“The toughest thing to guard is a great shooter that screens.”
-Roy Williams
8.09.2009
8.04.2009
PAT SUMMITT
The following comes from Coach Pat Summitt in regards to goals for her team:
Before each of the 34 seasons that Summitt has been a head coach of some of the most accomplished teams of all time, she and her captains have committed a set of goals to writing.
“We always make sure,” Summitt says, “that our plans for the season can be achieved. Setting goals is incredibly important to success. But if you set a goal that seems impossible to achieve— if you go into a year saying your goal is to win the national championship—then you risk losing morale, self-discipline and chemistry if you falter early.
“Set a goal that stretches you, requires exceptional effort, but one that you can reach,” says Summit, the bearer of more championship jewelry than any coach in women’s basketball history.
“We might set a goal that we win 20 or so games, that we win a conference championship, that we make the NCAA tournament. If we do those things, the truth is we have a chance of winning the national championship. But I would never want that to be the only goal.”
The key to her on- and off-court success, Summitt is famous for saying, is remembering that “winners aren’t born, they are self-made.”
“And the only way to ensure you become a winner is to set goals every day, and hold yourself and your teammates accountable for reaching those goals,” she says. “Setting up a system that rewards you for meeting your goals and has penalties for failing to hit your target is just as important as putting your goals down on paper.”
Before each of the 34 seasons that Summitt has been a head coach of some of the most accomplished teams of all time, she and her captains have committed a set of goals to writing.
“We always make sure,” Summitt says, “that our plans for the season can be achieved. Setting goals is incredibly important to success. But if you set a goal that seems impossible to achieve— if you go into a year saying your goal is to win the national championship—then you risk losing morale, self-discipline and chemistry if you falter early.
“Set a goal that stretches you, requires exceptional effort, but one that you can reach,” says Summit, the bearer of more championship jewelry than any coach in women’s basketball history.
“We might set a goal that we win 20 or so games, that we win a conference championship, that we make the NCAA tournament. If we do those things, the truth is we have a chance of winning the national championship. But I would never want that to be the only goal.”
The key to her on- and off-court success, Summitt is famous for saying, is remembering that “winners aren’t born, they are self-made.”
“And the only way to ensure you become a winner is to set goals every day, and hold yourself and your teammates accountable for reaching those goals,” she says. “Setting up a system that rewards you for meeting your goals and has penalties for failing to hit your target is just as important as putting your goals down on paper.”
CHARACTER vs REPUTATION
Abraham Lincoln was very concerned with character, but he also was aware of the importance of having a good reputation. He explained the difference this way: your reputation is what people think of you, and your character is what you actually are.
In a world preoccupied with image, it’s easy to worry too much about our reputation and too little about our character. Building a reputation is largely a public relations project; building character requires us to focus on our values and actions. Noble rhetoric and good intentions aren’t enough.
What we’re looking for is moral strength based on ethical principles. Character is revealed by actions, not words — especially when there’s a gap between what we want to do and what we should do, and when doing the right thing costs more than we want to pay.
Our character is revealed by how we deal with pressures and temptations. But it’s also disclosed by everyday actions, including what we say and do when we think no one is looking and we assume we won’t get caught. The way we treat people we think can’t help or hurt us, like housekeepers, waiters, and secretaries, tells more about our character than how we treat people we think are important. People who are honest, kind, and fair only when there is something to gain shouldn’t be confused with people of real character who demonstrate these qualities habitually, under all circumstances.
In a world preoccupied with image, it’s easy to worry too much about our reputation and too little about our character. Building a reputation is largely a public relations project; building character requires us to focus on our values and actions. Noble rhetoric and good intentions aren’t enough.
What we’re looking for is moral strength based on ethical principles. Character is revealed by actions, not words — especially when there’s a gap between what we want to do and what we should do, and when doing the right thing costs more than we want to pay.
Our character is revealed by how we deal with pressures and temptations. But it’s also disclosed by everyday actions, including what we say and do when we think no one is looking and we assume we won’t get caught. The way we treat people we think can’t help or hurt us, like housekeepers, waiters, and secretaries, tells more about our character than how we treat people we think are important. People who are honest, kind, and fair only when there is something to gain shouldn’t be confused with people of real character who demonstrate these qualities habitually, under all circumstances.
STEPHEN CURRY
In June of 2007 I was hired by Nike to work their summer Skills Academies. The first academy I worked was the Kobe Bryant skills academy. Nike invited the top 20 high school shooting guards in the nation as well as the top seven or eight college shooting guards to serve as counselors. This was the cream of the crop.
