http://www.cp24.com/sports/greater-focus-on-off-season-conditioning-has-lowry-co-in-top-form-1.3611160McKechnie, a Scot who was hired by Toronto in 2013 after several seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers, said the goal heading into last summer was stricter monitoring of players, and regular communication with their personal trainers and training groups.
Players met with a dietician, then their weight and body fat was measured weekly.
They went one step further with newcomers C.J. Miles and OG Anunoby. The team sent a staff member to San Antonio weekly to check in with Miles. When the Raptors took Anunoby, who was recovering from a torn ACL, 23rd overall in the draft, they quickly set his recovery plan into motion.
"The night we drafted him, we laid out his plan for the summer," McKechnie said. "It was laid out that night, in terms of location, where we'd like to be, and what we'd like to do moving forward to bring him to today."
It's a far cry from earlier times, said McKechnie and Casey, when NBA players would spend much of the off-season with their feet up, and then have to work their way back into shape during training camp.
"Players got left behind very quickly," McKechnie said.
Back at Biosteel Centre, the team's state of the art training centre in Toronto, the floor is fitted with high-tech pressure plates.
"(Players) will run, and hit the (floor) and drive off one side or the other, so you can measure exactly how much pressure is coming from one side," McKechnie said. "So in a case where you have an injury on the right side, we want to show they're driving with equal force from right to left.
"The biggest problem we face is the jumping and the landing, that's obviously coming down from a height."
The benefits of a strict off-season conditioning stretches well beyond the pre-season. It also allows players to better withstand the rigours of an arduous 82-game season.
"They know the harder they work, the more they stay in condition in the summertime, the easier it is to come into training camp and be in great shape for the season. . . which prolongs their career," Casey said. "What tears your career down is breaking your body down in October trying to get in great shape and then playing."