DC went down to NOLA yesterday along with Marcus Thornton (Hornet's other draft pick) to meet Coach Byron Scott, Chris Paul, the Hornets organization and experience his new city as the member of his first employer after college. As always he was pitch perfect wrt to perspective on how he fits in:
"When Chris Paul comes out of the game, it's not just about me running end-to-end," Collison began. "It's about me stabilizing the offense, making sure everybody's getting the ball and making sure I'm doing the right things so they won't have so much of a drop-off."
On the challenge he is going to face as an NBA rookie:
"It's not going to be easy my first year," he said. "There are going to be a lot of trials and tribulations, but I'm looking forward to it. Whatever the coach asks me to do, I'm going to give my best. Preparation is always going to be there."
And of course how being a Ben Ball Warrior prepared him for the NBA challenge:
"Staying four years at UCLA is definitely going to be helpful," said Collison, who graduated with a history degree. "Every day, every team wants to beat UCLA because you're UCLA. That's going to get the best out of me and it did. There's not one night I had to take off, and if I did take off, I would get embarrassed."
Of course reading DC's comments I couldn't help but think about the hype around a certain draftee with UCLA affiliation. Here we have DC talking about how much more he has to learn in his latest challenge while just few weeks ago we were reading about how Jrue Holiday is already a Chris Paul type of player.
People might get uncomfortable with this kind of compare and contrast but not doing it will be ignoring the elephant in the room. As always if you don't like reading our perspectives no need to read it or hang out here in BN. You can always stick with the polished press releases with feel good stats that are posted on the official site (which made Karl Dorrell and Steve Lavin look like legit head coaches).
Can't wait to see how it all unfolds for DC. I will certainly be checking At The Hive often (just like I check in over at Big Cat Country) to keep tabs on one of my favorite Bruins (not just Ben Ball Warriors) of all time.
GO BRUINS.