UCLA Basketball: Josh Smith Looks Thinner These Days (VIDEO)

We told you last month that UCLA basketball center Josh Smith is getting in shape, finally, and has done a good job of not letting himself go (even further) this summer.

Well, now we have a little video of him working out, which is pretty good, and you can tell he’s lost a bit of weight. Here’s the vid:

Here’s a comparison from the 2011-12 season:

OK, so it’s not a remarkable transformation just yet, but if you have a good enough of an eye, you can obviously tell that he’s getting there, even if it’s not the pace that you’re into. Sure, 15 pounds since the end of the season in March isn’t the best, but the season doesn’t start for another four months when UCLA re-opens a refreshed Pauley Pavilion in November against Indiana State. That’s plenty of time for Smith to lose, say, 30 pounds to get under his billed weight of 305 — which is pretty big for a 6’10” center that should be working and banging in the post as much as Smith should.

We’re being tentative as hell with this, because although we’re excited to see the dude be in shape, we’re also aware that he could easily fall off the wagon and into more fat jokes — which are stupid and mean as hell, mind you, and that is in no way affected by the fact that I’m a fat dude, too.

Bruins fans will bitch, though, and after these past four years, can you blame some of us? Seeing Josh Smith get in shape would be such a damn achievement for him, UCLA basketball and college basketball in general, since NCAA ball — and the NBA, too — is devoid of low-post presences like Josh Smith.

We’ll see, though. He’s saying the right things and, for now, is doing the right things. We just hope he can find something that’s eluded him his entire career at UCLA: Consistency.

GO BRUINS!!!