As a component of their plan to isolate and improve the coronavirus at the close of the NBA, the Spurs in front of Rudy Gay picked up a book.
According to its promotional website, James Clear’s ‘Atomic Habits’ is a ‘comprehensive consultant on how to replace your behavior and through 1% every day’.
With the Spurs entering the NBA bubble in Orlando to begin the bizarre wave of playoffs in team history, Gay’s numbers are now the time to put into practice what he’s learned.
“It’s a time when I’m going to be away from my family, away from everyone, away from life in general,” Gay said. “But what is life in general right now? (The book) is helping me reconsider my brain about thinking and preparing for what’s going to happen.”
The Spurs arrived in central Florida on Thursday afternoon, with their first training since March scheduled for today.
At least on August 3rd, when the NBA reset playoff game ends, the Spurs will be answering Gay’s unanswered question: What is life in general right now?
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Going back to the practice box will be an approach to normalcy. Over the more than two weeks, the Spurs have conducted mandatory individual training at their practice center in San Antonio.
According to the league decree, those individual sessions were for 3 or 4 players in the gym at once, with an assistant coach assigned to each.
The first time the Spurs roster met completely to take Thursday’s flight to Orlando. For the Spurs, the first stage of educational camp 2.0 will be to get everyone in shape.
For much of the closure, the facilities were closed and players were unable to use the public gyms.
Some had made a jump in a regular ring until the gym reopened at the end of June.
“It’s hard to be in the form of basketball without betting basketball,” said goalkeeper Derrick White, who stayed in San Antonio for a break. “We had a motorcycle at home, so I did. I tried to do everything I could to stay fit, eat well or whatever it took.”
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Once the doors of the Spurs’ educational site opened, White began to facilitate his return.
His return began with an emphasis on the rudimentary.
“The first week or so just a fit shot, feel the ball, feel the basics,” White said. “Just have a concept of everything.”
“Now I subsidized it, doing general exercises,” he says. “Tournage 3
S out of the dribble and doing that.
In a sense, DeMar DeRozan one of the lucky ones.
While NBA players were looking for new tactics to stay alert to the league’s coronavirus-inspired break, DeRozan did not have to look beyond his backyard.
Behind home in Los Angeles, DeRozan spent much of the NBA blocking his basket at home.
Still, he admits that there is something missing from his home workouts.
“All my life I’ve played basketball, every single day since I was 7 or 8,” DeRozan said. “Not being able to play five vs. five in the last 3 months would have a negative effect on anyone.”
Although the team is probably familiar with the things of today’s practice, the 5-on-5 is no longer banned as players move toward games that matter.
The Spurs’ first qualifying game is July 31 in Sacramento.
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“It will probably take about a week to feel again,” said Trey Lyles, optimistic. “But everyone will be happy to play again, so I don’t see that being a challenge for long.”
In Orlando, Spurs will likely place players in other degrees of fitness and preparation. Lyles spent most of his time during the NBA vacation at his Indianapolis home, where he had access to two private gyms.
“Me in the gym every day, betting basketball, weightlifting and stuff like that,” Lyles said. “I definitely stayed in the most sensible of each and every one of things.”
Half-know-one Tyler Zeller, just signed. He worked with the University of North Carolina team until the NCAA season was abandoned.
With a newborn daughter born in space and a 3-year-old son wreaked havoc, Zeller discovered that education was complicated at the end of the closing.
“I tried to do everything I could, ” said Zeller. “Even though it meant push-ups with our son running over me and things like that.
Gay, 33, said he couldn’t participate in many basketball activities before the Spurs’ gym reopened.
Still, he believes he remained in good shape during the closure.
To hear Gay say, some of those “atomic habits” took root before he hit the pandemic.
“I have compatibility and I stay healthy and my diet,” Gay said. “As you age in the league, you never need to distort yourself again. In terms of being compatible and taking a step back, I’ve mastered it.
Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN
Jeff McDonald began covering the Spurs for the San Antonio Express-News in September 2007, three months after the team’s fourth championship.