Da'Sean Butler says his knee is completely healed. Even with with the NBA Lockout ongoing, Butler is doing his best to get back in shape. He has been working out at the Ignition Athletic Performance Group in Cincinnati. The video below shows him running full speed on a treadmill with former teammates Joe Mazzulla and John Flowers. It looks to me as though Butler could flat out beat Flowers in a footrace right now. The video comes from our friends over at ProjectSpurs.com.
Last week, Butler played some pickup games at Xavier University with Mazzulla, Flowers, Paul Sturgess, and New Orleans' Hornet, Chris Paul. Sturgess, Flowers, and Mazzulla are a part of IAPT's "Making it to the League" series. The series shows how these players go through a month of training at their center to get themselves ready to play professionally with videos, interviews, and blog entries. Mazzulla guarded Chris Paul during the scrimmages, and Paul spent much of that time giving Mazulla pointers on how to be a better point guard."I took full advantage of gauging where I am in my career," Mazzulla told Kaci Kust of playing with Paul. "Guarding him for about six or seven games, I was able to learn a lot from him as a point guard. Not only is he a great player, but he seemed like a great person as well. During games, he was giving me pointers and advice on how to be a better point guard."
With the NBA Lockout in its' early stages, Butler's NBA career with the San Antonio Spurs is on hold. Similar to the NFL Lockout, NBA teams and players are not allowed to communicate with each other. Butler's goal this summer, had there not been a Lockout, would have been to play in the Summer League with the Spurs to get his feet back under him. He's not getting that chance, and unlike other NBA players who are probably enjoying the time off, Butler is doing what he can to get himself back in shape to be on the court when operations in the NBA resume.
You have to believe that if I've seen the video above, and you've seen the above video, that someone in the Spurs' front office has seen it too.