It doesn’t take a battery of medical professionals to determine Rudy Gay showed up to Spurs camp in the best shape of his life.
The eye test will do just fine.
“He’s already thrown down a couple of monster dunks,” guard Patty Mills said. “Which is a small glimpse of what we’ll get this season.”
According to the 34-year-old Gay, his looks are not deceiving.
He said he dropped 10 pounds since the Spurs left the Orlando, Fla., bubble in August, intent on entering his 15th NBA season ready to run alongside the Spurs’ youth movement.
“As you get older and play longer, you try to become as mobile as possible,” Gay said. “Me bulking up would probably not be conducive to what this game is going to. I ended up losing weight and I feel good and ready to go.”
Gay is coming off a season in which he averaged 10.8 points, matching his rookie season in Memphis for the fewest of his career. He did most of that damage off the Spurs’ bench, making 62 of his 67 appearances as a reserve.
Gay was reborn during the NBA reboot, however, emerging as the Spurs’ third-leading scorer in seven appearances in Orlando at 17.9 points per game.
Heading into the offseason, Gay took steps to keep that momentum going. He changed his workout routine, with less focus on one-on-one isolations skills and more attention toward remaining lighter and mobile.
“I wear my Apple Watch every day to see how many calories I have burned, stuff like that,” Gay said. “It’s not just basketball shape, but shape in general. The more you sit around, the more you get used to sitting around and not doing anything. I didn’t want to get into that habit.”
Gay split his offseason between San Antonio and his home in Baltimore. He said boredom spawned from COVID-19 restrictions in both locales worked to his favor.
“You are sitting in the house all day, you have no choice but to work out,” Gay said. “Luckily, I have a facility in Baltimore where I spend a lot of time. COVID put a damper on a lot of things, but then it made me focus on what is important — my family, my health and my body.”
Gay’s teammates have noticed the difference on the cusp of his fourth season in San Antonio.
“He’s looking great, to be honest,” Mills said. “He has dropped some weight and is moving freely.”
For Gay, the idea is to remain relevant in the modern NBA — both for the Spurs this season and into the offseason when he is set to become a free agent.
A lifelong small forward, Gay sees his future as a small-ball power forward or center — positions he manned for the Spurs in Orlando.
“You have to go with the times,” Gay said. “I changed my training, changed my diet, changed my mindset, everything. You have got to be open to do anything.”
Eubanks steps up
for wildfire relief
Inspired by socially-minded teammates like Mills, Spurs forward Drew Eubanks spent part of his offseason raising money for wildfire relief in his native Oregon.
Eubanks, 23, partnered with apparel company Portland Gear to sell “Heart for Oregon” T-shirts. Profits from the $30 shirts went to the Oregon Food Bank, which also pledged to provide 60 free meals to needy families for each shirt sold.
Eubanks said the fundraising effort went well.
“I had a lot of support,” Eubanks said. “I had a lot of people I didn’t expect to hear from who said, ‘Hey, I just bought a shirt, bought 10 shirts for my family.’ It was great to see the support I had that I didn’t know I had, from all over the country.”
Preseason games
will be televised
All three of the Spurs’ preseason games will be televised locally, the team announced Wednesday.
Saturday’s opener against Oklahoma City, scheduled for 6 p.m. at the AT&T Center, will be carried on Fox Sports Southwest. Games at Houston on Dec. 15 and 17 are scheduled to be televised on KMYS.
jmcdonald@express-news.net
Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN
