Sin #3: "He’s working out with ..."
Most agents make it a point to mention who their players are training with as if the athlete will become significantly better. Make no mistake that trainers like Tim Grover, David Thorpe, and Joe Abunassar do a great service, but the general idea that these guys are going to take projected players and catapult them up the draft board can be foolish. You always hear about the improvements in athleticism and diet which are all great, but at the same time it doesn’t amount to a whole new player.

 

 

There are a handful of sites that now do stories about players attending these training camps, but much of the time these stories are so filled with positive propaganda that I wonder if it’s an infomercial. Negatives are rarely brought up in their articles. If the writer were to say that the athleticism in “Player A” hasn’t improved since they left college despite working with a specific trainer, chances are that writer will be frowned upon by the trainer and may not be welcomed back at their complex.

hunteract Republish: Seven Deadly Sins of the NBA Draft - Sin #3 - The Draft Review
Steven Hunter

A few years back sophomore Steven Hunter was a struggling draftee hoping to land in the first round. After two weeks of workouts with Tim Grover, Hunter was all the rage and suddenly there was talk of him being a potential lottery pick. Scouts were telling everyone how he looked so much improved with his newfound body. Orlando selected him with the 15th pick in the 2001 NBA Draft, but 7 seasons and 4 teams later Hunter is nothing more than a career back-up.

Bill Walker and Kevin Love appear to be rising as the latest training wonders. Walker lost 25 pounds, and Love, in a Chad Ford interview, discussed some of what he has done to improve his body through dieting. At the end of the day training stints could work, but it’s not the miraculous recipe for success that people sensationalize it as. Yes, several weeks at a training camp can certainly improve athleticism, body strength, various basketball fundamentals and diet habits, but players are truly made through years of hard work coupled with the gifts they're born with, not solely because they work out with a trainer for a month. It's not that simple and it's a sin to feed into the hype and believe it is.

Sins 1 & 2

Sin 4

Sin 5

Sin 6

Sin 7

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