http://www.nba.com/kings/features/blankenship_blog_0607.html
Posted on Friday, December 8, 2006
Who says that it’s all glamour and glory in the NBA?
Not always, especially at times for a rookie 10 games into his new career. For Quincy Douby, this week has been a reminder of how low on the totem pole he is when it comes to certain duties and responsibilities to his teammates.
Some of the regular rookie duties over the years have included escorting luggage to teammates’ rooms upon arriving at an out-of-town hotel or showing up with bagels, coffee, or Jamba Juice each morning before practice. There are even some guys around the league that have duties that can’t be mentioned in print.
So far this season for Quincy, things had been relatively tame—unfortunately for him, his veteran teammates took notice.
To make up for lost hazing time, Corliss Williamson celebrated his 33rd birthday by having the rookie make the arrangements to make sure that a gigantic chocolate cake, compliments of the team, made it’s way from the locker room to the team plane after Monday’s game against the Magic.
This entailed Douby walking around the arena after the game—searching for a box big enough to hold the massive mountain of chocolate, then finding a way to transport it in his car without it spilling everywhere, getting it through the security checkpoint, and then hoisting it on the charter, all so a few vets could have a couple of bites of cake.
The next lesson came in the visitor’s locker room at Phoenix, where all the lockers were taken up by veterans or their clothes, forcing Douby to use a folding chair and the corner of the room to store his clothes and gear—indeed a sad sight. The youngster from Rutgers had to sit in his small chair with some of his clothes hanging on a makeshift rack as the vets on the team explained their thought process on not making space.
Give Douby credit though, the youngster never questioned any of the orders, just smiled and took the abuse—although I think I saw him looking through a calendar to see when he would officially no longer be considered a rookie.
Not soon enough.
Posted on Friday, December 8, 2006
Who says that it’s all glamour and glory in the NBA?
Not always, especially at times for a rookie 10 games into his new career. For Quincy Douby, this week has been a reminder of how low on the totem pole he is when it comes to certain duties and responsibilities to his teammates.
Some of the regular rookie duties over the years have included escorting luggage to teammates’ rooms upon arriving at an out-of-town hotel or showing up with bagels, coffee, or Jamba Juice each morning before practice. There are even some guys around the league that have duties that can’t be mentioned in print.
So far this season for Quincy, things had been relatively tame—unfortunately for him, his veteran teammates took notice.
To make up for lost hazing time, Corliss Williamson celebrated his 33rd birthday by having the rookie make the arrangements to make sure that a gigantic chocolate cake, compliments of the team, made it’s way from the locker room to the team plane after Monday’s game against the Magic.
This entailed Douby walking around the arena after the game—searching for a box big enough to hold the massive mountain of chocolate, then finding a way to transport it in his car without it spilling everywhere, getting it through the security checkpoint, and then hoisting it on the charter, all so a few vets could have a couple of bites of cake.
The next lesson came in the visitor’s locker room at Phoenix, where all the lockers were taken up by veterans or their clothes, forcing Douby to use a folding chair and the corner of the room to store his clothes and gear—indeed a sad sight. The youngster from Rutgers had to sit in his small chair with some of his clothes hanging on a makeshift rack as the vets on the team explained their thought process on not making space.
Give Douby credit though, the youngster never questioned any of the orders, just smiled and took the abuse—although I think I saw him looking through a calendar to see when he would officially no longer be considered a rookie.
Not soon enough.
