After I saw a bulked-up Ronnie Brewer arrive for the start of training camp and heard the talk about how much Kyle Korver and others had improved this summer, one thought raced through my head: I've got to check out P3 as soon as possible.
Most fans probably have not heard of the Peak Performance Project in Santa Barbara, Calif. The Jazz became connected to the training center through Rafael Araujo, then sent Brewer and Paul Millsap there in the summer of 2007.
Matt Harpring also did rehab work there as he recovered from knee surgery. This summer, 10 of the 15 players on the Jazz roster made the trip to P3, everybody except Deron Williams, Carlos Boozer, Mehmet Okur, Andrei Kirilenko and Brevin Knight.
Now I can say I've been, too. I drove up to Santa Barbara (tough gig, right?) late Monday after the Jazz's game in Los Angeles and P3's director, Dr. Marcus Elliott, was nice enough to let me spend Tuesday morning watching the work that he does.
We're going to have a story in Sunday's paper about the center. Elliott's training methods involve reducing sports to its fundamental movements and then working to increase power, athleticism and mobility in those areas.
The center itself is a one-room studio around the corner from a furniture showroom, although the beach is two blocks away. There's more equipment at your typical 24 Hour Fitness than P3, but that's not what Elliott is about.
The athletes who were there Tuesday - - including Minnesota Twins outfielder Delmon Young - - spent their morning going through step-up drills with weights, speed work on an inclined track and throwing medicine balls against a wall.
I wrote about some of the assessments and results for Brewer, Korver and Kosta Koufos. Before Brewer went to P3, he had incredible hops and sprinter speed, but the lateral quickness and power of a high school player, according to Elliott.
Now he's got the lateral quickness and power of an outside linebacker or defensive end. There's data to support Elliott's claim, based on force-plate testing of things like how hard Brewer can explode going side-to-side.
Elliott believes there's a competitive advantage to be gained for the Jazz from this kind of training. Unlike baseball and football players, basketball players spend the least time in the off-season doing focused training, Elliott said.
Most summer activity for players is spent playing pick-up games. When players do train, they tend to do a little of everything, in Elliott's belief, from distance running to sprints to lifting weights.
"It's just a shotgun approach," Elliott said. "There's nothing precise about it. And if you're much more precise about your approach, you're going to come much closer to an athlete's kinetic potential and that's really our goal."
Jarron Collins was cited as an example. Elliott said Collins' off-season training largely consisted of distance running and yoga, which didn't correspond to his role with the Jazz, which is coming off the bench and playing for short stretches as a backup center.
By training this way, Collins' explosion off the ground suffered, Elliott found. In the context of a game, Collins would be far more likely to come down with a rebound, then go back up and have his shot blocked than convert the putback.
But Elliott said such weaknesses can be corrected quickly. Although Collins isn't about to have Brewer's hops, he could see gains of roughly 30 percent relatively quickly. Unfortunately, Collins was injured in a golf-cart accident and his work at P3 cut short.
These are the kind of things the Jazz are doing with Elliott. Brewer, Korver and Koufos provide even more interesting examples. There's a reason that Elliott can charge up to $2,500 a week and has a full house of 30 athletes training almost year-round.
You have to credit the small-market Jazz with taking an innovative approach as well as their players for giving up their off-season to spend weeks in Santa Barbara that were described as being almost training camp-like in their intensity.
It sounds as if the Jazz are close to signing a partnership with P3 that would involve some degree of exclusivity. Elliott also has been approached by three baseball teams, one of which is believed to be the Angels, about doing the same thing.
Speaking of workouts, I'm now going to enjoy one of my favorite things about covering the NBA: Working out in the fitness center on the 23rd floor at the Marriott Marquis, which overlooks Times Square.
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