Catch Up…

I’m back! It’s been a long 3 days since my last blog, and honestly I have kept away from blogging until now, just because the past 3 days have seemed the exact same. So here is the quick rundown of Wednesday-Saturday for you… Wake up at 9:30, breakfast, internet time, go to practice 12-2:30, lunch, nap, internet, practice 8-10:30, dinner, internet, sleep.

I wish I could have seen some sights, or done anything interesting, but we are in training camp right now, so it’s not really about the fun; more about the work.

Today was a bit of a change though. We started off with the “team presentation”, which essentially was a press conference conducted completely in Portuguese. It was cool though, we also had the team picture and stuff. The best part of the day though was our 5 quarter scrimmage in practice against half of our team. While my body was completely exhausted, I treated it like a game and tried to do the best I could.

So results of the game; my team won by almost 30, and by my teammates count I had 32 and 21 rebounds. While I can’t validate these stats at all, I’d say I was pretty close… Well, off to bed now… Gotta get a lot of rest (and tomorrow is an off day). Sorry I couldn’t give you guys more about this… but I literally have been in the gym, restaurant or bed every second of the day. haha

Day 2…

So after what seemed like the most amazing night’s sleep I’ve ever had, it was time to start off Day 2 here in Portugal. After awaking to my teammate banging on my door, I rambled downstairs for breakfast. Post breakfast, it was more chill time before going to lunch with my main man Luis (sweetest mustache in the world) and a driving tour around the surrounding area. Within 10 minutes, we have a beach, and a much bigger city; which is great. The city, which is named Aveiro, has some canals in it like Venice… pretty crazy but amazingly beautiful!

Side story — at the beach, we got out and walked around for a bit. At a local ice cream spot, the waitress asked Luis (who is a 50 year old Portuguese guy who works for the club), if I was Lebron… Luis told her no with a smile, but it felt good to be confused with the 2nd best player in the league anyway .

After that long day, it was time for a short meeting with coach followed by my physical. Nothing crazy; I passed the physical and am ready to get to work tomorrow at our first practice. But I did learn that I have a very good blood glucose level, and am in no immediate danger of diabetes. Great huh? okay, off to rest… big day tomorrow! but I’d thought I’d leave you with 2 pictures from today; one was a quick flick from the beach and another is of the gym here in Ilhavo…

PS, GO DOWNLOAD BIG SEAN’S NEW MIXTAPE, FINALLY FAMOUS VOL. 3!

New Beginning… New Season… We Outchea!

Wow… where to begin. Let’s start off with where I am. Currently I’m in Ilhavo, Portugal, getting ready for this coming season. After a bit of confusion and a lot of thought, I thought that Portugal would be a great opportunity for me, and I hope to make the most of it! So in essence, the world tour continues…

What a long summer I had… I believe (last time I blogged) it was about my quick 3 day vacation to Las Vegas. Well, not only did I go back to Vegas, but I stayed for 4 weeks! It was with Impact, and there was much more hard work than there was relaxing, but I think I have found my tolerance for Vegas. While I’m talking about training, I have to share with you guys my new discovery… Kettle Bells. Thanks to my man Walt, I got up on my kettle bell lifting game this summer, and not only put on muscle, but feel gains in my quickness and explosiveness as well. So shout out to Kirsten and the whole Venice ATC staff for all the help this summer!

So this day has been ridiculous long. I started off getting up at 5:45 AM to get ready for my flight, and head to the airport. My mom surprised me with one last home cooked breakfast, which was great! Then before I knew what happened, it was off to LAX and the first leg of my journey – a 5 hour flight to Philadelphia. While I have tons of experience flying across the country; I can honestly say this was the worst flight I have ever been on. Not only was I stuck in the back row with a seat that didn’t recline, I was in the middle on top of it all!

Oh well… so after that flight I get to the Philly airport and have a nice little 3 hour layover. After getting my pre flight meal in, I decide to sit by the gate and charge all my electronic stuff (no surprise to anyone who knows me that I recently got an iPad). While sitting there, I was introduced to my new two new American teammates. Both seem like great guys, so that’s always a good thing.

