Steve Hess wakes up around 3 a.m. every morning, works out, and then begins a 17-hour work day.
Currently, he’s the Chief Performance Office for Panorama Orthopedic and Spine Center, a job which he took in 2017 after spending 20 years as the Nuggets’ strength and conditioning coach and director of performance. Somewhere within his non-stop work day he found time to speak with DNVR about some of his fondest memories while working with the Nuggets, a run-in with Kobe Bryant at his own gym, just how much Earl Boykins could bench, the most athletic player he’s ever been around, and more.
He still has the same fire and enthusiasm that he exuded as the Nuggets’ No. 1 cheerleader from his seat behind Denver’s bench for 20 years.
This is part 1 of a two-part conversation.
DNVR: We’re rewatching the 2009 playoffs over on DNVR. When you think back on that postseason run, what are some of the memories that come to mind?
Steve Hess: Oh my gosh. First, that was the best shit ever. I remember beating New Orleans by 50 points in New Orleans. I remember when Melo’s elbow was killing him and he still played. We were always in the weight room and the bench press was set to 405 pounds and the coaches would be like, ‘Hess, who’s doing that?’ And I’d say, ‘Half the team!’ I remember beating the Mavericks and Mark Cuban talking shit to Kenyon and Kenyon beating their ass. When we beat the Mavericks there my family lived in Dallas and they started clapping for me like I’m a player. I was like, ‘Oh my, you guys have to chill!’
Just being around the guys and seeing greatness. I can’t even begin to tell you how magical it was. It’s a feeling I’ve never had again. I remember being in L.A. sitting with Josh Kroenke courtside and he said, ‘Did you think we’d be here?’ Watching Stan Kroenke the entire time. I remember the coaches walking in three minutes before the game starts and we’d all just start smashing on each other. It was unbelievable. It was amazing.
DNVR: What was it like to be in the weight room with Kenyon Martin?
Hess: K-Mart’s my guy! He’s a warrior! When he was locked in he was unstoppable. We talk about some guys as real tigers. He’s a real warrior. When it’s game time you don’t want to play around with him. It’s his realness that I loved. K-Mart, if he wasn’t digging you that day he would tell you 100%. An explosive, unbelievable athlete. The guy is just amazing. I loved being around him and all the other guys. Melo was never distracted by anything. He never missed games. These guys, the mental attitude to pull it all together. Anthony Carter. Tough as nails.
DNVR: Did Melo’s mentality around working out and taking care of his body evolve over the course of his career?
Hess: When Melo first got here he got pretty lean. He got down to 8% body fat. Around 2009 he got way more serious about everything. Utilizing FIJI water because the PH was higher and integrating recovery. When we worked out we started becoming really purposeful, why we were doing what it is we were doing? He just became really, really locked in. The thing is Melo was a special player and he became more and more serious. I was just unbelievable blessed to be around his greatness.
DNVR: Who is the most athletic player you’ve been around?
Hess: JR Smith is right up there. I’m just telling you, that dude is one of the most unbelievable athletes I’ve ever seen. I’m going to throw a wrench in there. Andre Miller, his first three steps, unbelievable. Unbelievable! Nate Robinson, an absolute freak of nature! Antonio McDyess, are you kidding me? Just the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen in my life! Melo, not the greatest athlete but still unbelievable.
DNVR: Who is the hardest working player you’ve been around?
Hess: Kenneth Faried was one of them. He worked really, really hard. Juancho worked really, really hard. Bryant Stith was an unbelievably hard worker. Melo had a different intensity but there were times when he was one of the hardest workers I’ve been around. Gallo, there were times when he was just locked in.
DNVR: I remember a story about Earl Boykins bench pressing an absurd amount of weight.
Hess: The story is he benched 315 and I spotted him. He weighed 133 pounds. Here’s my thing with Earl Boykins. Early Boykins started running track when he was six-years-old because he knew he was going to play in the NBA. Earl Boykins, and this is the single most important thing in my whole view, it’s belief. Earl Boykins never ever doubted himself. Belief. I used to say to my guy Allen Iverson, ‘You’re one of the best athletes I’ve ever seen in my entire life.’ He looked at me and was like, ‘Oh I know.’ Earl Boykins had this belief. The stuff Earl would do, the way he would move, the way he would explode. It was his belief. I know I’m gonna be great at everything I do.”
