Welcome to the second installment of Golden State rookie Brandan Wright's AOL Sports Blog, The Wright Stuff. In this post, Wright talks about the rookie orientation program, life in Oakland, and the other Warriors that live in his apartment building.
SEPT. 18, 2007 - So right now I'm in the middle of nowhere. Apparently, I'm somewhere in New York, but it's hard to tell. There's really nothing out here.
Rocky Widner, NBAE/Getty Images
Blogger Brandan Wright, left, and fellow Warriors rookie Stephane Lasme have been working out at the team's practice facility for about a month. They also live in the same high-rise building in Oakland.
I'm out here for the league's rookie orientation program, which all rookies have to attend. I flew in, drove over to the hotel, checked in and walked around the lobby, but I haven't seen any other rookies yet. They've got us here in some random hotel through Friday. They will walk us through all kinds of seminars on media training and business and stuff. I've heard the whole program is long and drawn out. But it's probably good to go through something like this. I don't know who the guest speakers are, though. Hope they have someone good lined up.
Every day we're in conferences and meetings and stuff until pretty late, so there isn't too much time for us to work out afterwards. It doesn't matter too much because the gym here isn't all that great. And there's no basketball court here, either. That's too bad, because with all of the rookies here, we could have some great pick-up games.
I'm not really super tight with any of the guys in the rookie class yet. I missed a lot of the actual draft itself back in June because I didn't get to New York until late the night before. So I missed a lot of the time you usually get to hang out with the other rookies. But I'm sure I'll get to know some of them the next few days.
I am pretty good friends with Greg Oden, though. I hung out with him a bunch at the rookie photo shoot. He's a really cool, really quiet guy. He's nice and down to earth too. We talked a bunch, played video games, typical guy stuff.
His whole situation is really unfortunate. Injuries and surgery are part of the game; it's just one of those unfortunate things. But I think Greg will come back strong. He has to be patient with the process, though. It's tough to sit out for a long time and then have to come back like you've never been gone.
What's most difficult is he's going to have to be a rookie again next season. I think a big thing about your rookie year isn't just playing the games but learning about all the off-the-court stuff. Unfortunately, he's going to have to wait to learn a lot of this stuff. But I'm sure he'll be fine.
(I've been lucky. The worst injury I've ever had is a sprained ankle. I hurt my hip a little while ago, but it's totally fine now. I've never even had to have surgery or anything. Knock on wood ...)
Anyway, before coming out to New York, I've been in Oakland for the last month or so. During that time I bought an apartment and a new car. My apartment is a three-bedroom place in a high-rise building in Oakland. It's pretty close to the practice facilities. I think five other guys on the Warriors live there. I know that Stephen Jackson and Stephane Lasme live in my building. And apparently a couple of other guys do too; I'm just not sure who.
As for my car, I bought a BMW 750Li. That and the apartment are pretty much the only things that I've bought since going pro. I'm big on saving money, so I don't plan on spending too much. It was weird, you'd think buying a car like that would be a big moment, but it wasn't a huge thing. Maybe it'll seem like a bigger deal in a few weeks, but I didn't have one of those, "Wow, now I'm an NBA player" moments when I got behind the wheel or anything like that. In fact, I don't even remember what song was playing when I first drove it back to my hotel. It was on some urban radio station in Oakland. That's about it.
I know the Bay Area is supposed to be renowned for its food, but I haven't really had a chance to try any restaurants yet. In fact, I haven't been going out at all. I just work out in the morning, then relax in my hotel room (my apartment won't be ready until when I get back from New York), watch TV, talk to my friends and family ... that kind of stuff. My aunt might move out here when the season starts. We'll see.
So far, the only players to work out at the practice facility are me, Stephane Lasme and Kosta Perovic, who are both rookies, and Patrick O'Bryant. We've all been working out together for about the last five weeks, just getting ready for camp.
The workouts are going well. We do some on-court stuff, then hit the weights. Last week, they brought in some former college players and other guys who are playing ball in Europe to scrimmage with us. There weren't any guys who the average fan would recognize, but the games were still pretty good.
Most of the veterans aren't back yet, but I bumped into Don Nelson last Friday. I saw him in Oakland as he was finalizing everything with the team. We didn't talk about much; just some common chatter. But I'm really glad he's back. He did a great job last year, and I'm sure he still has a lot of coaching left in him. In the time I've spent with him, you can tell that he really knows the game. I feel good about the situation.
Otherwise, I've just been chilling out. For music, I've been listening to the new Kanye West and 50 Cent albums. I know they've been feuding or whatever, but my first impression is that the CDs are a draw. I have a feeling I'll wind up liking the 50 Cent album more. I've also been listening to the new Yung Joc album a lot, too. I'm trying to get familiar with those albums now. You don't know whether or not you're into an album right away; it usually takes a little while to figure out whether something is a good listen or not.
Oh yeah, here's my bummer of the week: I have the new Madden, but I haven't been able to hook up my console because I've been staying in a hotel. I'm kind of struggling without my games. Yet another reason to look forward to my official move into my apartment this coming Friday.
2008 AOL LLC. All Rights Reserved.
