10/28/2008 - 16:30
Goals, Expectations and Elmo
by Tyson Chandler

With all the expectations that people have for us this season, people might say that there's pressure. But I don't feel any more pressure on us.

And people ask us what it's like to be "the hunted." They say that last year we were "the hunter." And I tell them that we're still the hunter. The Boston Celtics won the championship last year. We didn't win anything. We didn't win the Western Conference or even make it to the Conference Finals. So, even though we're a great team on paper and it's a great opportunity, all we did last year was make it to the second round and force a Game 7.

Peja's got nothing on my jumper (Getty Images).

So, I think we still have the mentality of the hunter, because the ultimate goal is to win the championship, and if you do anything less than that, you fell short. We didn't make it to the championship, so I feel like we still have the hunter mentality. I don't think that's going to change.

And I definitely feel like there's a difference. Some people say that it's just basketball and the best team is going to win, but that's not always the case. For example, I remember the Lakers had an incredible team on paper in 2004 with Shaq, Kobe, Karl Malone, Gary Payton and all those guys, and they got beat by the Pistons.

The Pistons had yet to win a championship and were just so hungry. They wanted a championship and I feel like they outworked them in that series. And that's because they wanted it more than the Lakers did. They had the hunter mentality.

So, I feel like talent is one thing, putting together the pieces is another, but really going after it is the key to everything.

We've got a great situation, but we can't be satisfied with what we did last year. We lose a few games in the West, and you're gonna be out of the playoffs, because it's going to be that kind of race again.

So, we have to keep the mentality that we didn't accomplish anything. We didn't win a championship. That was our goal. We didn't meet our goal, so now it's back to the drawing board. Let's get back at it.

GOALS
As a team, we put together individual goals. And then collectively, those individual goals come together to create the ultimate goal.

We take it five games at a time. Before we play those five games, we set a goal of how many we're going to win. For example, we'll say, "We should get four out of this five." And we go after it that way rather than saying, "We gotta get to 60 wins." You could get ahead of yourself and start losing games if you approach it that way. So, we just narrow it down, take it five games at a time and we have a lot of individual goals and expectations.

My first individual goal is to be the overall rebounding leader in the league.

I know Dwight wrote the same thing. Well, both of us can't be No. 1. Somebody's gotta be No. 2!

I feel like if I'm the No. 1 rebounder in the league, that means not only am I doing the same thing that I've consistently done over the last couple of years on the offensive end, but I've picked it up on the defensive end, and I've nailed down my opponent's possession.

I also want to be in the top five in blocks, while still playing good defense. If I do that, I've given my team a better chance to win and I've become a defensive threat night in and night out.

I went from trying to block every shot to just trying to play the possession. And a lot of people get caught up with blocks, with that stat. To me, that doesn't make you good defender. There are guys that get blocked shots and are good defenders, but a lot of guys who are at the top of the charts in blocked shots aren't good defensively.

I feel like you don't have to get blocks to be a good defender and a lot of times, I play good position D, force guys into a tough shot without fouling, and then go get the rebound. But this year, I want to do the same thing and also block more shots.

Offensively, I definitely want to be more aggressive this year. I've been learning from a lot of tape of myself, seeing a lot of missed opportunities where I let the man guarding me off the hook, allowing him to rest on that end.

It's not like I'm going to be out there winging up jump shots or anything like that. I just want to be aggressive offensively, and if the opportunity presents itself, take it. In the past, if the opportunity presented itself, I turned it down. I didn't take the shot and I didn't make the defense play honest. My whole thing is for the defense to play me honest.

Finally, I want to make the All-Star Game this year. That's one of the reasons why I feel like I gotta get more of those shiny stats.

And I know that in order for us to win the championship, the team is going to need me get numbers on some nights. There's no reason why I shouldn't be able to take advantage of certain guys in this league that I'm matched up with. There's no reason why they shouldn't be able to throw me the ball and allow me to create different things.

Beyonce, and now, Elmo.

All of my individual goals always fall into the team concept. Chris and David made the All-Star team last year when we were doing well. I feel like if I'm doing what I'm doing and I make the All-Star team, we've probably got the top spot in the West.

ELMO AND ME
My family goes back to L.A. on the seventh. So, I've got about a week more with them.

My daughter ... it's incredible to me what happens over a span of a week or two. The communication level of my daughter right now is unbelievable, as far as her putting things together. Even her tone, like she's now learning how to say certain things in a certain tone when she's asking a question or when she wants to get your attention. It's just incredible. I can't wait to get the reaction from her grandparents about how much she's changed when she goes back.

On Sunday, we went to see Elmo. We got there and I'm like, "This is Sesame Street. This isn't Elmo!" It was Sesame Street Live.

My wife said that it's "featuring Elmo." And it was hilarious to me that Elmo is like Beyonce and Destiny's Child.

They were dancing on the stage and I had no clue what was going on, just a bunch of muppets talking. It was like an Elmo concert with Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch and all those characters that I grew up on.

It's funny, because the whole thing was like a huge nursery, basically. After a while, you'd hear the characters, and you'd hear the crying.

I was busting up laughing because you go to these things and the kids are frightened when the characters come out. My daughter jumped up and was squeezing me like, "You'd better not put me towards that muppet!"

Then there are people throwing their kids out there and the kids are screaming at the top of their lungs, "Nooo!" It was more about the parents. They're excited and the kids are like, "Whatever. I can enjoy it from a distance."

It's so funny, because the same thing happens to me out in public. A guy will say, "Can I get a picture? My son loves you! He's your No. 1 fan!" I'll say "Sure," and when they move away to take the picture, I'll say to the kid, "Hey man, how are you doing?", and they're like, "Who are you?" Ha ha.

It's nothing but the parents. They want to show off their kid with Tyson Chandler, but the kid has no clue who we are. It's the same thing with Sesame Street. The parents are trying to take the picture of the kids with Elmo, but the shot turns out to be the kid running back to them full speed, screaming.

It took my daughter about 10 minutes and then she was dancing all over the place. It was the funniest thing I'd seen in a while.

It was in our arena, so I parked in the back. And after the concert, I was walking my daughter to the back and security was tight, like "Nobody's supposed to come through here."

I'm like, "Huh? This is Sesame Street. Be serious!"

And he said that they really didn't want kids going back there, because I guess Big Bird hangs his head up in between scenes, and it would look like Big Bird's head was hanging. Ha.

I could understand that. I definitely didn't want Sacha-Marie too see Big Bird's head hanging from the ceiling. But it was comical to me how tight security was about people going back there.