Grover shows prospects how to be like Mike
by the chad

CHICAGO -- Wanna be like Mike?

A handful of the NBA's elite draft prospects are flocking to Chicago this week with lofty aspirations. They won't bother with the annual NBA pre-draft camp ritual starting today at the Moody Bible College. Instead, they'll be working behind closed doors at Hoops Gym.

With their draft status pretty secure, top prospects like Chris Kaman, Maciej Lampe and Dwyane Wade have a different goal in mind -- they want to get stronger, jump higher, run faster. They are looking for the edge - the same one that made Michael Jordan immortal. To get there, they're going to the source.

If hoops is your religion, Tim Grover has built you one hell of a cathedral.

With MJ now content to spend his life on the golf course, Grover, Jordan's personal trainer since 1989, is free of his daily services to Michael and is quickly moving to create an empire of his own.

Membership is exclusive. You have to be blessed with some enormous talent to get inside A.T.T.A.C.K. Athletics.

His "A list" clients look like an All-Star roster. Everyone from old-schoolers Charles Barkley and Hakeem Olajuwon to the new school like LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony have played in the hallowed halls of Hoops.

Local products like Michael Finley, Juwan Howard, Antoine Walker, Darius Miles, Corey Maggette, Eddy Curry and Quentin Richardson are regulars. Increasingly, players from other parts of the country, including Elton Brand, Jerry Stackhouse and Penny Hardaway, are joining them.

They aren't here, however, because of the gym. They're here because of Grover. Put him on an weed-strewn asphalt court with rusty rims and frayed nets, and they would follow.

Over the past five years Grover has evolved from a personal trainer to a cult figure in the eyes of the NBA's elite.

"He's the best in the world," Barkley says. "There ain't anyone out there that can get you in shape and teach you how to play basketball the way Tim does. Some guys will get you stronger and other guys can fix your shot. But Tim can do them both at the same time."

Barkley isn't alone. All of his clients swear Grover's unique approach to basketball training has made a difference in their careers.

"I've stayed healthy my entire career, and I credit Tim with most of that," Howard said. "He's gotten my body ready every year to stand the pounding of 82 games. I'm not sure I could've done that without him."

Newcomer Elton Brand was skeptical when he first showed up at A.T.T.A.C.K. this summer. He'd been promising Grover for years that he'd train with him, but never followed up. It took an injury-riddled season to convince Brand to walk through the door.

"When I first got here, I was only planning to try it out for a few days," Brand said. "But then, after one day I was like, 'Damn, that's the hardest workout I've been through.' I signed up for the whole summer. I need this."

A.T.T.A.C.K. has become a one-stop shop for the NBA elite. From its state of the art workout facilities to the legendary runs in the summer (complete with NBA referees and shot clocks), NBA veterans and rookies are fighting to get a little face time with Grover. Play here in the summer and your stock is automatically on the rise.

Just ask LeBron James. He showed up at A.T.T.A.C.K. two years ago with Grover's scouting director, Greg Ryan. At the time, he was relatively unknown. But he stuck around, got in a run with MJ, and the rest became history. Word leaked that Jordan had invited James to the secret workouts (it wasn't true) and that James dominated players there (also untrue). But within a month, LeBron mania was in full swing.

The relationship paid off. LeBron, along with good friend Carmelo Anthony, is set to join Grover later this summer to prepare for the NBA summer league and NBA training camps. While other top players will spend the offseason working out in a gym with a strength coach, James, Anthony, Lampe, Wade and Kaman will be running every day with NBA All-Stars.

It isn't easy to get inside the gates of this mansion. Grover employs a full-time scouting director, Ryan, to identify potential prospects. If Ryan doesn't know you or doesn't like you, you won't even get your foot in the door. Grover then requires anyone wishing to sign up for his pricey service to audition ahead of time. He doesn't want to waste his time or a player's money if he doesn't believe the athlete has what it takes to make it in the NBA.

But he also isn't afraid to take a chance on a guy others aren't so sure about.

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Take Lampe for example. One week ago, the 18-year-old 7-footer was in Spain, languishing on a ULEB team that didn't work him out, coach him or give him the attention he needed to prepare for the NBA. So Lampe's agent, Keith Kreiter, arranged for Lampe to come to Chicago and work with Grover.

The results, just five days after he stepped off the plane, are already visible. On Monday his workout partner was Brand.

"I can't believe how much I'm learning here," Lampe said. "This is like heaven to me. I came here to work and expected just to lift a lot of weights. But these guys are teaching me everything. I'm working on my shooting, ball handling, rebounding -- it's unbelievable."

Grover's unique approach to training is a big reason Jordan and the rest of his clients have remained so loyal.

