Jan. 10--PHILADELPHIA Until Sean May weighs 260 pounds, he's not playing Basketball for the Charlotte Bobcats .
It's that simple and that non-negotiable. May told the Observer on Friday those were the orders he heard recently from Bobcats managing partner Michael Jordan and coach Larry Brown. "MJ and Larry expressed to me that this is for my own good -- for my longevity," May said before Friday night's game against the Philadelphia 76ers.
"Coach Brown is really old-school and really cut-and-dry. This is tough love-type stuff. Now I understand it, and I just want to play."
May opened the season as the starting power forward but hasn't been activated for the last 14 games because of conditioning issues and tendinitis in his right knee. He says he weighs 270 pounds, down about 15 from what he weighed entering training camp in October.
"I haven't been 260 since I left (North) Carolina. But if that's what they want, that's what they want. Coach Brown has been upset with me because I've plateaued for a while at 270."
May has been working with a Charlotte nutritionist on his diet and puts in about an hour of cardio exercise with the team's strength-and-conditioning coach before pregame warm-ups.
Brown said that once May "achieves that (weight) goal, he'll be part of the rotation."
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