Two days after Portland's season ended, Napier arrived in Anaheim ready to work six days a week with Paul Fabritz, who trains several players. Portland was Napier's third team after the Heat and Magic gave up on him, and he understood he had to reach a new level to earn time with
Damian Lillard and
CJ McCollum logging almost 75 minutes per game combined.
Fabritz had Napier jump on force plates, and used motion-tracking technology to spot muscle weaknesses. They found Napier wasn't generating much oomph from his ankles, and tweaked his regimen.
Napier ran sand dunes in Manhattan Beach twice a week. He can trudge up 50 yards in about 40 seconds now -- 20 seconds faster than the average NBA player, Fabritz says. (Most walk the last few yards.) Fabritz cajoles most clients to brave the dunes once a week. "Shabazz begged to do it two days," he says.
They grinded through mid-August, when Napier resumed work in Portland. Napier gained five inches on his vertical leap, and grades out faster in lateral speed tests, Fabritz says.
Tiny gains mean everything for little guys with no margin for error. In Year 4, Napier is smarter about using prelude moves -- shoulder-shimmies, in-and-out dribbles -- to coax his defender the wrong way before zipping into a pick-and-roll. He learned to use his height as advantage, scrunching below where giants can reach, and searching for escape routes:
Maurice Harkless injured. "Shabazz gave us life when we needed it," Stotts says.
