Wife’s advice spurs Joe
Ingles works hard to prolong career in the NBA
A WIFE’S plea to stay off the beers and train during the NBA shutdown has Australian star Joe Ingles primed to extend his stellar career, starting on Friday when the US season restarts following a threemonth hiatus.
Utah Jazz star Ingles, like all NBA players, hasn’t played a competitive game since March when the league was forced to stop due to COVID-19.
For the first time in his career, the veteran swingman couldn’t bounce a basketball for training. Ingles concedes his fitness and skills could have dropped but he credits a frank conversation with his wife – professional netballer Renae Ingles – for keeping him focused on the bigger picture.
“My wife who is way more professional than I am sat me down at the start of lockdown and said, ‘You can have this first few weeks and drink a few beers and relax or you can take it seriously’,” revealed Ingles, who turns 33 in October.
“With this break I’ve never had three months to lift and concentrate on my own body without having the national team or training camp with the Jazz.
“The hardest part was not being able to go to a court.
“You can run on a treadmill and lift as many weights as you want but there is nothing like playing five on five.
“So, I took Renae’s advice and worked pretty hard.
“We were lucky that we had a gym at home, which made it a lot easier.
“At my age, at 32, my career is slowing down slowly but I think Renae’s point was that by using the three months the right way I could potentially benefit my career for a lot longer.”
Utah opens the NBA season restart against New Orleans on Friday from 8.30am AEST.
He says the Jazz are ready to perform despite describing their opening training sessions as “ugly”. “But I think that would have been the case for everybody,” he said.
“We’ve been here in the bubble for three weeks now and we’ve played three practice scrimmages.
“We’ve also got some of the best physiotherapists and training staff in the world, so we feel like we will be prepared.”
To counter COVID-19, the NBA is operating in a bubble at Disney World, Orlando.