As the NBA prepares to belatedly open team training camps Friday, there is one cautionary lockout tale that still resonates years later.
Fans dread it could happen to a player on their favorite team. General managers worry it might be one of their guys. Dion Glover, the former Georgia Tech and Hawks guard who now trains local NBA players and prospects, warns his clients not to let it happen to them.
“I think this is the time Shawn Kemp got big, and that pretty much hurt his career,” Glover said before owners and players reached a tentative agreement on a new labor deal. “It can happen.”
Kemp was under contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers when the start of the 1998-99 season was delayed by a lockout. When he showed up in January to prepare for the 50-game season, Kemp weighed in excess of 300 pounds, some 60 more than the previous season.
“He was really very honest about it,” Mike Fratello, the Cavs coach at the time, recently told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “I said, ‘Shawn, how did this happen?’ He said, ‘Coach, I didn’t think we were coming back.’”
The lockout didn’t last as long this time, but Kemp is a reminder that even elite athletes are not immune to letting themselves go when lacking the proper motivation and incentive (and perhaps direction). NBA players in particular are accustomed to a certain schedule to prepare them for the start of training camp, usually in October.
After time off to recover from a long season, they work out on their own during the summer. Eventually they join teammates for informal sessions at team facilities a week or two before the start of camp. They continue to work into shape during a month that includes training camp, preseason practices and five or so exhibition games.
The lockout has thrown players’ routines into disarray. They couldn’t use team facilities until Thursday and were left to work out and find competitive games on their own for the past couple of months.
“It’s tough to try and stay in tiptop shape with this situation,” Nets guard and former Tech standout Anthony Morrow said. “I try to stay in shape, so I don’t have to get in shape when that time comes.”
Players won’t have much time to get ready during the preseason. Training camp will be truncated, and teams will play only two exhibition games before a rigorous 66-game regular season begins Dec. 25, just 16 days after players report to camp.
It appears the Hawks’ top seven returning players avoided the potential pitfalls and will be in good physical condition at the start of camp.
Forward Josh Smith showed up for voluntary workouts Thursday looking noticeably leaner. He said he lost 30 pounds by working out and playing in a pro-am league in Los Angeles and in local pickup games with fellow pros.
Hawks guard Joe Johnson appeared slimmer and quicker while playing in a local charity game recently. He said he was down about six pounds from his normal playing weight after working out in Miami and locally.
“I am trying to keep my weight down and stay in shape,” he said. “[No formal workouts] is not a big deal. I can go to the gym and get shots up. I try to get on the treadmill everyday, lift weights and try to keep my body stronger.”
Hawks guard Jeff Teague was as quick as usual when playing in the same charity game as Johnson. Hawks center Zaza Pachulia played for his native Georgia in Olympic qualifying over the summer and then signed with a professional club in Turkey.
Hawks center Al Horford played for the Dominican national team over the summer, and Smith said Horford was in good shape when he last saw him in California. Forward Marvin Williams reportedly has been playing in pickup games several times a day since recovering from back surgery.
“It’s good to know that my teammates weren’t couch potatoes,” Smith said.
Teams with players that start off in good condition figure to have an advantage when the season begins. Players will navigate a schedule that features a higher frequency of games and thus less practice time than usual.
The league added about 10 days to the end of the regular season, but didn’t make a proportional cut in games. Teams on average will play about two more games per month than they do during a full 82-game season.
All teams will play at least one set of back-to-back-to-back games, and the league said some will have do it as many as three times. Teams haven’t been scheduled to play games on three consecutive days since 1999.
With a short preseason followed by a demanding schedule, it shouldn’t take long to figure out which players didn’t learn from Kemp’s example.
“One thing is, you kind of get a chance to see first two weeks what guys have been doing in the offseason,” said Steve Smith, who played for the Hawks during the shortened 1999 season.
