<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"><font face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2"> Its amazing how long the summer seems up until the day camp starts. Only 2 months. Only 1 month. Only 2 weeks. Bam. Its here. Todays morning practice was great. There were a few things that stood out. First, the self study programs that we put together for the rookies and first year guys, teaching them the plays, defenses and philosphies that The General is putting in place really helped. Every day they were required to watch film and write up summaries of what they watched, then each week they were tested on the material. They were required to draw up resposibilities all 5 positions for each play. Outline where to go on primary and secondary breaks and offenses. All things that typically the coaches would be required to teach them during camp. The fact that Josh, Rawle, Desagana, DJ and Pavel all went through the process let them hit the ground running. So practice had far fewer stops to explain plays and was a lot more intense than in previous years. Doug Christie knows how to play defense. I guess I never fully appreciated his knowledge of the game. Just watching him it was obvious he always knew where to be. He is going to be a great influence on our young players as well. His work ethic is incredible. He comes in more often to work on his game than I even Dirk did in the past. From putting in a half court at his house so he could shoot in the morning before it got hot, to coming to the gym at night to work on his shot. All after working out and getting in runs with the guys during the day. Its also amazing how much better shape guys come to camp in than just 5 years ago. We have a shuttle drill that all players have to pass in order to play. My first camp, it took a couple weeks for 3 or 4 players to get in good enough shape to pass. Now only Pavel still has a little work to pass. And thats not all that suprising. Its the same number for JET as it is for Pavel to pass, so he has to be in great shape to pass. For those wondering about Diop. He is in the best shape of his career. 20 plus pounds lighter than his Cleveland days. His quickness is obviously better. I told him today that we are going to be all over him regarding his diet. That our nutrition is going to be his best friend (Pavel got the same speech), and we are going to be weighing in all players every week throughout the season, so we both will know exactly how well he is keeping up with his program. The nutrionist position is back after a year absence. We werent happy with the job the last person in the position did, but decided some of our guys were young enough and uneducated enough about nutrition, that we really needed someone in that role. Its just a great buzz and feeling. The first day is always exciting, but there seems to be a bit more of an edge this year. Guys from last year seem to have picked up where they left off and the new guys are excited to be part of it and push things further. More to come later ?.. Go Mavs !</font></font></div> Man, am I excited!! The Diop and Christie news is amazing
