Filled With Excitement

Practice is set for 11:00am. Media is encouraged to arrive at 12:30.
I get to the RBK Court at 12:15 to a packed house.

Never have I seen so much media for a practice - before even the regular season has started!

The usual wait is filled with conversations with guys from the Score (one of whom I went to college with), Global Sports, Raptors TV... etc etc.

Catching up on old times, and stories of what was.

The door opens, and everyone floods through the big red barricade on a mission.

However, per usual, the media just watches as guys continue practicing free-throws, 3-pointers, and hit the weight room for about 15 minutes.

Between all the reporters, the list of requested interviewees is long and drawn out. In fact, the only players not requested for questioning were Rasho Nesterovic and Pape Sow.

Personally, I wanted to talk to Fred Jones and Mo Pete - on top of the usual Sam Mitchell scrum.

Now, if you didn't read Michael Grange's piece from the Globe, then you might not know of Sam's displeasure for TV Cameras. Now on this day, with about a dozen blinding lights in his face, Sam wasn't particularly pleased. Let alone the fact that it's hard to think of questions, especially when there's no drama to speak of.

So I didn't inquire about anything.

On to Jones... I wanted to talk to him about this, that, and the other... but started off with something direct:
“So how's the thumb doing?"
"It's getting better. It's a day to day process, you know, I gotta get treatment, stay on it, and be ready for opening night.”
“Speaking of which... are you a fan of the NBA, in itself? Like, will you be sitting at home watching the season openers tomorrow?”
“Oh yeah, I watch all the games. Every night, that's all I do. I got the NBA package, I watch every game I can, all night. You know, my family sometimes gets mad at me, because that's all I do.”
“Are you still talking to anyone from Oregon?”
“Me and Luc Ridnour are close... I talk to him quite a bit, and I talk to a couple of the guys that I played with on the team. We still get together once in a while.”
“So, you're somewhat new to the city... you've been here what, two months? What's your take on the vibe around Toronto?”
“It's been good. It's been totally different to what I'm accustomed to. You know, I can't get all the foods that I normally eat. And you know, they're forcing me to try new things... and I don't really try new things. That's been tough on me, but everything else is pretty good.”
“Well, like what? Maybe I can help you out a bit...”
“...Even McDonald's doesn't have sausage biscuits... they don't have biscuits, and I don't understand that.”
“Hmm... yeah, I wish I could help you out with that, I'm sorry. This may be a little out of left field,” as if my earlier questions weren't. “Do you ever think about re-entering the dunk competition?”
“Oh no. You know, I was blessed enough to win it, but I don't feel like I can compete with that anymore. You know, we got some guys in the league right now... and I'll let them take that over. I'm a little older now, and it's their time to shine.”

He's two years older, having taking the title in 2004, but thinking back now... the 'rising stars' portion means you need to be in the first three years of your NBA career to enter.

“You're one of the 9 new guys on this team... with this being a new situation for you, what kind of feeling do you get when you see all this excitement. I mean, I've never seen a practice with this many reporters here...”
“Well, everyone's excited. You know, for a lot of our guys, this is their first taste of the league. They're excited about that, and it brings a lot of excitement. They've been in situations where they couldn't perform they way they wanted to. You know, guys like myself, where, you get into a new situation... and you're excited about that. You're able to perform, and you know, the leash is off you. So I think we've got a good mixture, you know, a lot of people not worrying about anything but going out and proving themselves.”
“And it's almost a strange way that you got here, I mean... had Indiana not rescinded the qualifying offer they gave you, and had John Salmons not walked away from a verbal commitment with the Raptors... you wouldn't be here.”
“The Lord works in mysterious ways, you know... He always had a plan for me, and I never knew what that plan was until everything went through. I think he put me in the right spot – he wouldn't give me nothing I can't handle, and I'm here.”

I thanked him, and trailed over to a TJ Ford scrum... I didn't want to pester him with questions, because chances are he'll be signing a long-term extension tonight (and will have likely already inked by the time you read this)... so I'd hold off until tomorrow morning's practice.

I drifted over to the always-inviting Mo Pete... after a series of topics thrown his way... i brought it back to anticipation, and overwhelming hype this team is dealing with.

“Mo, it's pretty evident that the excitement is way up for this team around this city, but how about the team itself? Two days away from getting it going... where's the team at, in terms of the sense of hype?”
“I think mentally, guys are just staying focused... we're not letting anything on the outside distract us. You know, we're keeping everything in the locker room... Guys are working hard, pushing for each other, and as you see now, guys are staying after practice to put up shots, because we feel we weren't putting the ball up as well.”
“In terms of the hype, though? I mean... It's gotta be pretty exciting having all this attention, and for the regular season to be just a couple days away... where you'll be playing for real...”
“Oh yeah... these last 4 years have definitely been challenging. There have definitely been a lot of downs, more downs than ups, and it's good to be able to walk around the city, and you go somewhere and have people say 'hey, we're excited about the season. We can't wait for you guys to get going. You guys are looking good. Keep up the good work.' It does feel good knowing that all your hard work is starting to pay off... and Wednesday – not only Wednesday, for the season – you know, we want to play hard. Not only for us, but for the fans, because I think we owe them a lot.”

...one more practice...