"I try to get all of their conditioning done on the court," Grover says. "Guys lose interest on a treadmill. I try to incorporate it right into the drills. They think they're doing something different. As long as they have a ball in their hands and get to shoot at the end of the drill, I can get them to do anything, and with a lot more intensity."

In the weight room, Grover's area of emphasis is explosiveness and quickness. His drills are specifically designed to increase a player's strength while also increasing lateral quickness and vertical lift. That isn't easy to do.

His big project right now is Kaman, a 7-foot, 260 pound center from Central Michigan. Kaman's basketball fundamentals are solid, but teams are concerned he might not be athletic enough or strong enough to play center in the league. Grover needs to tone up Kaman's body and increase his quickness in a little less than a month. According to Grover, Kaman already has shown huge improvements.

Grover's ability to step on the court and fix a basketball problem is no less valuable. Monday, Grover spent an hour working with Darius Miles on his shooting mechanics. Miles has struggled his whole career with his outside jumper, and Grover is determined to fix it.

He's doing the same thing with Wade after getting feedback from NBA teams that the Marquette guard's jump shot was still very suspect. What exactly qualifies Grover to give basketball advice?

A bachelor's in kinesiology and a master's in exercise science cover the fitness end. Grover played Division I ball at the Univeristy of Illinois Chicago, but it's actually a different degree that takes care of the basketball end.

"I trained Michael and Scottie Pippen for years," Grover said. "You work with them everyday, and you pick the tricks up. I used to drive MJ crazy with all of my questions. But over time, I understood why he does the things he does. Now I get to teach those to the other players."

For instance, Grover spends 15 minutes working with Kaman on footwork on the block. Where did he learn such slick post moves? "I picked these up from Hakeem. They're unbelievable."

He employs several other trainers, led by Malcolm Price, to make sure each player receives individual attention when they're on the court.

How big a difference can Grover make in a draft prospect? At 1 p.m. the answer walks in.

A little more than two years ago, Steven Hunter was a skinny big man from DePaul with few, if any, draft prospects. Weighing in at a paltry 198 pounds, Hunter came to Grover looking for direction.

Grover got Hunter into the weight room, taught him footwork in the post and how to use his left hand. He threw him out in pick-up games with Jordan, Finley and Howard. Eight weeks later, Hunter showed up for the Chicago pre-draft camp a changed man.

He had put on 30 pounds, added a nice inside game to his repertoire and he played with a confidence he had neve exhibited at DePaul.

"Tim was the difference, man," Hunter said. "He got me stronger, taught me how to use my height and gave me the confidence I needed to play against the best in Chicago. I honestly don't know if I'd be in the league without him."

There's some truth to that. Before the workouts, Hunter was a borderline second-round pick. By draft night, he had moved up to the 15th pick overall.

Several bubble prospects this year, including North Dakota's Jerome Beasley and Ball State's Theron Smith, are hoping Grover can turn them into similar surprise stories.

But as cool as Hunter's story is, nothing really compares to what Grover did with Jordan the last two years.

Grover first met Jordan in 1989 after he read that Jordan wanted to bulk up to handle the punishment he was taking at the hands of the Detroit Pistons. Grover pitched his services to MJ through a mutual acquaintance and immediately took a hard stand with Jordan.

"Like everyone else, Michael had his good days and bad days," Grover said. "But I think what he really wanted was someone who would push him. Guys like that are used to getting their way all the time. He needed someone to ride him a little."

Grover was behind Jordan's first big comeback, after MJ's failed stint playing minor league baseball, but it was Jordan's second comeback that proved to be Grover's biggest challenge.

Jordan came to Grover in January 2001 with an amazing proposition. He wanted to return to basketball at the age of 38. The problem was, Jordan weighed 250 pounds at the time and hadn't picked up a basketball in 18 months.

Setbacks abounded. Ron Artest broke Jordan's ribs in June, putting him 12 weeks behind schedule. Jordan never really got back up to speed, and his season ended in disaster - knee surgery.

Grover and Jordan were determined the same thing wouldn't happen again. Grover trained Jordan relentlessly and predicted before the 2002-03 season began that MJ would make it through injury free.

Grover traveled with Jordan every day. He made him protein shakes in the morning, found gyms for him to workout on the road and make sure he stayed on a strict diet.

The results? Jordan not only played all 82 games, he averaged more minutes than anyone else on the team. Grover wanted it that way.

"I didn't like the idea of him coming off the bench," Grover said. "At Michael's age, you're better off getting in the game and staying in it. All of those resting spells were just tightening everything up."

While Grover claims he had very little to do with Jordan's stellar career, he does acknowledge one small contribution.

"Our motto is that even the best athletes can get better," said Grover. "Jordan was the best even without us, but he did get better, and his career lasted a little longer, because of the constant training."

LeBron, Carmelo, Kaman, Lampe and Wade are among those hoping, 20 years from now, Grover is saying the same things about them.

hunter was injured for the year