10/21/2009 - 18:01
At Home in Charlotte
by Tyson Chandler

My last blog I wrote about heading to Charlotte, and now, I'm here.

Obviously I didn't know what to expect, being traded. The only time I'd ever been to Charlotte was when I played against the Bobcats. I didn't really know much about the city.

Tyson hitting a jumper against the Bucks on Tuesday night (Getty Images).

But my dad, my brother and sister live here in Charlotte, so when I would come out here, I'd go out to dinner and do things with them. Still, that's not really a depiction of the city. But I was excited because I have family out here. So it would give me an opportunity to be around them and feel a little bit more comfortable.

When we got out here, we found a nice house and got settled in.

Immediately from there everything has gone smooth because the people in Charlotte are really nice and welcoming people. It's a very family oriented city so it wasn't hard at all. We had neighbors bringing us cakes and cookies, local kids stopping by and baking cookies. It felt really warm and it was simple to ease into the situation.

We're still in the process of unpacking. As far as just kind of getting the major stuff unpacked, the couches, the kitchen and all that took about two weeks. But we still have some boxes here and there that still need to be unpacked.

LEARNING AND WALKING
The kids are adjusting to the move very well. It's been great.

My daughter is already in school. She's going to the local school here and that's been awesome. It's great because it has put her on a schedule now. Before it was hard to get her to go to bed. She would be up and I would want her to go to sleep because I had practice and games.

Now, she takes naps and she goes to sleep early because she has to wake up early. It's been perfect because it puts everything into a routine.

Slim is walking now. He started walking at 10 months, which, you know I'm proud of. He has great balance too. So he's walking around the house terrorizing her. The only bad thing is now that he can walk to her toys, she's having a fit. He walks over and knocks stuff down. She has a little kitchen set and he takes the pots off and throws them and throws her food.

They've been at it a bit. This whole walking thing has changed the dynamic of their relationship.

STRENGTH TO BE THERE
As for my progress on the court, I'm feeling good.

When I got out here, I had to get all my rehab and stuff figured out with the Bobcats trainers to start working my way out onto the court.

The trainer is all about getting me on the court. He's all about doing the right things and exhausting every option.

We went and we got my feet cast and got orthotics that are molded especially for me. It's been a huge help and it's made such a difference. But it's not only that. The every day rehab is getting me stronger. When you come back you want to be stronger then you were before the injury and that's my goal.

GETTING TO KNOW THE GUYS
At about that same time, I had the chance to meet my teammates. We went out to dinner and things so I could get to know them. That was great. Then I just had a chance to watch them for a couple of days playing pickup games.

Watching them play pickups I knew that we have a chance to be decent this year. I saw that the guys have great work ethics and they competed. That's the only thing I wanted to know coming here was, do these guys want to work and are they willing to win?

It's similar to when I first went to New Orleans. At that time, they were just coming off a season where they missed the playoffs by four or five games. Ironically, I come to this team and they missed the playoffs by four or five games.

I definitely feel like we have the players to make a run at the playoffs. It would be huge for this city and this franchise. The franchise is six years old and they've never been to the playoffs before. It will be a great opportunity this year for us to take this team to the playoffs and get our feet wet. The goal has to be for everybody to get to the playoffs.

I also got a chance then to meet Coach Brown and watch him in action. At first I was just kind of in awe. Coach Brown is a legend. You watch him from the sidelines and you know about him, but just from the outside. Now, for the first time, he was coaching and teaching me some things. I was excited about getting back on the court fully so I could start learning from him and getting things together.

I feel like we're learning what it takes now. We're starting to practice a little harder and we're starting to play a little harder. As a team, sometimes you can get caught up in the motions. Winning is contagious and losing is contagious. And that's a fine line. I think now, we're starting to shift to the winning side. We're starting to learn what it takes to be a winner as a team.

THE JOY OF THE JERSEY
When training camp started, obviously I had to sit out the first six preseason games just to make sure I was 100 percent ready to get back on the court.

In the last game on Tuesday, I got out there and it was very exciting.

It was just exciting first of all to walk into the locker room and see my jersey hanging in my locker. I hadn't seen that throughout the entire preseason and since the last playoff game that I played in New Orleans.

I walked into the locker room and I saw CHANDLER on the back of a Bobcats jersey. It was the first time I had seen that and it was really exciting to see.

Lacing them up again felt great and getting out there to warm up with team was fun.

I didn't honestly expect much from the game because I was so out of game shape from not playing in six months. I knew my timing would be off and I knew I would be rusty.

Basically I just used it to get up and down the court. It was good conditioning to go against live bodies and I thought I fared well. Two minutes into the game I could have been putting my hand up and asking for a sub because I was dead tired. But obviously I wanted to push through it and get into game shape.

It was fun out there, being with my teammates. It was fun to finally be on the court and to understand what coach likes to do, how he executes things, how he coaches and how he draws up plays. It was good to experience that for the first time.

On the day after, I felt good. I was expecting actually to be sorer then I am. The first time you play and get up and down the court it's different. My muscles are sorer than the injury is so that's a good thing.

Now it's just about continuing the same thing and getting in game shape. I'm just continuing my rehab to make sure I'm 100 percent for tip-off.