There was one college player in particular who turned a lot of heads, especially on the coaching staff. This kid was special. His footwork was perfect. His shoting form was flawless. He moved without the basketball brilliantly, which in today's game is a lost art. His work ethic was tremendous. His focus was unshakable. He was there to improve, not there for free gear or to chill with his homies.
Everything about this kid was classy and professional. He never took plays off and every rep of every drill was done at game speed with utmost intensity. I remember rebounding for him a few times during warm-ups and he would easily knock down 15-20 threes in a row before missing one, and then a new streak would start. He paid attention and followed the warm-ups and agilities with precision. This kid was all business, but you could tell in his eye and his smile that he loved the game.
Who am I talking about?
Davidson's Stephen Curry. On the first day of camp we all wondered who he was. On the last day we all agreed he was going to be a big-time player.
Stephen's magical run through the first three rounds of the 2008 NCAA Tournament--he scored 34.3 points per game as Davidson beat three higher seeds--didn't surprise any of us who worked that camp. Even if he was lightly recruited out of high school, we saw first-hand behind closed doors what this kid could do. We were just waiting for him to do it.
The point is, Stephen Curry stepped up at the end of the season and played better basketball than any other player in the country. He hit big shots and led his team to big victories, none of which was a fluke. Nor was he simply "lucky."
Stephen Curry earned the success he had by dedicating himself the previous offseason to individual self-improvement and player development.
He shot thousands of jumpers every day in the offseason, at game speed with perfect footwork. When the lights came on in March, making shots was a habit. Not an accident.
There was one college player in particular who turned a lot of heads, especially on the coaching staff. This kid was special. His footwork was perfect. His shoting form was flawless. He moved without the basketball brilliantly, which in today's game is a lost art. His work ethic was tremendous. His focus was unshakable. He was there to improve, not there for free gear or to chill with his homies.
Everything about this kid was classy and professional. He never took plays off and every rep of every drill was done at game speed with utmost intensity. I remember rebounding for him a few times during warm-ups and he would easily knock down 15-20 threes in a row before missing one, and then a new streak would start. He paid attention and followed the warm-ups and agilities with precision. This kid was all business, but you could tell in his eye and his smile that he loved the game.
Who am I talking about?
Davidson's Stephen Curry. On the first day of camp we all wondered who he was. On the last day we all agreed he was going to be a big-time player.
Stephen's magical run through the first three rounds of the 2008 NCAA Tournament--he scored 34.3 points per game as Davidson beat three higher seeds--didn't surprise any of us who worked that camp. Even if he was lightly recruited out of high school, we saw first-hand behind closed doors what this kid could do. We were just waiting for him to do it.
The point is, Stephen Curry stepped up at the end of the season and played better basketball than any other player in the country. He hit big shots and led his team to big victories, none of which was a fluke. Nor was he simply "lucky."
Stephen Curry earned the success he had by dedicating himself the previous offseason to individual self-improvement and player development.
He shot thousands of jumpers every day in the offseason, at game speed with perfect footwork. When the lights came on in March, making shots was a habit. Not an accident.
8.01.2009
DO YOUR JOB - Nick Saban
"... When I worked with Bill Belichick, we only had one sign in the whole building, and that was: Do your job," Saban said. "And it was defined for everybody - from the janitor, to the secretary, to the strength coach, to the equipment man to the coaches, to the players. Everybody had an expectation of what their responsibility was to execute their job."
7.19.2009
CASSPI
At 6-foot-9, 225lbs, Casspi, is a work in progress. He is a capable shooter, rebounder and ball handler, but he does not excel in any one area and is not considered particularly athletic.
Jason Levien, the Kings’ assistant general manager, said the franchise was drawn to Casspi for his passion, toughness and tenacity. The word energy comes up often.
“That’s his specialty,” said David Thorpe, an analyst for ESPN, who watched Casspi during the summer league. “Energy in the N.B.A. is a real talent.”
Even with Maccabi Tel Aviv, Casspi’s value was never evident in the raw statistics but in the results.
“He’s fearless,” said Coach Shamir. “When he was on the floor, good things would happen for them.”
Jason Levien, the Kings’ assistant general manager, said the franchise was drawn to Casspi for his passion, toughness and tenacity. The word energy comes up often.
“That’s his specialty,” said David Thorpe, an analyst for ESPN, who watched Casspi during the summer league. “Energy in the N.B.A. is a real talent.”
