Welcome to the part of my website created to give fans a behind the scenes look at life as a professional basketball player. This page will be constantly updated to reflect my thoughts on the coach, practice, the team, and of course the game itself.

2008-09 Season Outlook

The regular season has finally arrived and I can't wait to see what our team can do. We're coming off a 50-win season and played very well in the preseason.

We spent a lot of time working on defense during our exhibition games. We feel that we have good individual defense, but coach Van Gundy has preached a lot of team defense. So we have to establish right away if we're going to be a different team from last year, in terms of how we defend the basket. Hopefully, we can succeed.

We also spent some time working on rebounding. Last year, when Dwight Howard wasn't in the game or wasn't having an outstanding rebounding night, the team struggled. We have a team that's built around an athletic center. So if we can rebound better, we'll be able to score points more quickly and more often. Those are the two main question marks with our team.

Contrary to what people may believe, the Eastern Conference has been getting stronger and stronger over the past couple of years. The league is more balanced with talent. The West still has several powerhouse teams, but the East is no longer a doormat. Atlanta is a young, up-and-coming team that took Boston to seven games during the playoffs. Charlotte has a new coach as well as a new sense of philosophy. Washington still has its core group of players and Philadelphia is a team that got a taste of the postseason and went on to sign Elton Brand in the offseason. And I hadn't even mentioned Boston or Detroit yet. With that in mind, I say that the East is alive in well. Every team has an opportunity to make noise.

Even though we were a No. 3 seed in the playoffs last season, it's hard to say where we may stack up in the East. One thing is certain, we have to jump out to a good start like we did last season. That's going to be very important. We also have to be good on the road again. We started last season with a lot of games on the road. So we were able to establish a strong start while playing away from home. Obviously, we have to play well in our own building, but we have to be able to beat teams no matter where we are. If we can do that, we will be among the top teams in the division again.

- Adonal