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Posts Tagged ‘Courtney Lee’

Mentoring the young guys

Thursday, November 19th, 2009

Heyyyyy world!!!! What up, what????

We got a little revenge on those young Thunder cats last night. We had a really good game defending and moving the ball and we wanted to play well for Jameer Nelson, who was out after having knee surgery. It’s crazy with all the stuff we’ve been through already with the injuries and the flu, but I keep telling myself that it’s early in the year and it’s better that it happen now than later before the playoffs.

Playing OKC last night, I got to see my guy, Kevin Durant, some last night. We have the same agent (Goodwin Sports Managment) and we’ve become pretty good friends through the years at all-star games and when we were training for the Olympic team.

Me and Kevin used to talk a lot, but it’s been tough so far this season because we’ve been so busy with our schedules. We still talk a little bit on Twitter (check KD out on Twitter) and see how each other is doing. He’s a really good dude and has such a good head on his shoulders.

He’s pretty much better now than he was last season and so much better than he was his rookie year so I don’t have to say a lot to him. That kid is on his way to being great and he’s gonna lead the league in scoring real soon.

I try to help out as many of the young guys in the NBA as I can the same way the veterans helped me out back when I was a skinny 18-year-old kid straight out of high school. Guys like Tony Battie and Grant Hill and even Rasheed Wallace back when he was on the Pistons took time out to give me advice about being a pro, and that’s something I’ll never forget.

I was kind of a mentor last season to Courtney Lee – even though he’s older than me!!! How crazy is that??? I kind of took him under my wing and he blew up and had a great rookie season for us. We became really good friends and I miss that dude now that he’s playing up in Jersey.

Even though I’m just in my sixth year and still pretty much a young guy, I feel like I’ve been through a lot already in the NBA. It’s on me to share that stuff with the other young guys in the NBA and be a mentor when I can. I gotta help them the way the vets helped me a few years ago.

Well, we got a big one Friday vs. Boston, so we’ll need to play our best ball to win that game. With Boston, I really think it’s all about defense and not giving up easy shots. We’ve got a lot of weapons and they do too, so the team that gets the most stops is probably going to win it.

I’m out of here for now. Ya’ll be good!!!

—DWIGHT

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Big Change For Kids

Friday, November 13th, 2009

Whazzzzz uuuuuup, ya’ll???? We got a game later against New Jersey, but I wanted to drop you guys a line before the game. Man, there’s a lot of former Magic guys on the Nets, although all of them are hurt. Courtney, Rafer and Tony helped us get to The Finals, and I guess the only one who might play against us is “Skip to My Lou.’’ And Keyon Dooling is out too with a hip problem.

I wanted to tell you guys about something a little different today. Rather than just focusing on our last game against Cleveland or the one coming up against New Jersey, I wanted to discuss some off-the-court stuff.

After all, ya’ll have heard me say before that basketball is just a part of my life and doesn’t totally define me as a person. Trust me, I want to win more than anybody else in the NBA and I wake up and go to sleep at night thinking about getting that gold ball in June. But there are other things in my life, too.

A couple of weeks back I visited Florida Hospital to try and lift the spirits of some of the little homies there. Those guys have such good hearts and such a good outlook on life even though they are sick. They just make me feel really good inside and put it all in perspective for me. When I do something like visiting those kids at the hospital, it doesn’t make losing a basketball game seem like the end of the world.

I got to go down there and pass out a few Superman capes to the kids and it was soooooooo cool seeing their smiles. Ya’ll know I had my cape on – the one I wore in the dunk contest last year. I signed a few of the capes for the kids and we played a lot of video games. Ya’ll know competitive I am, so I was in there trying to win everything. But I’ve got to say, they did get me a few times on NBA Live 10.

This program that we’re starting called “Dwight’s Big Change for Kids,’’ is actually pretty cool. We’re building a state-of-the-art game room especially for the teenaged kids who are sick and at Florida Hospital. It’s going to have flat-screen TVs, video games, board games and educational stuff, too.

I gotta say that I’ve seen the designs of the room, and it’s going to be pretty tight. I can’t wait to see the looks on some of those kids faces when they see all of the stuff in the new teen’s room.

I know we normally touch on basketball stuff here on the blog, but I thought ya’ll might want to know what else is going on in my life. After all, there’s more to life than basketball. If you can go out and help some of these sick kids some time, you should do it because I tell you it’s as much fun for me as it is those kids I think.

Well, I’m gonna run. Ya’ll be real and I’ll see ya at the arena.

—DWIGHT

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L.A. HELD HOMECOURT; LET’S DO THE SAME

Monday, June 8th, 2009

Tough, tough loss last night cause we really thought we let the Lakers off the hook and should have won that game. It was there for us so many times, but we couldn’t grab it because we didn’t execute and turned the ball over too many times.

I was frustrated and in the first game too, but being the leader on my team I can’t let my teammates see me frustrated. I’ve got to play through all the different situations and learn from them.

We’ve just got to take care of the ball better. There are a lot of times, I know myself, this is probably one of the games where I had a lot of turnovers, maybe my most in the playoffs. I’ve just got to do a better job of finding my teammates and being aware of the guards coming in the paint for strips.

As a team we’ve just got to do better with not turning the ball over. That’s how they got going on the offensive end, because of our turnovers, and it gave them the game tonight.

