Back from Media Day. Great time making friends with all my media cohorts and the front office people I miss greatly.
For the few people who made it out I hope you weren't disappointed with what it is. This is not really a fan event. It is a chance for a few of us to get in front of the camera. We did a great job of that and in the period between 12:30 and 1:00pm there was good media moments. That was the goal.
Lets talk about the players dammit!!!
All of my terrific insight is built upon a couple of seconds interaction with all of them. Usually the majority of players walk from the team hotel to the Furtado Center. This year almost all chose to drive in or take car services. My hunch is that Presti requested it that way.
All except Delonte Vigilante West who walked on in. I understand that Delonte has had a sore knee and has been resting it, not participating in scrimmages. He is saying it is nothing too serious, but he wants to rest it up for camp to compete for that job.
The guys I want to talk about though are Wally Szczerbiak and Earl Watson.
Wally has a reputation of being tough to love, big ego, all of that. I for one am going to give him the benefit of the doubt. Every single player got out of their car and walked in, eyes forward to the Furtado Center. Wally Z got out, saw our group of like 8 fans in jerseys and walked over to waive and say hello. HE WAS THE ONLY ONE. Wally is a GQ dude. Lookin' good and feelin' good.
Earl Watson remains a friend of the site. Again when I called him out he recognized me immediately, walked over to shake hands, and asked how things were. Players who remember the fans are few and far between so I want people to understand how much I appreciate Earl for that. He looked thick through the arms and I'm curious if he's been hitting the weights. When I contacted someone else to comment on Earl I was told that Earl is feeling confident that he may have the edge as a starter. The comment was basically that Presti was playing no favorites and that everybody got a chance to earn it. Earl was better last year and has been better in all the scrimmages this year and he feels like he has the edge as a result.
I just love this game. Being around the players and the Furtado gets the juices flowing and it pains me to be where I am with the organization. It will be a tough year.