It’s easy to dismiss players as lazy for coming into training camp sporting a tire around their midsection. They’re paid millions, so we expect them to eat, sleep and drink basketball all year round regardless of how much this cuts into their personal lives. This past Friday, we got to experience a fraction of Carmelo Anthony‘s workout with Anthony himself, and its led us to re-evaluate any earlier assessments.
As part of an event with Degree* antiperspirant, we were invited to participate in a workout with ‘Melo’s strength and conditioning coach at the Chelsea Piers gym this past Friday. The workout section only lasted around 30 minutes before we sat down to discuss the Knicks upcoming 2013-14 season, but that 30 minutes had us retching towards the trash bin, and the ensuing burning sensation in our legs intensified over the weekend, so we were limited to only the most basic movements.
I am a smoker (don’t smoke, it’s disgusting), but I go to the gym and occassionally find time to play basketball at a local park. I played for my varsity sports in high school and have played basketball since I was 6. I’m active, and I thought I was in shape. Thirty minutes of ‘Melo’s routine — which he’d already gone through before we arrived at the Chelsea Piers gym — convinced me otherwise.
We did some light stretching and warmups and then bounced down the court doing high knees and various other aerobic exercises. A two-footed broad jump across the less-than-regulation court, followed by jumping rope for just a couple minutes meant I had to stumble over to the trash can fearful I’d puke in front of everyone. I kept it together and actually made it through the last drill (and supposedly toughest) part of the morning, the full-court three dribble layup drill.
You get three dribbles to go the length of the court before laying the ball up. ‘Melo told us he usually starts the drill off by dunking the ball after three dribbles, but is usually too winded to do so at the end. We — a writer from Esquire, Maxim and myself — did eight full-court runs with three dribbles. While I made my layups, I lay prostrate and immovable for a solid five minutes after it wrapped.
Keep in mind, this was a tiny sample size of Anthony’s regular, early morning routine in preparation for training camp. There is still weight training, more aerobics and a host of other ball handling and shooting drills that we didn’t even attempt. To say I’ve got new respect for Anthony and any other NBA player that takes their conditioning to this level, would be an understatement.
Dime: You played a lot at the Four [power forward] spot last season. Is [Mike] Woodson going to use you in that role as much next year with [Andrea] Bargnani coming aboard and the pounding you get down low?
Carmelo Anthony: I don’t think he’s going to change up what’s been working. But there are advantages and disadvantages to that. The disadvantage is I gotta take that pounding, that beating every night. And I think he [Woodson] knows that. We know that as a team — now, we want to figure out how we’re going to do that. We have guys now — Bargnani, we can put Metta [World Peace] at the Four now — but still be able to do the same things that we’ve done.
Dime: You guys did it a little bit last year against the Pacers, switching defensive assignments in transition, where you guard the Three [small forward] man, but still play the Four on offense —
CA: Nah, we work on that stuff anyway. The way we play, we feel as though anybody can guard anybody. So we play small and we want the team to match up against us. The only thing about the Indiana series is before, I tore my shoulder. So that was a disadvantage that we had. We have guys now where, instead of me being at the spaced-out 4 [stretch 4], [Andrea] Bargnani can space the floor. I have another guy, Metta [World Peace], who can knock down shots and brings a different presence to our team and just enhance what we’ve already been working on.
Dime: There’s been a lot of derision around the Bargnani trade, but you seemed pretty positive about it when it happened…
CA: Yeah, I mean, I wouldn’t come out and say, ‘uh, that’s the worst thing that ever happened.’ I would never do that. So, you open your arms to him. You hope and believe that Bargnani would be the Bargnani that everybody knows he can be; the No. 1 draft pick Bargnani. That’s the Bargnani we’re looking forward to. So we just want him to be comfortable here in New York. There’s no pressure on him; all the pressure is on me.
Dime: Did you reach out to him after the trade because I know he’s been battling pneumonia?
CA: Yeah, he was real sick, but he just came back recently. So he was out of commission for month or a month and a half. And we’ve been playing at the facility these last couple weeks and just give him a chance to do some things. Talk a lot and just get ready for it.
Dime: Have you actually told him ‘listen man, I’m gonna get all the pressure, you just need’ —
CA: — I haven’t had that conversation with him yet, but it’s coming. Maybe the next couple days it’s coming. Like I said, I just want him to be able to just go out there and play basketball and not have to worry about…no pressure, no nothing, and just focus on basketball. I can deal with it, I can handle all that.
Keep reading to hear about Melo’s own health and J.R. Smith’s peace of mind after his new contract…
[protected-iframe id=”ad4dd9e78c10446de8ce2fe29f2ec42e-60970621-27345751″ info=”//instagram.com/p/e4-PGGqMJ6/embed/” width=”480″ height=”600″ frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no”]
Dime: About your shoulder…Amare‘s [Stoudemire] health, you guys were just super banged up last year. Have you taken some time this summer — no Olympics this year — to just get healthy?
CA: My main thing yeah, I was just rehabbing this whole summer —
Dime: So the shoulder is good?
CA: Yeah, the shoulder is great. The shoulder is great, and I actually decided not to get surgery. People were looking at me like ‘what?’ My shoulder is actually torn, like it was a torn Labrum.
Dime: But that’s going to heal itself—
CA: Yeah, but I had to take that chance. I don’t like going to get surgery.
Dime: What were the doctors telling you?
CA: [laughs]
Dime: Was it back-and-forth?
CA: Yeah, it was back-and-forth. We were going back-and-forth for about a month and I was just like, if I don’t have to, I don’t want to.
Dime: Especially you’re under a time constraint. You’ve gotta sort of make that decision to have the surgery soon…
CA: Yeah, if I had it, I would be out right now.
Dime: On the injury front, have you talked to J.R. [Smith]?
CA: Yeah, most of the guys are back. Everybody’s been back training, rehabbing, doing the things they have to do to be better. We’re excited about it now.
Dime: Is he [J.R.] a little more at peace with the new contract this year?
CA: He seems like he’s at peace; like he’s’ got that weight off his shoulders where now he’s — he’s a different guy just in the gym every day just focusing on what he needs to focus on.
Dime: Woodson came out earlier this summer and said, ‘Tyson [Chander], ‘Melo and [Raymond] Felton are the only guys I know starting.’ With J.R. and [Iman] Shumpert, what’s the starting lineup you think works best?
CA: I don’t know. It’s hard to do because you don’t know. J.R. is a starter, he can start on any basketball team. But I don’t know if that’s what he wants. It’s up to him [Smith]—
Dime: Woodson sort of challenged him last year to come off the bench; he won the Sixth Man of the Year Award—
CA: —I guess he took on the challenge and he beat the challenge. I think it’s up to him [Smith] and coach Woodson and coach Woodson’s direction. Whoever is in there it should be right.
Dime: One last thing, Felton had mentioned he thought you guys were a little too old last year. You’ve [the Knicks] gotten a little bit younger this year, and you’re kind of getting up there —
CA: — I’m only 29
Dime: —Yeah, do you think you have 4 or 5 prime years left with the way medicine is now—
CA: — I don’t take medicine, first of all —
Dime: [laughs] No, I mean like trainers and stuff —
CA: [laughs] Yeah, I’m good. I’ve felt the best I’ve felt in a long, long time. Just as far as my body goes and [how I am] mentally, emotionally. I feel like I’m in a great place right now. So I don’t think about any of that stuff.
*Disclosure: In the past, I’ve worked for Degree in an editorial capacity.
What do you think?
Follow Spencer on Twitter at @countcenci.
Follow Dime on Twitter at @DimeMag.
Become a fan of Dime Magazine on Facebook HERE.
