Enes Kanter workouts in NYC are the best for the big man

OKC Thunder center Enes Kanter is busy working out in New York City all offseason – in that time he’s had to defend some of the best perimeter scorers in the league.

LeBron James. Kevin Durant. Carmelo Anthony. JR Smith. Name an NBA player and there’s a good chance he’s been at Life Time Athletic this offseason. The gym has become Mecca – outside of the established Drew League – for the best basketball players on the planet to play pickup during the offseason. It just so happens that’s the gym Enes Kanter trains at in the summer months.

By now you’ve seen the different videos throughout social media. There’s this one from the most famous pickup game of all time:

Everybody talks about the day that featured Durant and LeBron, but new videos come out on social media every day with a new batch of players. A few days ago Lance Stephenson showed off his work:

Yesterday New York Knicks Tim Hardaway Jr. and Frank Ntilkina got into the mix:

This is only from the last two days – imagine the players that have come through undocumented, just to get some quick run in. Now imagine how Enes Kanter must feel, forced to guard the best perimeter scorers in the world as a center.

That feeling of dread you just experienced? That’s exactly what Kanter needed to feel this offseason.

Kanter – one of the most efficient scorers in all of basketball – was so bad on defense that he only touched the floor in the Playoffs for 45 minutes. A top contender for sixth man of the year was relegated to near nothing because of plays like this:

Those are the plays Kanter has to shore up if he wants to be a key contributor to a championship run this season. The good news is he genuinely cares about his craft and wants to be the best player possible. Don’t believe me? Look how shredded my guy is:

Kanter looks like he’s taken at least 10 pounds of fat off while adding muscle mass. His core, the part of the upper body that helps most with agility, is built up much more than last season. Simply put, Enes Kanter has taken the steps to fix his biggest problem on the basketball court.

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There’s only so much work Kanter can out into his body though. Defense is a mind-game. Reading your opponent correctly is more important than being able to keep up with him. That’s why Kanter’s most important work comes in these pickup games.

Big men don’t come to Life Time that often, hence Kanter is forced to stay out on the perimeter. In all honesty, the 25-year old gets torched in the videos we see of him playing defense. Devil’s Advocate: players only show highlights of them cooking on offense.

We don’t know if these games are going to drastically change Kanter’s defensive ability. What we can tell from the videos, however, is that he isn’t getting lost on defense like the Harden video from above.

Progress is all we can ask for, and progress is what Enes Kanter is doing.