Re: Piling On

[jmc@ptc.com]

From: "Gene Kirkpatrick" <gkir@tjc.tyler.cc.tx.us> said:

> about.  Thanks to whomever for the moniker
> of the year:  Yo! Adrian!!  Our newest hero.

Actually, Tommy Heinsohn said that on the air during the first game of 
the season as they replayed Adrian's facial dunk of Davis. 

> Question: do you think the summer leagues with Griffin, McCarty,
> Turner, Battie, Pots and Pierce created the attitude and momentum that
> is being seen now?  I think it must have helped tremendously.

Great question.  I've wondered about that, too.  I think that with 
Anderson and Walker out of the way, this group of young, enthusiastic 
guys who all seem to enjoy just playing (hey, they didn't have to show 
up for summer league) was able to have a lot of fun with each other 
and establish a teamwork attitude and camaraderie amongst themselves. 

The undefeated record probably was against inferior competition, so 
it may not have been a big confidence boost, but one thing it did was 
give them a taste of what it feels like to expect to win every game, 
which I'm sure they all compared to last season's feelings, giving them 
some extra drive to reach that same "we're winners" feeling during the 
regular season.

Last year the Walker/Anderson rivalry/animosity developed before preseason,
during the last few days before the lockout officially ended, and that set 
the tone for the team's attitude.  This year, the tone was set in the 
positive direction before they even arrived, so they didn't have a chance 
to make it bad.  Hopefully any animosity between them is behind them now.

Jon Mc