Thanks to a summer of hard work, Dudley is noticeably thinner and in much better shape than he was last year. It's not that he was out of shape a season ago; we're still talking about an NBA-level athlete here. But all the visible signs of physical fitness were there: a thinner face, more chiseled arms, and a slimmer waistline. And it's clear that the role player who is entering his fourth season is taking his career seriously.
"From last season I'm probably down like, 14 or 15 pounds," Dudley said. "Obviously hanging out with [Steve Nash] and [Grant Hill] on this team, they basically give you the knowledge of what to eat and what not to eat."
It wasn't only dieting that allowed Dudley to get into serious shape. He cut his offseason vacation time down to just a week, before getting back into full conditioning mode for the rest of the summer. So what was different for Dudley about the way he approached this particular summer?
"For me, obviously this is a big year, it's a contract year," Dudley said. "So obviously that factors into it."
It is indeed a contract year, but that's far from the only thing that's a motivating factor. Dudley didn't just slim down, he spent considerable time working on his game -- specifically, taking shots off the dribble so he'll be more than just a spot-up shooter offensively.
"A lot of one and two dribbles off the [three-point line], so when people run me off the three I'll be able to pull up," Dudley said, while describing some of the specifics of his offseason workouts. "And that's a part of the game that I'm going to have to expand throughout my whole career to be able to last 10 years like I want to in the NBA.
'Off the dribble, coming off screens kind of like Rip Hamilton was what I worked on. And during [our pickup games], it's definitely been noticed."
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