My boy C-Lee had a layup right at the rim, but just missed it. That was a tough blow for us, but it shouldn’t have ever come down to that. We don’t turn the ball over as much as we did and we don’t even need the lob play there in that situation.

Their defensive plan against me in the post has been really good. Phil Jackson is a smart, smart coach. I’m not saying the coach from Cleveland isn’t, but the way they’re using their bigs on the defensive end has been a little tricky for me. But it’s something that I’m learning from. Their bigs are doing a great job of forcing me to other the bigs. It seems like I beat one guy and there’s another one waiting on me or the guards are always there digging down and trying to strip the ball.

I just have to trust my teammates and allow those guys to hit shots, and that will open everything up for me. But I’ve also just got to do some more work on the offensive end, running, going to the glass and trying to get points that way.

We’ve just got to go home now and take care of business. The Lakers did a good job of protecting their home, and now it’s our turn to do the same thing. We’ve been in some tough situations and we’ve always been good about coming back. We’ve just got to fight our way out and I know that’s what we’ll do again this time.

This is going to be a long series and we’re a long way from done. Game 3 is all we’re thinking about, so let’s go get one win and really protect our homecourt the way the Lakers did. We still know we can do this. We tweak a few things here and there, we’ll be right back in this series before ya’ll know it.

PEACE OUT, HOMIES. — DWIGHT

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ME AND THE TROPHY

Thursday, June 4th, 2009

Ya’ll will get to see my new commercial tonight during the game. ABC took some pictures of us with the NBA championship trophy the other day to run during the games, but if you look really close you will notice that I don’t touch it.

They had seven us take the pictures (Rafer, Turk, C-Lee, Shard, AJ, MP and me) with the trophy and some of my guys were holding it and rubbing it. But I’m not touching the trophy until we win it all and that baby re ally is mine. Then it’s on, and I’ll be kissing it and hugging it and everything.

We got the silver ball last Saturday night and it was nice, but I gotta tell you that gold one is beautiful. I want one of those so bad now.

We’re glad that game night is finally here. It’s been good to get some rest these last few days, but it actually seems like two weeks since we beat Cleveland. I think guys are focused and ready to go. We know what we have to do.

Yesterday’s practice was kinda crazy because cameras were popping and reporters were lined up around the court. I think some of our guys got to see how the Finals are different with more eyes looking at us. To me, it reminded me of the all-star games and even the Olympics from this past summer. You’re constantly getting pulled around with so much stuff to do.

I think we’ll adjust to all of this stuff pretty quick. Everybody who has been following the Magic knows that we’re a loose bunch. That’s why we’ve been so good on the road the last couple of years. That why we could go to Philly, Boston and Cleveland and win on the road in the playoffs.

We just know if we play our game by running, playing defense and rebounding we can beat anybody and win anywhere. That shouldn’t be any different tonight in L.A. We’ve won here the last two years, and we know we can do it again.

OK, ya’ll cheer us on tonight because we need the support from everywhere. That love I felt in Games 6 against Cleveland was the happiest I’ve been in a long time. We need to keep it going and get a W tonight and start these Finals off the right way.

– D-12

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LET’S DO THIS ON THURSDAY NIGHT

Wednesday, May 27th, 2009

Whew!!!!!! Are ya’ll as exhausted as I am after that killer game? That was a gut-check of all gut-check games for us and the Magic came through again? What are they gonna say now?

We’re so, so close to playing for that championship in the Finals, but now is no time to celebrate because really we haven’t done anything yet. We’ve won three games, but you don’t get anything for that. If you think winning last night was hard, t rying to close out the Cavs at The Q will be super hard and we know it. That’s a good team that won 66 games and they aren’t going down without a fight.


Speaking of fighting, how about those tackles that Varejao put on me a couple of times during the game??? And I’m the one who gets the technical foul!!!! I was just playing with emotion. You get in the game and you score a big bucket, you let your emotions take over. I wasn’t taunting Varejao or anything. My thing was, it was a tough play, he grabbed me around the neck and I made the shot, so hopefully they will look at it.

And on that final lob play, he rode me out of bounds, but there was nothing called. I just feel like if that had been a certain guy on the other team, the whistle would have been blowing.

This thing with the T’s is bugging me pretty bad right no w, but I can’t let it take me away from my focus on helping us get the job done. I can’t believe that I’ve had six of them called on me so far, and some of them have just been crazy. I’m not a dirty player, I don’t talk a lot of trash and I don’t curse the officials, so I can’t figure out why I keep getting them again and again.

Hopefully, the league office will look at this one and realize it was just the heat of the game. There was no taunting. I’ve already had to miss one game because of my elbows, and I made a promise to myself that I’d never have that happen again with my elbows. The thought of me having to miss another game is killing me, so I’ve got to keep my mouth shut and my elbows down.

We’re getting contributions from so many guys now – Shard, Turk, MP, C-Lee and my man Skip to My Lou. That wasn’t Rafer Alston out there tonight, that was professional street baler, Skip To My Lou!!!!

We just feel like when we’re playing like we did last night, getting help from everybody, moving the ball, running and playing defense, that we can beat anybody.

We’ve got to close this baby out now. It won’t be easy, but we feel we can get it done against anybody if we just play our game.

I’ll be ready and my guys will be ready, so let’s go do this.

Holla. — DWIGHT

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