DNVR: Who is the most energetic player you’ve been around?
Hess: Mark Pope, not even close. Mark Pope had authentic energy 24/7, 365. Anthony Carter and Shelden Williams. Anthony Carter, we would lift every single day and it didn’t matter where or how. His energy continuously kept going like a little red engine.
DNVR: I wanted to ask you about Kobe because you had a front row seat to his prime years. Do you think that the detailed way that he approached his training inspired a generation of players, many of which looked up to him, to take that same approach to taking care of their bodies?
Hess: So this is firsthand. Some of the stuff I saw and first off, it’s incredibly painful that we lost an unbelievable individual. He was a legitimate person that I actually look up to and admire because he lives the talk. I owned a gym downtown that I would go to often when we were done with practice. He would be done with practice after they were in town for a long road trip and he would come into the gym and I would watch his workouts for another two hours.
By day four, I was like, ‘This guy is insane!’ I’m walking through my gym and security, I don’t know where security came from because I didn’t hire security, said, ‘You can’t go into the yoga room.’ I’m like, ‘What do you mean I can’t? It’s my yoga room. It’s my gym.’ Kobe was in there. He would work out and then do yoga for another two hours. This guy was unbelievable. I have so much respect for his mindset.
We were playing him and I hated him because I’m like, ‘This guy is unbelievable!’ Just how much respect and love I have for him is largely because I feel he’s true. I wasn’t on his team but I’m telling you he backed everything up. He could talk whatever he wanted to talk because he always came through.
And you asked me how he affected the rest of the NBA? The one year he came back 20 pounds heavier, everyone in the NBA’s like we’ve got to get bigger. When he came back more conditioned, everyone’s like we’ve got to get more conditioned. When he gets up at 4 a.m. for extra conditioning, I’m getting calls about guys wanting to get conditioning at 4 a.m. That locked in mentality, that single mindedness, that is a freaking gift. To do it continuously when everyone is gunning for you is unfreakingbelievable. Every time we were playing him the hairs on my back would stand up and I don’t know if I respect a player any more than I respect him.”
DNVR: Can players get to his level, that elite, elite level while having a different mentality where maybe they’re not as locked in as Kobe was all the time?
Hess: These are just my opinions. Short term you can be great, long-term you absolutely cannot. In my opinion, if you don’t have some awful in you, you can never succeed. If you’re not maniacal, not somewhat selfish, have some awful in you, and not be unbelievably directive in the moment you can’t succeed long term on a huge scale. The NBA, my guys, there are 350 NBA players, the cream of the crop. Just to get there is unbelievably difficult. To get to the top of the game you have to be locked in. You have to be.
DNVR: Michael Porter Jr. had a quote this season that he was blown away by Kawhi Leonard’s presence on the floor after studying him up close and obviously playing against him. From your seat behind the Nuggets’ bench, which players had that type of presence on the floor?
Hess: LeBron James. I remember we were playing Cleveland. He comes out and is like, ‘Yo, for one season I want to train with you.’ I’m like, ‘Oh my god. My life’s been made. Every time I watched that guy I’m like, ‘This is unbelievable!’ Dwyane Wade, Tim Duncan. When we worked Dwyane Wade out before the draft he goes behind his back and dunks it and I said to Tommy Sheppard who was our PR guy at the time, ‘If that guy’s there in the second round we have to take him.’ He said, ‘You have no clue Steve do you?’
Allen Iverson. When I watched him in motion I was like, ‘Wow!’ There were times when I watched Melo and I’m like, ‘Oh my god!’ A guy like Earl Boykins, the stuff he does, I’m like, ‘This is unfreakingbelievable!’ Kawhi, the same thing. It just amazes me to watch some of that stuff unfold. Dirk Nowitzki, I would watch Dirk sometimes. How does he do that? Kevin Garnett. That intensity. That enthusiasm. Shaq. I remember back in the day his strength coach was trying to get him to lose weight. He walked on the court and just dominated us. Alonzo Mourning. Vince Carter. I could go on forever.
