Articles today bring us good news about our young players. The Herald has a piece on Al Jefferson and his conditioning for this season. It seems that Al has hired a chef and is very, very serious about his conditioning.

He is 30 pounds slimmer with only 9.5 percent body fat and much more muscle. This new trimmed down body has him feeling lighter and moving quicker.
But when he took on rookie Leon Powe Thursday, certain qualities came right to the surface.

Powe, an outstanding post player in college, struggled against Jefferson, who blocked, altered or stripped all but one shot by the rookie.

“I felt like I could get higher - a lot quicker,” Jefferson said. “I could really tell that I was moving quicker. I felt great.

“I just refused to let the surgery set me back. Man, my body fat is 9.5 (percent), and I’ve never been that low.”

Green's body is another thing that has changed dramatically in a year as he has noticeably built up muscle on what was a lanky 6-foot-8 frame.

"When I was a draft pick they said I was 200 pounds, but I was probably more like 193," he said. "Now I am almost 215. I have been lifting weights and eating right. Last year, I was light. I could only do one pull-up. I could do maybe 11 pushups. Now I can do 100 pushups and do pull-ups with added weight. It's a big difference."

One of the many things that should make it a much different training camp for Green starting in two weeks.

Earlier this summer, Trail Blazers coach Nate McMillan said the main reason the team traded Sebastian Telfair to the Celtics was that the Blazers wanted to play a halfcourt style and Telfair is better-equipped to play an up-tempo style. Theo Ratliff, Telfair's teammate in Portland and now in Boston, seconds that emotion, while adding that Telfair was also ``caught up in the melee last year in that there were too many young guys and distractions. His game was crushed. I'm very positive in what Sebastian can do. I know his work ethic. I know his attitude. I think he's going to be a great player in this league. He's still young and he still has a lot to learn in terms of command of the game. But here, he will get a chance to develop without having so many young guys all around, trying to be coached. It is a better fit for him." . .