- Cody Williams is consuming 4,800 calories daily to bulk up for NBA.
- Williams aims to improve physicality after a challenging rookie year with Utah Jazz.
- Jazz coach Scott Morrison notes significant improvements in Williams' strength and aggressiveness.
SALT LAKE CITY — Cody Williams is sick of eating.
Since his rookie season ended in April, the Utah Jazz forward has lived his life around food. He eats as soon as he wakes up, and before and after each workout. He eats during his downtime and after naps. He eats … and eats … and eats … and eats.
If you're thinking, "tough life" — well, he actually agrees.
"At this point, I hate everything I eat," Williams said. "I do it so much you don't even eat food to taste it. You're just eating it to get calories."
Williams is consuming 4,800 calories a day as part of a plan to bulk up after a forgettable rookie year. The goal? To turn the skinny 20-year-old player into a physically imposing NBA wing.
He doesn't have to look far to see the benefits of all those extra meals. His older brother, Jalen — once similarly slender — just bulldozed his way to the rim time and time again during the Oklahoma City Thunder's run to the NBA title.
And, yes, the senior Williams had to go through a similar eating regimen once he got into the league.
"He came in at 21, so that offseason he was 22 — so a little bit easier for him; he had his man body," Cody Williams said. "But it was the same thing. He was like, I got to a point where I got sick of eating."
Like brother, like brother.
Williams said he still likes mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, and steak — a lot of steak — but for the most part, he's simply chowing down just to reach a number.
No, it hasn't been exactly fun. But he admitted, somewhat unconvincingly, it beats the alternative.
"I eat whatever — so I guess there's a fun part," he said, only somewhat convincingly.
So is all the incessant gorging working?
"It is for sure," Williams said. "Yeah, I feel stronger and I look stronger, so it's definitely getting there, but it just sucks. I know some people are like, 'Oh, I wish had that problem.'"
Cue to just about everyone reading nodding in agreement.
Williams will get to prove that it's having an impact starting this weekend when the Jazz tip off at the Salt Lake City Summer League on Saturday at the Huntsman Center.
He's hopeful the extra weight will help him stay on balance on drives, finish through contact, and hold his ground defensively — something he struggled with during his rookie year
Jazz summer league coach Scott Morrison is already seeing a difference from Williams and the rest of Utah's second-year players.
"I think those guys really put in a big six weeks in the weight room and on the court," he said. "Just seeing their ball pressure, their physicality. I'm sure some of that has come from a confidence of getting a little bit stronger, but a lot of reps over those six weeks, of just doing basic stuff, playing one-on-one, man-on-man type of stuff, and just have noticed a big improvement in kind of their aggressiveness."
Along with that, Williams said he's been working on having a higher release, especially in the midrange, to allow him to use his length and shoot over defenders.
Now, he's hoping all that work pays off — and lets him eat a bit more on the court, too.
That's something he wouldn't get sick of in the long run.
