In my rookie season, by January, I had grown tired of playing basketball every day, even tired of watching basketball. The season had already been going for three months, but there was still another three months to go. If my last season at Auburn University was a chore, then in Washington, it had become my daily routine, my job.
Thanks to Gene Shue and Wes Unseld, I learned how to survive in the NBA: training both body and mind.
As a professional athlete, the primary task is to maintain physical health, which is no secret. But even the healthiest body can only last for 40 games. In the next 20 games, NBA players rely on willpower.