Post trans-Atlantic flight, it was time to go through immigration. Usually this isn’t a problem, but for some reason the line in Libson took an hour and a half just to get through. The line wasn’t without its comedic moments though, as some girl ahead of us saw my Harvard shirt and proceeded to inform me that she was a proud UVM grad, and huge Mike Trimboli fan. For those of you who don’t know, Drew Housman throughout his illustrious career had two or three arch nemeses… guys he just didn’t like and battled with. If Mike Trimboli wasn’t 1 on the list, he was absolutely 1a behind Eric Flato…

Anyways, I found that exchange pretty funny, but then it was on the 3 hour van ride to Ilhavo. While I wish I could remember anything from this ride, I was in the back seat sleeping the whole time. Fast forward, we meet the coach, have lunch with some officials from the team, and check into a hotel while they finish preparing our apartment. I can honestly say this is an amazing hotel; one I wouldn’t mind staying in for quite awhile (9 months for example?).

Off to bed… I’m working on 3 hours of sleep in the past 30 hours… gotta catch up! More tomorrow… but for now I’ll leave you with the view from our hotel overlooking the city…

As Wale would say… we outchea!

I’m BAAACK!

First off, I apologize for not blogging in forever. But I have been pretty busy with stuff since getting back home to America. For those of you who haven’t caught up with me personally, here is a quick timeline of what has been going on, what I’ve been doing, and what I plan on doing before I leave next season. Enjoy…

The Truth About The NBA vs. European Basketball

I got into a pretty heavy conversation with one of my teammates earlier today about the differences between the NBA and the European game. Right after that, I came home and watched the highlights of Lebron’s dunk last night, and some things stood out to me. Analysis after the jump!

QOTD April 20

“My mind is the strongest muscle in my body. I can make anything happen. Just gotta add a little love and dedication, give it some time and watch it grow. Hard work can take you anywhere you want to go. If you don’t believe anything else, you can bet on that. Keep your head up high and never look back. Know it’s only one person who can stop you from getting what you want and thats yourself. You just gotta push yourself to be the best and don’t worry about anyone else. Remember theirs has nothing to do with yours…” – Dom Kennedy

Explanation and whole new post coming later. Sorry I’ve been slacking…

QOTD April 19

“I don’t want fans. I want believers” – Big Sean

If there’s one thing I have learned during my time out here, is that there is a huge difference between YOUR fans and the team’s fans. It’s great to have both, but to one group you are only as good as your last game. That is why it is important to surround yourself with what Big Sean calls “believers.” People who are going to be the same to you whether the team wins or loses; whether you score 40 or 4. In your life you don’t want to have conditional friends, so try to seek out people who are genuinely believers in you, and will support you when you are down, not condemn you.

QOTD April 17th

“You gain respect by not backing down” – Lebron James

QOTD April 15

“I had a one on one with my big homie Jesus, and he told me everything is gonna be fine. Just have to keep working and find my comfort zone again” – Rasual Butler

I had actually come across this quote back in November, when things weren’t looking up for me in Romania. I just took a step back, and continued to work instead of complaining, and here I am in a great situation in Germany. In the game of basketball, like life, you need to always find where you are comfortable operating. Some people like the ball in certain spots better than others, and that’s the kind of comfort that you need to find within yourself. The key to the whole thing though, is HARD WORK. I often get asked for advice for making it overseas, and honestly all I can say is work your tail off daily. It sounds cliche, but really when you aren’t working, someone else is. Keep that in the back of your mind next time you want to stop and complain…

Quote of the Day (QOTD) April 14

“Everything will be OK in the end. If things aren’t OK; then it isn’t the end.” – Alan Stein

Often in life we spend too much time worrying about details. “Will I get this job?” “How will I do on this test?.” For me, the question is “what team/league will I be in next year?” While these are questions that are okay to ask, you have to remember that in the end what is meant to be will be. And if you are not okay with the outcome of a situation, don’t let it stop you from trying to achieve your goal and working towards it. Hasta manana!