off a few pounds to his current weight of 265.
Miles, who signed a new deal with the Jazz this summer, said he worked out in New York with a trainer who helps NFL athletes improve their speed.
"I feel like this year is probably the best shape and the best I've felt since I've been in the NBA," the 21-year-old swingman said.
Boozer, who stayed in shape as a member of Team USA, believes the Jazz showed how committed they are to winning by keeping themselves in good condition.
"We're hungry. Everybody's in great shape," he said. "We've been communicating all summer about our goals, and we get started tomorrow."
RUSSIAN RUMORS: Andrei Kirilenko laughed when asked if he'd heard about recent rumors that claimed he might play for CSKA, a professional Russian team based in Moscow.
Recent comments
In case you did not notice, Brewer has to defend some of the top…
re:Jazz smack | Oct. 2, 2008 at 5:29 p.m.
What's great about this, is that when you're in shape you have much…
Jazzmaster 2000 | Oct. 2, 2008 at 1:00 a.m.
The reason brewer worked on getting more muscle mass is because of…
re jazzsmack | Oct. 1, 2008 at 4:40 p.m.