Even with Maccabi Tel Aviv, Casspi’s value was never evident in the raw statistics but in the results.
“He’s fearless,” said Coach Shamir. “When he was on the floor, good things would happen for them.”
Hasselbeck - Off Season Training
Turning his thoughts to the upcoming season, Hasselbeck says so far he believes the team is putting in the work necessary to rebound from a 4-12 season.
"Everyone has really put in the effort this offseason. We report July 31st and everyone has been working real hard these six weeks on our own, wherever their hometown is or wherever they’ve been working out and they get to come back and show off what they’ve done."
"We’ve got a conditioning test on the 31st, we weigh in, we’ve got a body fat test, we have our first practice and you can send a message without saying a word, you can send it to your teammates, to the coaches, to everybody and say ‘I’ve really put the work in, how about you?’ and I think the feeling is that everybody’s really bought it and put the work in."
"Everyone has really put in the effort this offseason. We report July 31st and everyone has been working real hard these six weeks on our own, wherever their hometown is or wherever they’ve been working out and they get to come back and show off what they’ve done."
"We’ve got a conditioning test on the 31st, we weigh in, we’ve got a body fat test, we have our first practice and you can send a message without saying a word, you can send it to your teammates, to the coaches, to everybody and say ‘I’ve really put the work in, how about you?’ and I think the feeling is that everybody’s really bought it and put the work in."
7.02.2009
COMPETITIVENESS
"When talent is roughly equal, the competitive guys win. You have to have that in this league to win." Sacramento Kings coach Paul Westphal
6.24.2009
BLAKE GRIFFIN
Three orange, 20-pound medicine balls are outside a white van, placed on the sandy side of Highway 101, a few hundred yards from the San Francisco Zoo with the Pacific Ocean a few hundred feet below.
They were placed there by stealth trainer Frank Matrisciano. It's late May and he is wearing his usual attire: boots, wraparound shades, a military desert sun hat, a weight jacket and long-sleeved shirt, shorts and, just in case the sand starts swirling, a pullover face-mask hood.
One by one, recent college players Blake and Taylor Griffin of Oklahoma and Jeff Adrien of Connecticut pick up the balls and begin the 20-minute hike into the sand dunes up from North Beach. No one in the party has any idea where he will be training.
Blake Griffin, who has been the consensus No. 1 NBA draft pick for months, is making his second stint with Matrisciano. He chose to come here, as did his brother, to go through a regimen that is enshrouded in secrecy.
The discreet locations around the Bay Area are all part of his methods. He wants not only to surprise the trainees so there is no repetition but also to shock the muscle groups. Matrisciano's training focuses on using nontraditional elements, which can include a discarded railroad tie or the monkey bars at a playground. His objective is to force the muscles to adjust to unstable weights and surfaces.
"We don't do anything on a flat surface, and we don't do anything on a hard surface," Blake Griffin said. "Everything is sand and stairs."
Said Taylor Griffin, "It's definitely one of the hardest things you will ever face. Frank's thing is that if you can run up a 60-degree incline in sand with a 60-pound weight vest on, then running 94 feet down a flat court should be easy."
Matrisciano begins the 50-minute workout (dubbed "chameleon") with the players running up the sand dune with the medicine ball. Up and back, up and back, up and back they go. The medicine balls are left atop the hill after a few runs. So, too, are the sneakers and, for some, the socks.
"Frank is one of a kind. There is nobody on this planet like Frank," Taylor Griffin said. "He is extreme -- the most extreme dude you will ever be around."
There are two 50-minute sessions. What you do in the 50 minutes fluctuates. Maybe one day you can run the hill 20 times in 50 minutes, maybe another you can do it 25, and on and on. The plethora of options Matrisciano can select include running beach stairs or using a harness on the sand to drag him along while both trainer and trainee wear a weight vest.
During the second 50-minute session on this day, the players stand on a sand ledge, ready for squats and push-ups in the sand that only get harder as time keeps moving.
The players are hunched over, their muscles aching, their abdomens stretched and the fatigue evident by their facial expressions.
What muscles hurt at the end of the two-plus-hour chameleon workout?
"Every single one," Blake Griffin said. "I remember the first day we came out here last year, and I remember waking up and thinking, 'Man, I don't know if I can do this for two more months.'"
Said Armstrong, "Everything hurts. There isn't one muscle [that doesn't]. My eyelids hurt, my feet, my back, legs and everything you can think of, Achilles, it's crazy."
