Tag: Tim Grover

Raiders DE Maxx Crosby is ‘constantly searching’ for Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant-like greatness

Raiders DE Maxx Crosby is ‘constantly searching’ for Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant-like greatness

It’s evident every Sunday that Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby is what scouts call a “high-motor” player. As in, he never stops giving 100-percent maximum effort, no matter the circumstance.

It turns out that Crosby is motivated by two of the best playmaking guards in NBA history, Michael Jordan and the late Kobe Bryant.

After the Raiders beat the Patriots on Sunday — thanks to a game-sealing safety from Crosby and defensive tackle Bilal Nichols — Crosby revealed that he’s constantly searching to find the “zone” that Jordan and Bryant thrived in, whether it’s gameday or he’s preparing for the gridiron.

“The great ones, the Kobes, the Jordans, they’re always in the zone,” Crosby said, according to 8 News Now’s Logan Reever. “Whatever that is, whatever I’ve gotta do to get to that by gameday, that’s what you have to solve to stay at the top and be at the highest level.

“I’m constantly searching to be in the zone at all times — practice, weight room, and then obviously on Sundays when I’m out on the field. [When] you’re in the zone, it comes from preparation, mental strength, and mental fortitude to be consistent in everything you do in preparation leading up to it.”

Crosby mentioned that he wants to find the zone — let’s call it the “greatness zone”– at all times, not just on Sunday. That’s no surprise, as it’s been a common comment from Crosby’s coaches and teammates that he always goes 100 percent, even in walk-throughs at practice.

It’s also no surprise Crosby looks up to Jordan and Bryant. He has large tattoos of each NBA legend prominently displayed on his torso, with boxing legend Muhammad Ali in the middle of the two.

The Raiders defense is off to a solid early-season start, and Crosby’s consistently-high performance level is at the center of it. He appears to still be improving on the field, and his leadership qualities are already exceptional.

If the defense wants to continue its improved play, the entire group would do well to look for the greatness zone, just like Crosby. Not every player has Crosby’s skill, but they can all give maximum, greatness-chasing effort on the field and elsewhere.

With 11 high-motor players on defense at all times, the Raiders’ chances of making the playoffs would rise exponentially. We already know Crosby is full speed ahead. All his teammates have to do is follow him as closely as they can, starting this week against the Bears in Chicago.

In the NBA’s offseason of 2001, …

In the NBA’s offseason of 2001, then-Celtics forward and Chicago native Antoine Walker received an unexpected phone call from retired superstar Michael Jordan. “He called me,” Walker said on the McNeil & Parkins Show on Tuesday. “And he was like, ‘Hey, I’m thinking about making a comeback. I need you in the gym with me.’” With the help of Walker and personal trainer Tim Grover, Jordan wanted to begin working toward a return to basketball. It began as just the three of them, Walker said, until 2 p.m. each day, when pickup games would take place.

The common misconception surrounding …

The common misconception surrounding Jordan is that he hit the gym after losing to the Pistons, bulked up and started winning. That’s not exactly how it worked. Grover earned Jordan’s trust because the initial strategy wasn’t about simply building up muscle mass, but rather addressing past problem areas –such as his ankle and groin – to give him a base for more explosiveness and speed. From there, Jordan would slowly reach his desired weight, which for Jordan, Grover said, got up to between 213 pounds and 218 pounds.

“You hear all of these athletes, ‘Yeah, …

“You hear all of these athletes, ‘Yeah, they put on 15 pounds or 20 pounds during the offseason.’ Do you know how hard it is to put on 15 pounds of muscle? It’s almost physically impossible. Unless,” Grover said, laughing to himself, “you’re getting some help from an outside source. Plus, when you have an athlete, his game is so refined like Michael, you want him to gradually put on weight and gradually put on strength and let their body acclimate to what they’re doing. So what I did with him, every year or every season, we would put on five pounds. And I would say, ‘How do you feel after five pounds?’ And he would say, ‘I feel good.’ All right, so let’s go a little bit more.”

Grover asked Jordan to give him a few …

“With basketball, you could see how he …

“With basketball, you could see how he played. You had film from college. You had games from his early career in the NBA, so you could see how he likes to plant. This is how he pushes off, this is how he lunges, this is how he does something,” Grover said. “With baseball, there was no record of it. So every time they made adjustments, I had to make adjustments and he made the adjustment… It was a huge challenge. And everyone knows Michael, that’s what fuels him.”

“That little Laker boy’s gonna take …

“That little Laker boy’s gonna take everybody one-on-one,” Jordan said to Tim Hardaway in the locker room. The truth is, this had been happening from the moment Bryant entered the NBA in 1996. “As early as I can remember, whenever the Lakers played the Bulls, Kobe would wait outside the tunnel for Michael to leave,” said Tim Grover, a personal trainer who worked with Jordan in Chicago and later with Bryant in Los Angeles. “And Michael was always the last person to leave the locker room. He took forever. But Kobe would wait and wait for him.” And the rest of the Lakers players would be on the bus, waiting on Bryant — a rookie — who was waiting on Michael. “But Kobe was like, ‘The bus is going to have to wait. Because I don’t know when I’m going to get this opportunity.’”

Still etched in his memory banks and as …

Still etched in his memory banks and as vivid as ever, Jamal Crawford can recall the very moment he nearly melted into a pile of goo when it came time to mingle with the person he idolized most. Less than two decades later, it remains projected in his brain in crystal-clear 1080p high definition. Complete with stereo sound and all. “He was working out and he was 40 years old,” Crawford told The Athletic. “He hadn’t announced he was coming back to the Wizards as of yet, but he was working out. And so it was six in the morning and his trainer Tim Grover called me, and I was very familiar with him and worked out with him before. And he was like, ‘Hey, M.J. says you can meet him.’ I’m like, all right.’”