10 Random Thoughts

February, 2004

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This is a new and unique way to get into Adonal's head. Read Adonal's answers to questions regarding anything from basketball to politics to the latest love affair on 'Friends,'asked on the fly by free-lance reporter Chris Navalta.

1. What is one food you stay away from during the season but can't get enough of during the off-season?
[Adonal] Pizza. I love pizza. It's not good for me. But I love pizza. All the meats you can think of – just put it on a pizza. I try to eat it during the off-season when I can do more running. But I try not to eat too much of it during the season.

2. How would you differentiate living in the West Coast from the East?
[Adonal] In the East Coast, there is a lot of snow. You have to wear lots of clothes and be cold all the time. When I think of the East, I also think New York – Broadway and high culture. San Francisco, I'm starting to get into it now. When you think of the pinnacle of everything, you start to think the Met, opera, Carnegie Hall. New York is kind of synonymous to high culture. But I'm trying to challenge that assumption, because I love living in the San Francisco Bay Area. I think we have a very high level of culture.

3. Do you have any pre-game rituals?
[Adonal] I take a 20-30-minute power nap. When I get up, I listen to loud Caribbean music and start dancing to it. Then, I'll get into my car and continue listening to music until I get to the arena.

4. What are your thoughts on this year's Democratic candidates, vying to represent their party this November?
[Adonal] One thing that worries me is that politics is so much about image. Yes, it's important to have good image. But we spend more time with the external part of people, rather than what the person of politics is. To me, I don't really care what kind of sweater a person wears, if a person screams or if they can flip a pancake. That just doesn't mean a darn thing to me. But for a lot of people, it's all about whether or not he looks presidential. Is this person going to keep us safe? Does this person have good politics? Is this person a moral person? That, to me, are more interesting questions rather than the type of person the media likes to focus on. I have a very troubled time trying to focus on the race and trying to select a candidate from the Democratic Party.

5. What do you think you'd be doing if you weren't a basketball player right now?
[Adonal] I think I would probably be in law school or be a professor somewhere.

6. What do you think would make the NBA back into a 'team' game instead of an 'individual' game?
[Adonal] If everyone does what Sacramento does, which is to just keep moving. It's the concept of their offense. A lot of teams in the NBA run isolation plays. Because it's more about finding mismatches than just playing a fluid game. Sacramento plays a fluid-motion offense. And they are very fun to watch. That didn't happen by accident. It was the concept and the pieces that were put into place. So, if you put a running team with a cutting-slashing-offense, you're going to have a running team with a cutting-and-slashing offense.

7. If you could keep just three channels on your TV, what would they be?
[Adonal] CNN, BBC and ESPN.

8. Who are the top three best dressers on your team?
[Adonal] I would have to say Nick Van Exel can dress. Cliff Robinson dresses very well. And Damp (Erick Dampier).

9. How would you picture professional sports without the existence of media?
[Adonal] It would be a little boring. The media hypes things and creates things that makes things fun. They make is stressful. But they make it fun. And that's a good thing. We need them to market ourselves, we need them to blow smoke up our behinds. And we need them to criticize us.

10. What is the most common thing you hear players say to reporters to the point where it is almost cliche?
[Adonal] I call that 'Sportuguese'. They say things like 'I'm going to give it 110 percent' or 'This was a team effort' or the best one of all, 'The ref made a terrible call'. It's always a terrible call.

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