It is hard to believe that July is coming to an end. It has been a very busy July starting with the trip to India with the NBA Basketball without Borders. Coming home and going right to mini camp for summer league in DC. We practiced for a few days and went right to Vegas afterwards. We stayed in Vegas until the 20th and took the red eye home. Arrived in Baltimore and ran into a couple of college coaches heading to Vegas for all the AAU tournaments. I started thinking of how hectic my summers used to be doing two, three, four and and sometimes five camps in a day. All of the running around tha I did for close to 20 years. Without doing the camps I would not be where I am today. I would like to thank everyone that has ever had me come into their camp and let me do my thing.

    Now I am in Charlotte, NC working out Antawn and Brendan. They are a joy to be with, they both listen and work very hard. I only wish everyone was as coachable as these two professionals. They do the right things as far as their off season workouts go. They work on their bodies and don’t get out of shape and then they work on their games. I am happy that the Wizards have re signed Antawn and Gilbert. Now we have to stay healthy. It will be interesting to see who we will pick up to replace Roger Mason.

   July was a month that I did the most camps and it is also the month that I took the most shots and it is the month that I always had my best shooting percentage. Note the more you shoot the better you become. Miss all of my friends at Eastern Invitational and the West Coast All Star camps. These camps have turned out a number of big time players and continue to do so. It was exciting for me to speak in front of all the talented kids and coaches at these camps.

   Hope everyone is having a safe, fun and healthy summer. Take care and God Bless. I will be blogging again from Las Vegas as I am heading out there once agian to work Tim Grugvich’s camp. I am looking forward to working his camp and spending time with the palyers and coaches. Before heading there I will get home to Maine and spend a couple of days with my wife Carole and daughter McKenna. I am blessed to have them in my life.

  We had a few practices in Washington DC before heading to Las Vegas. We have several of our players going this year. Andray Blatche, Nick Young, Dominic McGuire and of course our number one pick Jevale McGee. JeVale is long and athletic with some skills. He needs to gain some weight and get stronger. That will come as he gets older. Then we have Dee Brown who we just picked up. Also at point guard we have Dontaye Draper and Jonathan Wallace. At the two spot we have Gary Forbes. The forward spots are Vladimir Veremenko (VV), Frank Elegar, Taj McCullough and Oleksiy Pecherov. Pech is injured again, hopefully he will see some action before the end of the week.

   Our flight out to Vegas was cancelled on Sunday evening, so everyone had to meet at the Verizon Center at 5:30 am on Monday to bus up to Philadelphia for a flight out at 11:30am. Got up to Philly with no problems. Had to sit and wait for three hours before boarding the plane. We had to fly coach as there were no first class seats. I feel sorry for the big guys sitting in coach. Our flight was an hour late leaving. We finally arrived in Vegas at 2:00pm got our bags, checked into the hotel and left for the game. I told the rookies welcome to the NBA. Where nothing surprises me anymore.

   We played sloppy which was expected considering the circumstances. A lot of fouls and turnovers. Have to execute better in our half court sets and do a better job of defending off the dribble.

   Carole and McKenna have been in Vegas since Friday along with our babysitter Chelsea. It was great to see them.  They will be here until Wednesday morning. At least I get to see them and spend some time with them.

   Yesterday we had a scrimmage at Durango High School. We played a half against the Nuggets and a half against the Raptors. It was great seeing all of my friends from Toronto. BC, Sam, Keith, Kevin, Micah, Paul, Rory, Scott, Joey Graham, Jay, Alex, Eric. I hope I didn’t leave anyone out.

   Today on our way to shootaround for tonights game versus the 76ers the bus broke down. Amazing things happen in the NBA. What else can go wrong on this trip for the Wizards. Keep reading the blog for updates.

  Take care and God Bless. Tell those that you love, that you love them.

  Hope everyone is enjoying their summer. I just returned from India with the NBA’s Basketball without Borders. Trying to adjust to the time difference. I had a wonderful time over in India because of the great job done by the NBA. Everyone that was involved with the camp did an excellent job. It was my first Basketball w/o Borders in what I hope will be the first of many more to come. 

   This was also my first trip to India. My wife and I were both looking forward to this trip. We arrived in India and the heat and humidity hit us immediately. At the airport the chaos began. Most airports are chaotic, but in India it is a little more so. Leaving the airport I found out that the lines on the road are there for decoration. The horn is used more than anything else and the cars do not use blinkers. Every car no matter how old or new has dents and scratches, not to mention being covered in dust as well.

  The hotel was very nice and so was the staff. The rooms were a nice size and the food was very good. They had some very good restaurants there at the hotel. Outside the hotel grounds there was alot of poverty. India has alot of poverty throughout the country. On the way to the Taj it was nothing but mile after mile of poverty and garbage, waste, etc… Cows running around the streets, people sleeping wherever they can on the sidewalks, somewhere there is shade. Kids with no shoes or shirts. It was a very disturbing trip to the Taj seeing all of the people out on the streets with nothing to do or anywhere to go, no purpose in life, no jobs.

   The Taj is an unbelievable building.  Being on the grounds of the Taj, it is easy to forget about the poor and all of the poverty. After the tour we were met outside the grounds of the Taj by the poor once again. There is no escaping poverty in India. Also the flys were out in full force. Now I know why you have to get your shots before going to India and then you have to take Malarone for Malaria.

   It was a trip of a life time and I am glad that I went. I cannot thank the NBA for this wondrful opportunity and I cannot thank everyone that was on the trip for their hospitality and friendship.

   I will be blogging about the summer league. It’s great to be home in the greatest country in the world.