by James Ham and Jonathan Santiago
From Tyreke Evans’ workout plans to the nuptials of Jimmer Fredette, here are a few updates on what some of the Sacramento Kings have been up to early this offseason.
Evans trims down
We had a chance to catch up with Doc Evans, brother of Tyreke, and the news is encouraging. According to Doc, Tyreke just weighed in at 219-pounds and has trimmed down to five-percent body fat. He has been working out at Temple University and a few other spots. He plans to return to Sacramento for his basketball camp, which is a free community outreach program for local underserved children, hosted by VSP and the Positive Coaching Alliance on June 14th and 15th after a vacation to the Dominican Republic. From there, Tyreke will continue to workout in Sacramento, Los Angeles and Las Vegas as the summer continues and include more shooting work with renowned-coach Keith Veney.
Fredette ties knot with college sweetheart
While we haven’t had a chance to catch up with last year’s first round pick, congratulations are in order. Jimmer and long-time girlfriend/fiance Whitney Wonnacott (now Whitney Fredette) tied the knot on Friday evening and are now honeymooning in Hawaii. If you would like a good laugh, check Jimmer’s twitter timeline for a few of his teammates comments.
Whiteside continues to bulk up
While at the practice facility filming for our DeMarcus Cousins feature posted earlier today, we bumped into Hassan Whiteside. He has been working out in Sacramento and as of Friday, he said he was about a week away from being 100 percent after an ankle injury ended his season prematurely. His focus this summer is to add strength to his lower body and honestly, the kid looks tremendous. He is a workout warrior and it shows in his physique. Now he needs to translate that mass into production on the basketball floor.
Other Kings pop in for summer training in Sacramento
In addition to Whiteside and Cousins, we also saw Francisco Garcia at the Kings’ Natomas facility last Friday. Kings Coach Keith Smart says Garcia began his offseason training program immediately following the conclusion of the season. Smart also informed us that Travis Outlaw and Isaiah Thomas have dropped by for workouts. Like Evans, Thomas is holding a basketball camp in the Sacramento region for young kids later this summer.
Below are a few quotes from DeMarcus Cousins, Keith Smart and Kings strength & conditioning coach Daniel Shapiro that were left on the cutting room floor from our video feature we shared this morning.
DeMarcus Cousins
On his decision to come in and start working early.
Setting a tone for myself, making a statement for my teammates. Gotta come in and work this season.
On his workouts with Kings strength and conditioning coach Daniel Shapiro.
That’s his job, try and get the best out of you. Good workouts, really help your body. It’s going to help me in the long run, so I’m all about it.
On making a leap in his third-year and what he expects to improve going into next season.
The big jump – I just want to improve each year. All categories – from defense to being a leader on the floor – keep improving each year.
On watching and picking things up from the NBA playoffs.
Absolutely. Just how (Tim Duncan) keeps his composure. He never really gets rattled. Tony Parker, the way he controls the game. Kevin Durant, the same way. Miami, how they stay aggressive. So, I’m watching all that.
Keith Smart
On players coming back and working out in Sacramento during the offseason.
Well, all we’re doing is laying out the foundation. And that’s what I’ve been trying to do from the day I took over. Start laying out a foundation so that guys will know at this point and time coaches are here, we will go out to see you.
Francisco got started with his training right after the season. Cousins had his date when he was going to come in, so he’s here. Isaiah came in for a brief moment and will come back again. Tyreke is going to come in. Outlaw was here for a little bit then he went home for a break.
We don’t want them to disrupt their entire summer and say be in the gym, be in Sacramento for the whole summer. We still want them to live and have fun and get away in the offseason. So come in for a week, coaches will be here with you, not only on the floor, but still looking at film as well.
Looking at some of the playoff games – we’re recording all the playoff games so that we have little things in the playoff games that we have ready to show our various players. So different guys are going to come in at different times and be able to be here with us working in the summertime to keep getting them better.
On differences between his experiences going into the offseason as head coach at Golden State versus in Sacramento.
Well, I get a chance to be involved and hands on a lot of things. You know, getting ready for the draft, you get a chance to look at film. You get a chance to look at players, the workouts, you’re looking at how a player fits your team. With your own players, you get a chance (to do) things that you set up for them, things that they may have struggled with over the course of the season. Things that you laid out for them to work on this summer. You can have a hands on approach to that.
In Golden State, our players were kind of scattered and plus we were always up in the air as to what was going to happen the next year. Where as now, I’m here (to) lay down a foundation for our coaching staff, lay out a foundation for our players, so I can be a part of everything that we’re doing with our basketball program. That’s what I wanted to get. I wanted to get to where its a program, so that any time next year, next summer, you guys want to come in and we’ll have someone here. Guys will be here coming in to work out on their games.
Unless we’re in the Western Conference Finals.
(He made the statement about the playoffs half-jokingly with a smile.)
Daniel Shapiro
On Cousins’ offseason workout plan.
He’s going to be pretty much in Sacramento. Of course, we want to encourage these guys to take some types of breaks and vacations. I think he’s going to go away to go home for a little while, come back and then we’re right there for preparation for USA Basketball, then that takes us right summer league and summer league, he’ll be training with us as well. And then, we’re a couple months away from training camp, so it might be here just back and forth. And if he were to leave (and) go out of town, I’d send stuff with him and get with his trainer and just keep him on the progression of where he started.
On Cousins’ motivation to train.
He came excited. I had to tell him when he came (in the) first day, since it’s a progression we have to start a little lighter and work our way up. I told him 18 weeks from now is when we start of training camp, let’s look at that. And he said no I want to go right into it. I said, well we’ve got to slown down. I don’t want to kill you and burn you out too quick so we’re kind of making baby steps. But he’s more than willing, (he’s) been on time (when) we’re scheduled and our workouts and everything have been going great so far.
On Cousins’ dietary habits.
From the beginning, that was one of the first things we when we first got him a couple years ago. I had a lot of meals with him to see how he ate. He eats pretty healthy, he likes his oatmeal, he likes his sushi, he likes his sandwiches. He eats pretty healthy. Just like anything you like, everybody wants to go and touch that fried food once in a while. We know we’ve got to limit that because he knows how it will affect him.
On building Cousins’ explosiveness.
He’s going to be banging, he’s going to be jumping repetitively. So we’ve got to work on not just his first explosion, but his second and third jump. Those are things where conditioning comes into effect, as well as plyometric and jump training and thats something we’re here working on today.
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