Welcome to the part of my website created to give fans a behind the scenes look at life as a professional basketball player. This page will be constantly updated to reflect my thoughts on the coach, practice, the team, and of course the game itself.

Ready for Magic to Happen Again

Hi Everyone,

As you already know, I have re-signed with the Orlando Magic. I'm extremely excited to be back with the team and help the defending Eastern Conference champions try to get back to the NBA Finals.

The task won't be easy, though. But I'm going to do the best I can to get in shape and be ready for the season. Whether it's playing on the court or working hard in practice, I'll be ready to do it. I've been doing this for 13 years now, so I know the drill.

We clearly have good team with Dwight Howard, Rashard Lewis and a healthy Jameer Nelson. And now that we've added Vince Carter to the scenario, I think we're going to have a terrific team. If we want to go as far as we did last season (and beyond), we have to gel as a team. On paper, we're a great team, but it's not just about the numbers. You have to go in, play together, enjoy playing with each other and do the things that Coach Van Gundy thinks will be the formula for success. I'm curious to see what's going to happen and I'm glad that I'm going to be part of the Magic's plans once again.

We no longer have Hedo Turkoglu, who really played a major role during our playoff run. No disrespect to Hedo Turkoglu, but I've always thought Vince was a better shooter than Turk. And I believe to be successful, you need a guy on the team who can create an open shot, which would then force guys to play up on him and that would leave Dwight open. So I think having Vince will help out a lot.

People will say that we are now the team to beat because we made it to the NBA Finals. But I can't say that we're the team to beat. We still have to play the games and we have to go back and recapture the things we had last season in order to be successful. One thing I learned about the NBA is that you can't recreate circumstances that led you to become a successful team. Talent aside, we are going into this season staring from scratch like everyone else in the league. We still have to work on our game, play defense shoot the ball well and, as I mentioned before, gel as a team. Last year, we had a special team. And having that special type of bond takes work. If we come in thinking we are going back to the NBA Finals just because we were there last year, we are going to fail. It may be even tougher to get back to now that some teams may come out with the mentality that we're the team to beat.

Training camp is only weeks away. So I'm going to enjoy what's left of the summer as much as I can. I'm can't wait to see the guys again and I'm looking forward to welcoming Vince to the Orlando Magic family.

- Adonal