Yet these players don't leave. The Griffin brothers are here every day for weeks. Armstrong also is doing it for the second straight summer.
Matrisciano calls it his Law Seven.
"For every 10 guys that come here, the ratio is that three stay," Matrisciano said. "Guys will last 11 minutes, maybe 12 minutes, and they are gone."
Blake Griffin said of last year's regimen: "A guy came for a day of the workout, and then you never saw him again. It's funny because you can always tell which ones aren't coming back because they are like, 'Y'all do this every day?' or something like that, and you are like, 'You get used to it,' and they are like, 'Man, I can't do this.'"
According to Matrisciano, most come to him thinking they can handle the training with ease because they're in shape after doing "illusionary" workouts.
The players attest that there is nothing phony about Matrisciano. He secures furnished apartments in downtown San Francisco for the out-of-town players. He said the college players don't pay a fee. But the NBA players do, though he wouldn't divulge how much.
"I don't have any expenses, no furniture, just a bed and a satellite TV in my place," Matrisciano said. "I eat the same thing every day: sweet potatoes, black beans, brown rice, chicken. And I have a dog."
The players adhere to his eating habits. Blake Griffin has been stringent about what he inhales, limiting himself to oatmeal and eggs in the morning; a burrito in the afternoon consisting of rice, beans and chicken (no sour cream); and then either salmon or chicken over vegetables in the evening (no sauce or oils on top). He supplements those foods with protein shakes.
"To do this stuff day after day, it wears on you mentally," Matrisciano said. "That's part of it. To go on the basketball court will be nothing for these guys. They will mentally adapt to it.”
"Guys need a challenge, and they'll say, 'My college strength guy or my pro strength guy doesn't do it.' So I say 'OK,' and in 11 minutes they're done, 12 minutes they'll say, '[Bleep] this.' One guy called his agent and said, 'Get me the [bleep] out of here.' I call the other training illusionary. It's good to do it, but it doesn't push you past that."
What makes the outdoor chameleon training even more taxing on the body is that it comes late in the afternoon, after the players have done two-plus hours of work on the basketball court.
Bob Hill the former NBA head coach makes his home in San Antonio but in the summer time he comes to the Bay Area to do the basketball training for Matrisciano’s group of players. He relishes working with the Griffins and players such as Armstrong and Sacramento Kings forward Kenny Thomas. The basketball skill work isn't for the weak, either. The players go at one another, hurling their bodies for boards and crashing to the court on occasion.
"There are no excuses here," Hill said. "What we're building is mental toughness."
If agents were watching this workout, they would have cringed, fearing their clients would get hurt. Griffin nearly did in clashing with Armstrong. The workout would be what the NBA teams strive to do during individual pre-draft sessions, and what the NBA draft combine would love to be but can't because of agents' influence on eliminating contact.
How does Matrisciano fend off the agents? "I don't let them in," he said. Matrisciano's clients during this training session were represented by at least three different agents, proving he doesn't play favorites. "Nobody knows where I am," he said. "I am in San Francisco. Great, then come find me.
"The parents of the guys coming in from high school or college appreciate that. I don't have to tell you it's a harsh world out there. It's a circus -- from AAU to college, it's a circus. The kids are pawned off, pimped off, and I don't need to be involved in that, and I won't be involved in that, and that's my choice."
As for Blake Griffin, Hill said his return to San Francisco this past spring proved his commitment to the program.
Griffin credits his improvement in his game this past season, after which he was named the consensus national player of the year, to last summer's regimen with Matrisciano.
"It helped a lot because I had two knee injuries my freshman year, and it helped me get back to where I never worried about my knees," Griffin said. "I just play, and it helped my vertical. I leaned down a bit, too. Everyone thought I had lost a lot of weight, but when I came back, I had actually gained 10 pounds."
Turns out Matrisciano's Law Seven didn't apply to Griffin.
"Because he is a mental and physical beast, because he wants to be the best, and I guess this where he feels he will achieve that goal," Matrisciano said.
Griffin could have coasted because he is a lock for the No. 1 overall pick. The only workout he did was for the owners of the top slot, the L.A. Clippers.
"There are plenty of guys who could be in his position who would be like, 'I'm set,' and just chill until the draft," Taylor Griffin said. "But Blake's thing is he wants to be an impact player his rookie year."
Blake Griffin's mantra is from a Henry Ford quote that he has tweaked for himself: "The competitor to be feared the most is the one who never worries about others at all and goes on making himself better all the time."
Blake like the workout because "it gives you a base where you can do so much more and last so much longer on the court.
