What’s up guys!? It’s the offseason and I’m enjoying my time off.
I’ve just been at my Mom’s house watching Everybody Hates Chris and playing with my little cousins. This is the first time I’ve been home in Seattle where I can just relax and stay here for a period of time. In college, I could only be here for a little bit and then would have to go back to school.
Most of the time me and the fam’ just chill at home. I have a movie theater in my house and they come over and watch movies and we chill like that. Nate Robinson’s mom was over here until about 4 a.m. on Sunday. I’m close with his entire family, so we all like one big family. My mom came over and cooked for everyone, and that was the first time in a while that I had my mom over to cook. She made me soft beef tacos. Those are the best.
I’m also getting a little work done on my house. I got a new poker table and other little stuff, but other than that, I’m moved in and everything is good. Here’s just a light recap of my season, my crazy teammates and the life and times of a rookie in the NBA.
Our Tough Season
We went through a lot this year. We started off 0-18, switched coaches, had eight players for about 10 games and finally started playing our best basketball of the year towards the end of the season.
After a while it became hard to handle all those losses. After a loss, sometimes I’d go home and play some basketball video games where I could win and feel accomplished.
To be honest, I’ve never lost that much in my life. And after losing so much I kind of evaluated myself to see how I could make myself better and help the team win. If I’m getting better every game and learning something different, I don’t take it as a waste of a season. Even though the overall record speaks of that, I take it as time for me to grow and make myself a better player.
After this season of struggle, I found out that I can actually play basketball in this league. The average lifespan of an NBA player is 4 ½ years. That’s why making it to this league is a huge thing! But staying and playing well is a whole other story. In the last two months I proved that I can do both. By getting time and gaining my confidence in the NBA, I was actually able to show what I can do. Once you find out you can play in this league and gain confidence, it seems like the things that got you to the league are easier to showcase. I’m going to use my same game that got me here, as far as passing, scoring, rebounding and playing D. I’m just going to show it on a bigger stage.
Shinning Moment of the Season
When we played Cleveland in our house I guarded LeBron and he guarded me the whole game. I finished that game with 21 points, seven rebounds and five assists. I thought to myself, I just played against the best or second best player in the world and I held my own with time and minutes in the game. After that game, every game started to be about showcasing what I can do. I knew that I had made my statement in the league. I could do this.
Rookie Duties
I honestly thought it was going to be a lot more hazing and stuff, but it was a lot easier than I thought. Basically every time we got on the plane to fly somewhere I had to get Popeye’s chicken for the team. Other than that, if they needed something while we were on the road, as far as walking to the store or something, I would do it. Other than that, it wasn’t really that hard.
The way I am, if you do some ridiculous rookie prank stuff like fill my car with popcorn and play tricks on me, I’m going to go ahead and do something back to you. Jokes are OK, but that old saying “what goes around comes around” is pretty true, and I live by it. Even as the lone rookie on the team, I’m not afraid to give them a taste of their own medicine. Guys know my personality and what type of person I am, so a lot of that didn’t go on. Plus, it’s hard to haze someone when we are losing. Losing feels like hazing as it is.
And guess what? I didn’t bring the chicken the last game in Miami! CDR tried to clown me and say “Damn, rookie you get triple-doubles and you think you don’t have to bring the chicken?” Nah that wasn’t the case. I just had a lot to do, so I couldn’t do it. I mean, what was the point of bringing it anyway? It was the last game!
If we were winning and in the playoffs and I was getting hazed, I wouldn’t care. Go ahead, fill my car up with popcorn do whatever you want. We would still be playing and I’d be fine with that.
Rookie of the Month Award
The award was totally unexpected. I was told that if I had a good game against Miami there was a soft chance that I could get Rookie of the Month. I was like “How?” You got Brandon Jennings and these other guys who keep winning and they are going to the playoffs. Why would they give somebody on the Nets, Rookie of the Month?
But the day we had our exit meetings with Rod Thorn is when I found out I won. I really appreciated it.
