Hey! That was a long time)

I’ll begin from the main question. There are a lot of rumors and theories about why I haven’t played in this season yet. Everything, on the one hand, is simple. On the other - not really. Reason: knee pain and medical treatment. And also uncertain predictions of the full recovery time.

My knee has been bothering me for a long time. I had a surgery on it in Cleveland. At some points I felt better. But in general, the situation gradually deteriorated. This summer, I worked well during the preparatory period in Los Angeles with one of the top experts in the individual development of players and long-time friend, Fess Irvin.

However, just a few days after the start of the preseason at the club, I was forced to turn go to a traumatologist. There was no particular effect from the course of adaptive actions and injections, so the doctors did an ultrasound procedure and injected cortisone into the knee. Now, after recovery, I have to understand how much this intervention has helped. And then I can begin to get back in shape, to return to the general group and to the basketball court.

To make a long story short, I will slowly keep you updated on how my recovery is going.

When it comes to the situation in Orlando — it is very good. The team is doing well and have developed a nice rhythm. Despite not the best start of the season, we now have almost the same number of wins and defeats. And this is considering that our schedule at the beginning of the season was one of the most difficult in the League.

We play good basketball, even though our team is quite new and it’s our first season with a new coach. Some players may still not fully understand what the coach expects to see, but progress is already visible. I think the team is capable of performing even better, but it takes time. The season is long and it’s hard to make any predictions at this point, but I’m sure everything will be fine.

Our goals for the season is to get into playoff and “make some noise”. Let's be honest: we are not yet ready to get “far away” in this season, but we are for sure able to declare ourselves. Moreover, we have a good friendly team, I know that I say this quite often, but it really is — from coaches to players!

As with any team, in Orlando, we have both veterans and young players. The elders, of course, have their own privileges: the fact that you don’t need to collect the balls after training is the least :) Of course, the guys who have been in the NBA for over a year look better on the court: they don’t make mistakes and make fewer ill-considered steps. Vujevich, Fournier, Augustine play more confidently than newcomers. And this is logical.

Mohamed Bamba, the 6th draft pick last year, does not appear so much on the court, but there is nothing to worry about. It happens in different ways: sometimes the new guys who come to the League are immediately rushed by the coach and on their first year they average 35 minutes per match. Sometimes they are introduced to the team gradually, get used to it and become stronger. With Bamba it’s rather the second case.

Basketball analysts claim that this year the pace of the game has noticeably increased. Yes, the game is getting faster from year to year - perhaps it all started with Golden State, they set the fashion. And everyone wants to be “fashionable”. Not saying it is bad or good. But it seems to me that not all teams are properly staffed to execute such a style of play as the Warriors.

Judging changes a little. Every year we communicate with the referees before the start of the season, where they talk about adjustments, review specific episodes with us. It cannot be said that there is less contact in the game, but referees now evaluate some moments from a different angle and should adjust.

Another trend from the Golden State is to shoot a lot of three-pointers. And they have increased the percentage of their implementation. In modern basketball, such attempts are now performed not only by snipers but by all players without exception when they have the right opportunity.

The family is fine. Lesha goes to school, he likes it. We’ve caught a rhythm. We also visited theme parks and museums, did a fishing trip with my parents. I caught a 17-pound fish by the way. Mom and dad got a couple of small sharks.

My son has really taken to music — he listens, sings and plays the piano. Once we offered him to try with this instrument, and he still continues. By the way, he is doing very well! I’m not Mozart, to evaluate, but I like it. For now, he was taught to play some short tunes only, and it sounds good.

Perhaps that's all for today. I can't wait to return to the game, I believe that this will happen as soon as possible.

Thanks for reading!