"Let me just put it this way: When I went back to Oklahoma last year when we were done here, the guys were complaining about having to go to the weight room and do our 30-minute workout or our 45-minute workout, and I was like, 'Man, I could do this all day, this is great,'" Griffin recalled. "I don't have to go on a sand hill wearing a 40-pound weight vest and run up it carrying a 20-pound ball or do pull-ups. This has made that easy."
While plenty of other players go another route, Griffin heads west for the Bay. Plenty of others cut short Matrisciano's regimen before seeing the benefit, Griffin just keeps coming back for more.
You get the feeling he wouldn't have it any other way.
Others might worry about agents, signing bonuses and what they'll wear on draft night. Griffin puts his 60-pound weight vest on and starts chugging up the sand hill.
They were placed there by stealth trainer Frank Matrisciano. It's late May and he is wearing his usual attire: boots, wraparound shades, a military desert sun hat, a weight jacket and long-sleeved shirt, shorts and, just in case the sand starts swirling, a pullover face-mask hood.
One by one, recent college players Blake and Taylor Griffin of Oklahoma and Jeff Adrien of Connecticut pick up the balls and begin the 20-minute hike into the sand dunes up from North Beach. No one in the party has any idea where he will be training.
Blake Griffin, who has been the consensus No. 1 NBA draft pick for months, is making his second stint with Matrisciano. He chose to come here, as did his brother, to go through a regimen that is enshrouded in secrecy.
The discreet locations around the Bay Area are all part of his methods. He wants not only to surprise the trainees so there is no repetition but also to shock the muscle groups. Matrisciano's training focuses on using nontraditional elements, which can include a discarded railroad tie or the monkey bars at a playground. His objective is to force the muscles to adjust to unstable weights and surfaces.
"We don't do anything on a flat surface, and we don't do anything on a hard surface," Blake Griffin said. "Everything is sand and stairs."
Said Taylor Griffin, "It's definitely one of the hardest things you will ever face. Frank's thing is that if you can run up a 60-degree incline in sand with a 60-pound weight vest on, then running 94 feet down a flat court should be easy."
Matrisciano begins the 50-minute workout (dubbed "chameleon") with the players running up the sand dune with the medicine ball. Up and back, up and back, up and back they go. The medicine balls are left atop the hill after a few runs. So, too, are the sneakers and, for some, the socks.
"Frank is one of a kind. There is nobody on this planet like Frank," Taylor Griffin said. "He is extreme -- the most extreme dude you will ever be around."
There are two 50-minute sessions. What you do in the 50 minutes fluctuates. Maybe one day you can run the hill 20 times in 50 minutes, maybe another you can do it 25, and on and on. The plethora of options Matrisciano can select include running beach stairs or using a harness on the sand to drag him along while both trainer and trainee wear a weight vest.
During the second 50-minute session on this day, the players stand on a sand ledge, ready for squats and push-ups in the sand that only get harder as time keeps moving.
The players are hunched over, their muscles aching, their abdomens stretched and the fatigue evident by their facial expressions.
What muscles hurt at the end of the two-plus-hour chameleon workout?
"Every single one," Blake Griffin said. "I remember the first day we came out here last year, and I remember waking up and thinking, 'Man, I don't know if I can do this for two more months.'"
Said Armstrong, "Everything hurts. There isn't one muscle [that doesn't]. My eyelids hurt, my feet, my back, legs and everything you can think of, Achilles, it's crazy."
Yet these players don't leave. The Griffin brothers are here every day for weeks. Armstrong also is doing it for the second straight summer.
Matrisciano calls it his Law Seven.
"For every 10 guys that come here, the ratio is that three stay," Matrisciano said. "Guys will last 11 minutes, maybe 12 minutes, and they are gone."
Blake Griffin said of last year's regimen: "A guy came for a day of the workout, and then you never saw him again. It's funny because you can always tell which ones aren't coming back because they are like, 'Y'all do this every day?' or something like that, and you are like, 'You get used to it,' and they are like, 'Man, I can't do this.'"
According to Matrisciano, most come to him thinking they can handle the training with ease because they're in shape after doing "illusionary" workouts.
The players attest that there is nothing phony about Matrisciano. He secures furnished apartments in downtown San Francisco for the out-of-town players. He said the college players don't pay a fee. But the NBA players do, though he wouldn't divulge how much.
"I don't have any expenses, no furniture, just a bed and a satellite TV in my place," Matrisciano said. "I eat the same thing every day: sweet potatoes, black beans, brown rice, chicken. And I have a dog."
