Certain interesting but off-beat items just can’t be written about during a horrible, no good, very bad season — like the one the Wizards had last year — such as diet and exercise regimens.
So one of the nice things about the Wizards’ fresh start is a chance to give credit to players who have improved their physical shape during the offseason and love media day as a chance to show off the work.
For some players, like Nick Young and JaVale McGee, it’s about added bulk, and each of them added 10 pounds of muscle over the summer. For Al Thornton, it was the opposite after his exit meeting with Wizards head coach Flip Saunders last spring centered around one thing: his weight.
“That was the glaring issue,” said Thornton, who cut chicken, beef and pork out of his diet while mixing up his workouts with more swimming and biking. He has dropped 20-25 pounds off what was a 6-foot-8, 245-pound frame.
Young’s improved upper arm definition was more impressive than his long-ways-to-go Afro.
“I was 203, 205 and I’m 215 now,” he said.
McGee said he ended last year around 252 pounds, but he’s now at 260, where he hopes to stay, plus or minus five pounds.
“I feel it when I jump,” McGee said. “Usually, when I jump and somebody bumps me, it’s over. But now I feel like if somebody hits me, I can still take the hit, get the ball and dunk it or get the rebound.”
Gilbert Arenas‘ bushy beard was somewhat distracting, but to be honest, his arms looked bigger, too. Not that there was time to ask him about that.
