NBA Training Camp Start This Week…Each team is preparing

Take heart, hoops fans. It’s not long until the NBA gets underway again.

Team training camps open this week at sites throughout the United States and Canada. Below is a listing of where each team will be holding its training camp this season.

>>>see list of training camps site for every team

Chandler looking good in workouts- Bobcats

Today I had the chance to sit in on one of Tyson Chandler’s individual workouts as the Bobcats prepare for the start of training camp on Tuesday. After having surgery on both his ankle and his toe in May, there has been much speculation as to how ready Chandler will be to start the season at the end of October. Chandler knows there are critics out there, but he’s dedicated the 2009 offseason to making sure he’ll be 100 percent and on top of his game when the Bobcats tip things off in 2009-10.

After watching Friday’s workout, it was evident to me that he’s on his way there. Chandler started off slow, working with Assistant Coach Herb Brown on his footwork while taking short jumpers and hook shots. But the longer he was on the court, the more the intensity of the workout picked up as he began planting, cutting and driving the lane while working out with fellow Bobcats DeSagana Diop and Alexis Ajinca.

The thing that impressed me most while watching Chandler was that there didn’t appear to be any tentativeness to his game. I remember watching Adam Morrison and Sean May when they first came back from injuries in years past, and it just seemed like the injury might have been in their heads a bit while planting here or making a cut there. That wasn’t the case with Chandler. He went through every drill Brown instructed him on without reservation, usually smiling and laughing with his teammates along the way, just happy to be back on the court again. That’s a good sign for the Bobcats with the season approaching.

KOBE BRYANT- Lakers

One of the challenges that’s presented with an athlete like Kobe - who obviously is fully dedicated to his health and his well-being 365 days a year – are all the off-court obligations that need to be fulfilled in a limited amount of time. It’s non-stop. Therefore, it’s difficult for him to get the consistent training that he’d probably prefer to get if it weren’t for those obligations. That said, I don’t know anybody that does a better job of doing it all. The last couple of weeks Kobe has been coming in and coordinating workouts very, very early in the morning. I don’t know when he sleeps, but he likes to get his work done early. It’s been mostly on-court stuff, including a lot of flexibility stuff, here at the facility. As talented as he is, what really separates Kobe is that he continues to strive his on-court skill work, and he never gets tired of the fundamentals. There’s a reason why he is where he is.

To be continue…