Need to Blog

Not much happening today. I'm sitting outside here with my new little puppy, Cooper, and it is a lovely night. If you checked out my Twitter, you heard me mention about a big meeting today. No idea how it went, but I assume I screwed it up someway. If you didn't know, this is the big selling season for the Ants, and I'm doing my best to get people on board for what I think is the most exciting product Fort Wayne has to offer. When you have the NBA level talent, players thisclose to the big time, and the best game ops around, you hope that you can get some seats and sponsorships sold. So, that is what I'm doing most of all with this time in my life.

Yet, hoop season is not far away. I'm encouraged about what we have going right now on the basketball court. I feel really good about what I've seen development wise from guys like Rod Wilmont and Carlos English, and I'm really pleased we can bring some continuity from one season to the next with Joey coming back. It is my hope that we will have enough guys back that we can pick up where we left off. The things dominating my mind -- will we have an alpha dog like Oliver that we can go to for tough buckets? Can we get more athletic this year? With Ryan Ayers, Rob Kurz, and Dewitt Scott potentially all going overseas, can we find the lights out shooters that we had from last season? Do we have a big like Sondy who can get us tough buckets in the paint? All teams have questions, and, while I think we have a nice core coming back, I realize we have some big holes to fill to get back to the great success we had last season.

Yet, despite these worries, I have never had a better feeling going into a season. No doubt, I think this is going to be a fun ride! More later!


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Great Workout Today

New Mad Ant assistant coach Steve Gansey put on a terrific workout today. Rod Wilmont, Ron Howard, and some others really showed up to workout, and I'm impressed how Steve is gaining a great reputation as a guy who improves people. The best evidence is what he is doing with Rod Wilmont. I thought Rod had another great day, and it is his ball handling and decision making that really stood out. Rod was running the pick and roll to perfection, and he was able to do it to either hand. He made plays that I continuously said "he couldn't do that last year." He has a long way to go, but he has a chance if he can keep working like this. The credit goes to Steve and Rod -- they really drill hard each day and I am seeing the results.

Ron Howard was Ron Howard -- great. He is becoming a better pro each day, and outside of his bad habit of throwing one armed passes that invariably result in a turnoff, he was great. He is off to Israel this Thursday, and they should be very happy to be getting such a good player and person.

But to me, the most impressive thing I saw was Steve's command of a practice. Many young guys would have a tough time demanding more of guys, but not Steve. He has complete command out there, and each player gives him the utmost respect. I think the reason for that is that Steve gives each player his all to make each player better, and players recognize that and respond to it. Steve Gansey has a bright future ahead of him if he can keep developing like he is.


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Sondy ist ein Deutscher!

Check out this awesome video of Sondy in Germany on an open practice for the public. Fort Wayne, I hope we can expect you to come out to our open practice in the same numbers!

http://video.regio-tv.de/video_id_=30044

Sorry I couldn't embed it, but my German is failing me!

Chicago Triathlon

Well, I ran the triathlon yesterday. It was one of my better races, but I eventually succumbed to the heat in Chicago yesterday. Let me take you through each section:

First, my waves start time was at 8:30, and I had my wetsuit, swim cap, and goggles ready to go and was in the swim entrance when I noticed how bloody hot it was. I tried to put my wetsuit on at the last moment possible so I wouldn't burn up too much, but, luckly, as we all were herded into the water for our swim start, the cold water of Lake Michigan cooled us off considerably.

The start of the swim leg is absolute chaos. Arms, elbows, legs, and feet are all in your way or hitting you in some fashion. It is crazy how wild these starts are. For my part, I try to get closest to the wall where there are less people. I thought I had a decent swim, but nothing outstanding -- I did a mile in 38 minutes (which includes a half mile run back to the transition area).

Next, I quickly got my bike clothes on and took my bike out to head onto Lake Shore Drive for 26 miles of cycling. Luckily, it was not very windy, and the ride was fast. I was really flying (for me) yesterday, and I was able to get an average speed of 20 mph, which is my best by about a mile per hour.

The one thing I tried to do was to hydrate as much as possible while on the bike. I used a 1.5 liter camelback for the race, and I made sure I had the entire thing done before I finished and headed for the run because I knew how hot it was and how badly I would need to stay hydrated.