The players adhere to his eating habits. Blake Griffin has been stringent about what he inhales, limiting himself to oatmeal and eggs in the morning; a burrito in the afternoon consisting of rice, beans and chicken (no sour cream); and then either salmon or chicken over vegetables in the evening (no sauce or oils on top). He supplements those foods with protein shakes.
"To do this stuff day after day, it wears on you mentally," Matrisciano said. "That's part of it. To go on the basketball court will be nothing for these guys. They will mentally adapt to it.”
"Guys need a challenge, and they'll say, 'My college strength guy or my pro strength guy doesn't do it.' So I say 'OK,' and in 11 minutes they're done, 12 minutes they'll say, '[Bleep] this.' One guy called his agent and said, 'Get me the [bleep] out of here.' I call the other training illusionary. It's good to do it, but it doesn't push you past that."
What makes the outdoor chameleon training even more taxing on the body is that it comes late in the afternoon, after the players have done two-plus hours of work on the basketball court.
Bob Hill the former NBA head coach makes his home in San Antonio but in the summer time he comes to the Bay Area to do the basketball training for Matrisciano’s group of players. He relishes working with the Griffins and players such as Armstrong and Sacramento Kings forward Kenny Thomas. The basketball skill work isn't for the weak, either. The players go at one another, hurling their bodies for boards and crashing to the court on occasion.
"There are no excuses here," Hill said. "What we're building is mental toughness."
If agents were watching this workout, they would have cringed, fearing their clients would get hurt. Griffin nearly did in clashing with Armstrong. The workout would be what the NBA teams strive to do during individual pre-draft sessions, and what the NBA draft combine would love to be but can't because of agents' influence on eliminating contact.
How does Matrisciano fend off the agents? "I don't let them in," he said. Matrisciano's clients during this training session were represented by at least three different agents, proving he doesn't play favorites. "Nobody knows where I am," he said. "I am in San Francisco. Great, then come find me.
"The parents of the guys coming in from high school or college appreciate that. I don't have to tell you it's a harsh world out there. It's a circus -- from AAU to college, it's a circus. The kids are pawned off, pimped off, and I don't need to be involved in that, and I won't be involved in that, and that's my choice."
As for Blake Griffin, Hill said his return to San Francisco this past spring proved his commitment to the program.
Griffin credits his improvement in his game this past season, after which he was named the consensus national player of the year, to last summer's regimen with Matrisciano.
"It helped a lot because I had two knee injuries my freshman year, and it helped me get back to where I never worried about my knees," Griffin said. "I just play, and it helped my vertical. I leaned down a bit, too. Everyone thought I had lost a lot of weight, but when I came back, I had actually gained 10 pounds."
Turns out Matrisciano's Law Seven didn't apply to Griffin.
"Because he is a mental and physical beast, because he wants to be the best, and I guess this where he feels he will achieve that goal," Matrisciano said.
Griffin could have coasted because he is a lock for the No. 1 overall pick. The only workout he did was for the owners of the top slot, the L.A. Clippers.
"There are plenty of guys who could be in his position who would be like, 'I'm set,' and just chill until the draft," Taylor Griffin said. "But Blake's thing is he wants to be an impact player his rookie year."
Blake Griffin's mantra is from a Henry Ford quote that he has tweaked for himself: "The competitor to be feared the most is the one who never worries about others at all and goes on making himself better all the time."
Blake like the workout because "it gives you a base where you can do so much more and last so much longer on the court.
"Let me just put it this way: When I went back to Oklahoma last year when we were done here, the guys were complaining about having to go to the weight room and do our 30-minute workout or our 45-minute workout, and I was like, 'Man, I could do this all day, this is great,'" Griffin recalled. "I don't have to go on a sand hill wearing a 40-pound weight vest and run up it carrying a 20-pound ball or do pull-ups. This has made that easy."
While plenty of other players go another route, Griffin heads west for the Bay. Plenty of others cut short Matrisciano's regimen before seeing the benefit, Griffin just keeps coming back for more.
You get the feeling he wouldn't have it any other way.
Others might worry about agents, signing bonuses and what they'll wear on draft night. Griffin puts his 60-pound weight vest on and starts chugging up the sand hill.
6.21.2009
LARRY FITZGERALD
Todd Haley: "I told Larry Fitzgerald the first time I met him: ‘I’m not your buddy. I’m your coach; I’m trying to get you to be great."
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