Saturday Morning at A.T.T.A.C.K

As a plus of being able to help with America's Next Sports Star I got up early on Saturday morning and made plans to get to A.T.T.A.C.K Athletics as quickly as I could. For those that don't know, traffic here in Chicago sucks, even on Saturday morning. So, I gave myself an hour and half to get to the venue. With my luck, I get there early and I walk up to the front and give them the 'Hey, I'm here to help out with the America's Next Sports Start filming and the man himself, Tim Grover, let's us in his gym. He's not what I expected (maybe one of those stone chiseled trainers off of TV was my expectation), but he's a good guy, down to earth, yet about his business. He has made a great living doing what he does and his results work, as attributed to his long client list, which include Jordan, Kobe, and DWade. So, he let us in the gym and while we were setting up we were able to watch some of the guys, who happen to be entering the draft this year, workout. Things I noticed/heard while being in the spot:

1) A certain Miami Heat guard should be getting ready for the Olympics and his working on his knee to make sure he is ready. He's on track, but he's not 100% yet. But things are going well. He has already started with non-contact drills but they want to ease him into things slowly.

2) I was able to watch a small part of a workout by OJ Mayo (USC), Bill Walker (Kansas State), Chris Douglas-Roberts (Memphis), Eric Gordon (Indiana), and one other guy (not sure if it was Shawn Pruitt from Illinois or not - maybe this guy isn't in the draft).

• The first thing I noticed is that OJ definitely can play point at the next level and the people who are saying that Miami may draft him if Rose is taken #1 actually may have an argument. He's in the mold of one of those players that is smooth. His game seems effortless.
  
• CDR is skinny. I mean Rip Hamilton is thin, but this guy is small. He has game, but he's gotta get to a Fatburger or something and get some food. He actually looks like his listed height of 6'5" or 6'6" (depending on where you get the numbers).
  
• Bill Walker looked like a beast. I know he'll play small forward in the league and he has the quickness (terrible ACL injury almost 18 months ago) and the ability to make things happen. He looks like he's in shape (and not like me,...I'm in shape,....round is a shape). He may open some eyes during workouts. During one of the drills the dummy, that is used to alter shots and give the players an idea of an obstacle, was actually used to almost tackle Bill and he was still finishing with authority.
  
• Eric Gordon is actually bigger than I thought. He can shoot the rock (we all know that), but I am not sure that he can run the point at the next level (which may be his only criticism). He did well in the drills I saw, finishing with both hands.
• Now I may be round, but I know that I'm 6'3" and if Eric Gordon and OJ Mayo are 6'4" or taller, I'm changing my driver's license information. As these guys left the court, I am looking at them eye to eye. I can't wait for the measurements to come out, because I'm willing to bet these guys grade out shorter that people think. I was more surprised by Mayo's height than Gordon's though.