So, after an hour and seventeen minutes on the bike, I pulled back into transition to start my run. In my running, I incorporate a walk breaks, which is a style of running I learned from reading Jeff Galloway's Marathon book. The idea is that you take one minute walk breaks every 5, 6, or 7 minutes, and you will be fresher and faster over the long haul. I have run straight through, and I have used walk breaks, and there is no doubt that I am faster using walk breaks.

For the first 3 miles, I was on for a great pace. In fact, I was on pace to finish the 6.1 mile run in about 56 minutes. Sadly, over the next three miles, the unforgiving sun just took it all out of me. I slowed way down, and, even with that slower pace, I was one of the faster people out there. It really was a tough race with temps reaching into the 90's, and I just didn't have much left. Luckily, I was able to finish in about 1 hour and 1 minute.

My overall was 3 hours and 3 minutes, which is the second best time for me (3 hours 1 minute is my best), but I think it may have been my best triathlon due to the conditions (here is an article describing how bad it was http://trib.in/9YBH4e).

Oh yeah, my wife had a personal best. Good for her.

Jared Reiner to Germany

Another Mad Ant moves on to greener pastures as Jared Reiner goes to Germany. This will be Jared's third stint in Germany, and the Mad Ants will be well represented in the league this year with Sondy, Coleman Collins, and now Jared.

Jared had a star crossed season with us with a number of injuries before shutting it down for the season. He is a very good player, and this will be a good opportunity for him to get consistent minutes and demonstrate that last years run of injuries was just a fluke. He had a bit of a mixed bag in terms of his play in the Vegas Summer League, but I think that had to do with a lot of rust. Best of luck to him!

This means that we have a limited amount of players coming back from last year, and we will really have to do our homework and bring in the right type of guys. As of now, the players I feel solid about coming back are Wilmont, Anthony Kent, and Carlos English -- all solid contributors during our turnaround towards the end of the season. If we can add Walker Russell to that mix, it will make us much better. The one thing we will are missing right now is a alpha dog scorer like Oliver was for us last year, so we are going to have to keep our eye out for that.

As for me, I am late in the office waiting for my bikes to get fixed. I have been training for the Chicago Triathlon and Sunday is the big day. I will talk more about it in the next day or two. I need to pick up the bikes!

Wilmont

In the gym watching Wilmont work out with Steve Gansey. First, I think Steve is going to be a great coach. He works his tail off and has great presence. We are lucky to have him. As for Rod, he is improving by leaps and bounds, especially his handle. His shooting is better than I have ever seen it, and he could have a breakout year if he keeps working like this.


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Possible Roster Addition

Walker Russell, Jr. has been recently cut from his team in Germany. It would be great to get him back home playing for the Ants. With he and Carlos English, we'd have as quick and savvy a point guard combo as any team in the league.


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I'm Back!

So I'm sitting here and I've decided to get back up on the horse. The tough part of a blog is coming up with stuff to say. In reality, there isn't much going on with the team, at least nothing interesting enough for a blog post. I mean, seriously, do you want to hear about the killer email I wrote today? I doubt it.

So, then only thing I can fill in when things are slow with the team are stories about what I'm doing in my life, but that seems rather self indulgent, and I hate to be self indulgent. But, then whole point of this blog is to write stuff up here, so, if you learn a little about me, so be it.

With that said, there is some news involving the team, so let's get right to it. First, we are starting to lose guys overseas. Ron Howard (Israel), Ryan Ayers (Finland), Rob Kurz (Spain), Jamelle Cornley (Uruguay), and Sean Sonderleiter (Germany). I will miss them all and wish them the best of luck, but I will admit that I will miss Sean most. He has grown more than any player we have ever had here, and, if he had stayed, he would have had a monster season. As it is, I think he will be the best big in the Bundesliga this year. He eats, breathes, and lives hoops, and it shows in his play. He deserves all the success he is going to get, and that goes for the others as well.

As for players still in town, Rod Wilmont continues to get better and better each day. He is working with Steve Gansey every day, and if he continues on this path, he could be a real difference maker forth Ants next year.

Well, I think that is good start back to the world of blogging. I will be back later with some of the other things that have kept me busy. See ya!


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