Yes, agreed that NBA players are not really great athletes. Basketball specific movement efficiency creates the illusion for a lot of them due to years and years of daily basketball playing.
Wow T0ddday, tell us more about chris paul and blake griffin lol... what kind of training were they doing? I mentioned in the andrew wiggins training video thread already how I despise the training of most NBA players cause they do nonsense training.
I know skillwork is most important (obviously), but doesn't mean you can't also work on athleticism and become an even better player overall. Doesn't always have to be 1 or the other. Not saying anyone disagrees, just mentioning why I hate watching NBA players training videos.
Well, first off you have to realize some things about NBA players. In season they are exhausted. The ones I have talked to readily admit that by about 50 games they are all physically wiped out. So, in season it essentially is one or the other and training takes a backseat. They have skills trainers, team strength coaches, massage therapists, and speed and agility trainers.... During the season strength coaches and speed and agility trainers take a back seat to skills trainers and massage therapists.
Second, a lot of the already established players are very risk averse. Some of them refuse to do almost anything that isn't dynamic for fear of injury. They end up doing a lot of slide board stuff and a lot of hip hyper extension work which isn't the most exciting stuff in the world. In the offseason a lot of them do hill work, sprints, speed endurance stuff, band work, unilateral work, shoulder stability, etc. There isn't a lot of limit strength or massive squatting by the established guys, those who do squat do mostly band + weight squats but they do do a lot of core work and some impressive med ball stuff. It's more than prehab but it's not exactly a blank slate of an athlete to develop... Prospective football players are a lot more fun to train if you want to see big lifts.
