By Matt McQueeny, NJNets.com Second-year Net Josh Boone has found himself in a tough predicament the last two off-seasons: he cannot seem to shake surgery. Instead of being able to make headway into improving on the court, it seems like his off-season efforts have been spent furiously rehabbing just to get back to the court. “It’s difficult,” said the 6’10” forward out of the University of Connecticut. “It’s not really something you want to go through but at the same time it makes you stronger. It’s not the first time; I’ve been through it before so I know how to deal with it. It’s a little bit frustrating when you can’t do the things that you know that you should be doing or that you’re capable of doing but it will come with time so I just have to be patient.” Last off-season, he had surgery for a torn labrum which kept him out of training camp, pre-season, and the first 15 regular season games. Because the surgery was to his shoulder he also was not able to upper-body lift, something that set him back even further in his rookie season. Josh was, however, still able to find his moments - like when he went 21-of-23 from the field with 16 rebounds spread across two games in late March - and comes away with some positives to pull from moving forward. Plus, he learned those things about the league that you can only gain from experience. “Just how hard the season is, how long of a grind it is. I only played 61 of the 82 games in the regular season, and I was exhausted. I can’t even imagine how everyone else felt. I missed training camp, preseason, and the first 15 games of the season. The most I probably played in college was 42 games in one year and that’s not even close to half of an NBA season if you count all the preseason games and all the playoff games.” As well as the length of the season, there’s the level of competition. “When I was playing at UConn we would typically play against NBA-Caliber players just about every night but when you’re here, you are playing against NBA players every night. Guys are bigger, guys are stronger, and guys are older and more mature and know the game better. That just makes it harder as it is.” “Plus, the game is just so much faster. That’s another thing you don’t know until you experience is how much faster the NBA game really is. If you are watching on TV, it might not look it, because the college game looks like it is more transition. But the NBA is a very, very fast game.” Unfortunately, when his rookie season ended, Josh had to undergo surgery again, this time to repair torn cartilage in his right knee. While he was only able to resume running again in early September, he has been able to add quality upper-body bulk all off-season. “That’s the thing I have been able to do throughout the whole summer, because I’ve been doing upper-body lifting when I wasn’t able to do anything with my legs.” “I’ve probably put on 10-15 pounds. I don’t know how much of it is good weight. Hopefully most of it is good weight. By the time I start really running and everything, getting back into shape, I’ll probably lose a little bit of the weight that I’m not supposed to have.” When he gets the chance, Boone says he looks forward to earning his playing time and helping the team win games. He also cannot help but gush at how the team has bolstered the front-court. “They did a great job with bringing in guys,” said Boone. “They made a really good choice drafting Sean Williams. I think he has a lot of talent and potential. He’s a little bit raw right now but he’s extremely talented and extremely athletically gifted. It’s unbelievable sometimes watching him. And bringing Malik Allen in was a great choice; he can really shoot the ball for a big man.” “And then Jamaal Magloire: he’s a stud on the inside, he’s a great scorer, and he’s a big body too. Plus, Nenad is back now and Jason Collins and me. So, we have a good lineup up front.” The competition is full down low and Josh is rearing to earn his spot and contribute. He’s been working hard all summer – he has seemingly lived at the Nets practice facility since the season ended - looking to put the surgeries of the past two off-seasons behind him and use the rehabilitation to, literally and figuratively, get stronger. http://0rz.tw/7f35N --

※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 220.132.58.136