Washington is like us and they race every day (at practice), so I wouldn't expect them to come out flat.

Every day they asked us about practice, flights, hotels, off-the-court stuff, everything. I said, 'Everybody on the team is cool, everybody's down to earth. Shaq, I told them he was funny. Everybody already heard that. I told them practice was hard, the flights were cool, hotels were top-of-the-line.

So far, so good. Practice has been going well. Coach Johnson tells us we are improving every day, so that is always good to hear.

We have a good friendship so it allows us to get in the gym together and get good practice in the off-season.

Those guys got a chance to see us perform. They get a chance to practice, practice, practice.

We work on blocking out every day during practice. That's a key to winning — rebounding. Blocking out is the key. If the man is bigger than you and you've got the position, he can't do anything but come over your back.