Re: Weight for it....

[opi@unesco.org]

Antoine's "ideal" weight has been a constantly moving & somewhat arbitrary
target. Although a lot of the NBA small forwards he'll guard weigh around 225 to
235 pounds (the point Peter May harps on), many of them are also several inches
shorter than Toine. I agree though that Toine had a lot more hops and muscle
definition as a teenager. He had a two-hand tomahawk in the 1996 KU-Syracuse
title game that resembled the exaggerated slams you see in EA Sports video
games. I frankly don't think "blimpie boy"  has weighed 235 since his rookie
year, what with Pitino pushing him lately to develop a "Karl Malone" physique
(where 245 might be considered ten pounds underweight).

Anyway, it's no secret that Toine enjoys taking his summer holiday as far away
from Pitino and a structured basketball environment as possible, and that his
metabolism in any case will always be very different from a Walter McCarty as he
ages. Like many athletes, maybe Toine will take year-round conditioning and
nutrition more seriously once he gets in his later twenties and thirties. Not
every 24-year-old has the offseason work ethic of a Nomar Garciaparra or Pedro
Martinez. Try to recall your own approach to dieting when you were a
24-year-old. Granted we aren't paid 71 million dollars to maintain peak fitness
even during holidays, but frankly we probably also don't have to deal with a
24-7 boss quite as loud and controlling as Rick Pitino. As long as they
maintains a good and studious relationship with the coaching staff during camp,
I think it can be a positive thing overall for any player to recharge his
batteries ("decompress" as the Frenchies say) during the off-season. There is
such a thing as "burnout", and the NBA season+playoffs is long and
pressure-filled enough.

Joe

****