Winning that award shows you what confidence will give you and that hard work does pay off. So the times I was getting DNP’s or playing just eight minutes a game, I was still the first and last one in the gym working on my game. And when I was playing 30 to 35 minutes and I got a triple-double, I was still in the gym. Against Chicago, I played 49 minutes and I still played 3-on-3 with the guys at practice the next day. I think it just shows you that I’m willing to put in the work.
Favorite Teammates
Besides CDR (Chris Douglas Roberts), Bobby Simmons has got to be my favorite guy on the team. He taught me everything as far as basketball at this level. He taught me the part about basketball that most don’t teach…Like how to pay attention to other greats. Instead of watching Kobe and guarding him and trying to stop him, he advised me to learn him. He told me to learn what he does good and try to mimic it.
I’m also still really close with my boy CDR because there was a large part of the season last year (his rookie season) where he didn’t play. So it was easy for us to relate on that. With him I always know I am dealing with a real person who is from the same type of background I come from. So it’s definitely a lot easier to talk to him. He is also always one to speak his mind.
Although he’s not my teammate, another guy I have a great relationship with is Nate Robinson. He is from the Seattle area too (there must be something in the water that breeds us ballers!). Right now, I’m just giving him his space for the playoffs. But anytime he wants to vent or talk, I’m here.
Good Times
Though we had lots of losses this season, it wasn’t all doom and gloom. We have a lot of funny guys on the team — whether it’s CDR, Bobby Simmons, Keyon Dooling, Trenton Hassel or Jarvis Hayes — we kept each other smiling. We also played so hard in practice and went so hard at each other. Those moments were worth everything. It just seems like when we got in the games our brains just went dead. But other than that, we actually loved practice and we played hard.
We also did a little team bonding in the beginning of the season where we want to an Army base camp and we got to play army games. We had to be on teams of seven against the Army guys and try to capture them. It was like a video game and you are in the field. We had to be stealth and talk to each other about positioning and things.
That definitely was the start of everything, and it was my first time at a team event. That day I gained a lot of respect for my teammates.
Twitter “What if”s
I wrote something on my Twitter earlier in the season and folks took it the wrong way. I paid the price. But my whole thing was “What if…What if I got drafted five minutes earlier or later to Toronto or Charlotte? How would my life be?”. I wasn’t trying to say I want to be out of New Jersey. I know I don’t control that, and why would I want to leave? I love New Jersey. That was just me thinking about how life would be different. I went from being “The Man” on the court in high school and college to not playing at all, and that’s tough. When all you know how to do is play basketball and you end up sitting as a rookie, you don’t know what to do.
I really didn’t have any other rookies that I knew who could understand my situation either. My close friend DeMar DeRozan went to Toronto. He started the first and third quarter the entire season. Brandon Jennings is the Man in Milwaukee and Steph Curry, he went to a perfect situation where he is the Man there too. Same thing with Johnny Flynn. All these rookies that I knew went to teams where they played big minutes. So I turned around and looked at myself and said “Can I play this game?” Because if I can’t play this game on a team that’s losing, then what does that say about me? So I just had this “What if…” question to the world. Like, “what would have happened if I got drafted here or there.” Some people took it as “I don’t want to be here” or “I want to get out of here”. It was just a legitimate question they took the wrong way.
Thoughts On Moving to Brooklyn
I went over to Brooklyn for an appearance at a hospital and the only thing I can tell right now is that there’s going to be a lot of traffic around that new arena. If the team moves there, I might move to Brooklyn or to Long Island because I’m not going to commute from Jersey to Brooklyn. Especially since you can’t predict traffic in New York. I live right by the Lincoln Tunnel in Edgewater, NJ and sometimes when I’m going to the city to grab some sneakers it may take an hour just to get to the city. My New Yorkers out there got any suggestions on spots in Brooklyn to live or visit?
NBA Playoff Predictions
I am really not into the playoffs right now. First of all, because I’m not in it. Secondly, too many of my guys are in it right now. I don’t know who to root for. I want Nate to do well and Jamal and Jason Terry. Basically all my Seattle guys. Who do you guys think I should root for? Let me know!
Well, thanks for following me here on Rookie Chronicles throughout my rookie season. And make sure to follow me on my twitter and my facebook page.
—T-Will
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