The vibe so far has been great as we have added some youth and hardworking guys to the mix. You can’t go wrong with a group that wants to work hard and learn.

I think fans will be impressed with Ubaka and Arizona. Ubaka is already showing that he can score when he wants but is willing to distribute the ball. Arizona is a classic get it done type of guy.

injuries: Ian Crosswhite with quad injury but he should be back in the mix soon. Alex will also be joining us since he didn’t get selected to the Boomers.

Phil will be the last piece to join us after his commitments with the Tall Blacks sometime in September.

More updates will come in the next few weeks.

Alex Loughton arrived in town Sunday and ready to join us for our 13 sprint and 12 suicide Tuesday. Being in Boomers camp for the past month has given him an edge because he is in game shape. If anyone were to just join us and not have done any running prior we would have to have a paramedic on stand by because I’m sure they would be throwing up and on the verge of heart failure.

Overall pre-seaon is going good and the main thing is to not burn out so early in the year. As we all know the horses that jump out of the gate usually get passed up down the home stretch. This season is a little longer than we’re are used to so that means we have to pay extra attention to what our bodies are telling us so we can be at peak performance at the business end of the season.

Ayinde Ubaka arrives in a few weeks which will give us a grand total of 7 players as we are still trying to find a Aussie for our 10th spot and out 2nd import. Not sure what Fearne is thinking but i’m sure he is researching his players to find the best fit for the team.

I’ll leave you with this Adidas commerical that I found interesting. Everyone always talks about Beckham’s voice and in this video he barely gets a word out despite having some quality screen time.

The highlight of the week was the running that went a little something like this. Beep test, 9 full court sprints in 3 seconds followed up with 10 suicides. Last year I came into camp in the worst shape ever because of the vacation i had before plus two weddings so let’s just say I wasn’t eating properly and it showed because I weighed in at 110kg’s.

This year I came in weighing 100kg’s and was told to put on 5kg’s. I’ve reached that target and now the hard part is keeping it on with all the cardio we do.

No one threw up but the word is that boot camp is around the corner so place your bets on the first guy to lose it.

The AAU circuit in America is huge and you can catch some of the best basketball. The kids are playing for fun and is enjoyable to watch and on occasion you’ll see the big time coaches checking out the future NBA prospects.

Here’s a little video clip of AAU action. If only I had half this kids vertical I could do amazing back board taps. LMAO

Twitter – @dusty_rychart

I think this pretty much fills up our roster for the year. I know we still have an import spot to fill and a back up big and some development players to add. Things are looking promising with the new players and the returning players that have a year under our belts with Fearn’s system. Shouldn’t be as hard to grasp the offence as it was last season with so many new guys trying to learn the shuffle.

Pre-season starts around mid July which will get us ready for the season. It’s a little interesting this year with the new schedule and no on playing week day games. oneHD will be tested as well and we will get a chance to see if Free to Air is the way of the future for the NBL and basketball in Australia.

Note: Taipans Member’s Dinner tonight 6:30pm @ Villa Ramana’s on the esplanade. See you there.

The last time I posted I was having trouble fining a decent place that felt like a home but not need to worry because I found a place that feels and looks like a home. When i was a young guy traveling around by myself I thought it didn’t really matter what kind of place you stay in as long as you have a roof over your head but I soon found out that if you like the look and feel of your home it brings you this peace inside and you can relax and enjoy life much better. Now that the home is taken care of the next thing on the list was to start working out again. I hate sitting around and doing nothing because that’s something I have never done. People say to me all the time that you have the best job in the world and I think to myself “yes I do” but then they say it must be nice only working 7 months out of the year and that’s where they get it wrong. I don’t work 7 months I work 12 months like everyone else. You can never take a step back and relax because this is a competitive industry and when you get out of shape it’s twice as hard when you’re in your 20′s to get back into shape and 3 times as hard every year past 30. You’ve got to stay on top of your game of you will get passed and put on the sideline. I think that goes with anything in life. As soon as you stop wanting to get better or stop learning that is when you slowly start getting passed by. In saying that I’ve been working out alone and starting this week I think a few of the other guys and I will start a strength and conditioning program. I’m told that I’m too light and need to put on weight. Currently at 102 kg’s or 225 lbs for us Americans coach wants me to play at around 105-108. Adding a few kg’s doesn’t sound that hard to do but don’t be fooled it is especially during the season when you’re in full training. I’ve normally played between 101-105 through out my career here in the NBL. The extra kg’s helps when guarding big guys but if too much weight is added then the knees start to hurt. We’ll see how it goes during the season.

During my spare time i’ve been glued to the computer as I’m day trading my own stock portfolio. Has been interesting to say the least. Very hard thing to do but I’ve done pretty good in the last 6 months. The reason for me doing it myself is over the years I have trusted a few financial advisers with my money and lost a ton. I realized that they don’t care about you and your money just about moving your money around acting like it’s doing something new but in reality they are just fattening their pockets. So I figured that at least I care about my hard earned money and educated myself to make it happen. I still look at their advice but instead of just saying OK I analyze it myself and then make the decision.

Talking about stocks and advisers that only care about fattening their own pockets brings me to agents. Currently I have the best agent in Australia Paul Bell www.mvpsports.com.au but prior to that nothing really mentioning. I always got frustrated with the agents I hired prior to Bell because they never really believed in my ability as a player and where I could go. I’m not the sexiest player alive or the most athletic but I get the job done but no matter who I talked to they seemed to think that I wouldn’t last long at the professional level. I remember my first years out of college I was on the phone to my agent at the time and was mentioning that I would really like to try Europe or Italy somewhere I can be challenged. He then proceeded to tell me to my face that maybe I should try a lower league just in case I fail and am not good enough. That pissed me right off because if I was scared of failing I would have never walked-on at the U of M. You have to take risks and not be scared of failing. The people that never take a risk are the people sitting on the sidelines looking and wondering how those people made it. The kicker that really put me over the edge was that this agent started talking about another player that I knew and how he thought he could have a great career over in Europe but then I was thinking if you think he can but you think that i can’t then what am I doing with you? After that I told him that I no longer needed his services and that I will find someone else. I then hired this other guy but he didn’t do anything either. You never really know if an agent is pushing hard for you or not. If I could of at the time I would have represented myself, at least I would have known I was doing everything possible to get a job.

It comes down to everyone thinking that I have had it easy to get to where I am at today. That is so far from the truth it aint funny. Yes I am fortunate to be where I am at but it doesn’t come without years and hours of hard work. Too many haters out there and I never had the best opportunities but when they came I made the most of them. I think that is the key to success. You work hard for all those years for that one moment when you finally get that chance or opportunity and when it happens you grab it with both hands and both feet and make the most of it. Don’t look back at what if just go forward. You won’t know or realize how good the ride was until it’s over so enjoy the ride.

Follow me on Twitter @ dusty_rychart

Looks like the Tigers are going gigantic this year with the signing of Luke Nevil and Haliwell to go along Trigger. Might be the biggest front line the NBL has ever seen. Trigger playing the 3 will be interesting and he’ll have to start developing his jumper from beyond the arc. Well that’s all I have so far, now it’s back to apartment hunting.

Twitter @dusty_rychart