Baller!

Courtesy of USA Basketball

What’s up, everyone? Sorry, I meant to write from the EuroLeague All-Star Game in Moscow, but it’s been a crazy 2 days for me. But I’m finally relaxing for a few minutes.

Yeah, I’m just doing some treatment with the trainer after another day of practice here with USA Basketball in Valencia, Spain. And we’re doing good. No complaints.

Coach Donovan just wants us to get better defensively and not take for granted the opportunity we have here. And we’re not doing anything special… just the normal things we’ve been doing since the world championships.

One of the cool things about training with the national team is meeting new people and playing with players I’ve played against. For example, I’ve never played with Sidney Spencer before… and not only am I playing with her, but she’s my roommate as well. So that’s cool. Katie Douglas is another one. She’s fun to play with. Oh, and Lindsey Harding, too. Everyone is wondering how Lindsey is doing after tearing her ACL last year. And honestly, she looks great. She really does. I think she’s back and looking solid. Everyone else looks pretty normal… haha. Well, DeLisha bulked up and looks stronger than ever, which is great, and she had a good All-Star Game on Thursday.

Oh, and check me out with Dee, DeLisha and Sue in the video at the bottom. Pretty funny stuff.

Speaking of good games, I feel like someone else did OK in Moscow on Thursday. Hmmm, I don’t remember who… OK, well, some people have told me I had a good game. Haha. (Cappie had 24 points, though the Rest of the World team lost to Europe 111-86.) And I was ok. Honestly, I hate losing, but it was fun event.

Kelis performed for us and chilled at the house party afterwards at Dee’s, Sue’s and LJ’s. So that was nice… it was good event. And I was happy to chill out and see everyone, u know? And there were a lot of people there, though we were prolly the second most famous after her. Haha.

So for J-Mac and me, after the Moscow party, it was straight from Dee’s to Spain. We had a 7:20 a.m. flight, so we got no sleep. DeLisha and her husband Roland were with us, too. Oh, and some of her teammates from Ros Casares, too.

And now we’re here in lovely Valencia, Spain for two games and a bunch of training and practicing. We actually play Ros Casares on Tuesday and we’re playing Perfumerías Avenida in Salamanca on Thursday, so those should be two pretty solid, competitive games. It’s always good to play games after a couple days of hard, intense training.

So despite the lack of sleep, I’m feeling fine… no complaints, no worries. Just enjoying the moments. And Spain is cool. I’ve been here a lot. Especially last year when Ros Casares was in our EuroLeague playoff group with us and we had the All-Star Game here. The weather is beautiful, the food is great, the club scene is nice (so I hear… ) and it’s a great city.

I just want to make the Olympic team really badly, but it’s not something you’re supposed to discuss with the coaching staff or anyone else. The only “discussion” is through your actions on the court. And then the committee makes the decisions. And you know about Coach Donovan, she gives her positive comments and she gives her criticisms. But it’s like that for everyone. So it’s all good.

I’ll touch base again later this week, but until then wish us luck and keep on rooting for the good ole U.S. of A!