Hawks trio shapes up mentally, physically

By SEKOU SMITH

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Mo Evans reshaped his body. Marvin Williams healed his. And Josh Smith lost a little bit of his.

With five months between the end of last season and the start of a new one (training camp opens Sept. 29), there was plenty of time to dig into a summer project.

For those Hawks, that included physical and mental work. A closer look, in their own words, at what they worked on:

Mo Evans

The veteran shooting guard said he weighs 225 pounds but looks noticeably bigger in his upper body.

“I wanted to spend my time strengthening my core, so I could prevent injuries and stay healthy. I haven’t had a history of injuries in my career, knock on wood, but I just felt like that was a great place to start for this season.

“I lifted a lot of weights to build up my endurance so I can be a lot more physical when I’m guarding guys like Dwyane Wade and Kobe Bryant. Those guys don’t like to be touched. They’ll see the difference and notice it when we’re out there on the floor and they can’t get their way physically.

“I didn’t gain any weight. I basically just hardened up. I made myself more solid, so this year I won’t go into camp at 225 and finish camp at 215. I worked every day so I can maintain a solid 220 with all the running I’ll have to do. And I did it all summer and kept a meticulous check, and I’ve been steady at 220 to 225. It’s about maintaining this now.”

Josh Smith

Smith was 245 pounds of solid muscle early in the summer but has shed weight since then, mostly by accident, but his summer work was as much philosophical as it was physical.

“I wasn’t trying to lose it. I didn’t do it on purpose. But earlier in the summer I started working out twice a day and the weight just came off. I’m down to 230 now, and I really need to put five more pounds of muscle back on.

“I wanted to work more on my decision-making than anything. I handle the ball so much on the fast break and in transition that I wanted to make sure I’m thinking the game the way I need to be. I also worked on my handles and knocking down that mid-range jumper. I’m really not worried about the 3-point ball right now. We have so many guys on this team that can make that shot.

“I don’t have any business being out there this season with Joe Johnson, Mike Bibby, Jamal Crawford, Marvin, Mo and [Jeff] Teague all doing work out there. I have to focus on working in the cracks and making sure that people respect my mid-range game. And if they don’t, we have to make them pay for not respecting it.”

Marvin Williams

In an effort to avoid the injuries that plagued him last season, Williams said his summer was spent healing and refurbishing skills he worked on last year.

“The biggest thing for me was getting healthy. I had to heal up. I had to let my wrist heal, my back heal. Of course, I went to work on all my skills, handling the ball and my shooting, but the biggest thing for me was getting my body back healthy.

“I was up at 8 every morning and in the gym by 9. I was running hills and pulling the sled, working on my explosiveness and endurance both. Then it was on the weights after that until 11:30. You’re working every day to get faster and stronger.

“After lunch I’m on the floor getting up shots for a good hour and then playing for a couple hours. You have to grind like that all summer. You have to do it. You’d be foolish to come into camp out of shape. And that’s anybody’s camp.