02/04/2010 - 10:22
The Team Bus, Coach Brown, a Rough Baby and CP3
by Tyson Chandler

The bus ride over to a game, like we had last night before playing the Lakers, is always an interesting experience.

Everybody is always doing their own thing. Guys have their headphones on or they're making their last minute calls back home to their families. Some people talk to their friends and get their tickets straight.

Most of the ride is everybody relaxing with their headphones on, in their own zone, trying to get ready.

A lot of times when you're on the road things get pretty hectic, especially when you're in your hometown like I am. When you get on the bus, it's a time to just let everything go. It's your time to start relaxing and get the mind ready.

Personally, I'll call home and check on the family. That always calms me. I check on the kids and talk to them because I'm always so hyped as it is. That has a calming effect for me.

"Coach Brown has shown me the dedication every day that it takes to be great. "

After that I put on my headphones, listen to my music and zone out. I mix through my iPod to find what I'm in the mood for. It all depends on how geeked up I am or if I'm calm. Either I need to raise my intensity or lower it, so that's what I end up on. Most of the time I'm a little too juiced up. So I'll listen to calming stuff, soul music or old school R & B, but it's mostly soulful stuff.

Sometimes people have those Dr. Dre headphones so you can hear what they're listening to. The other day we heard something coming from the front of the bus, some old school R & B and we were trying to figure out who was listening to it. It was funny, but I'm not going to throw that person under the bus…literally.

HEAR US ROAR
The team continues to improve and it's been great.

I totally thought that for this team, I was going to have to come here and I help change the style of the team and the focus. I thought a lot of it would come on the court. Since I've been hurt, I do what I can just from a team camaraderie standpoint. But the guys have gone on a crazy run with me on the sidelines.

It's exciting for me to know that once I come back, how much better we will be as a team and how dangerous we can be.

The players are starting to understand each other and gel. The team always had talent but for whatever reason, they weren't able to put it together. The Bobcats have had a history as being a team that plays hard and giving you a run for your money every night, but they were never able to close games.

Now we're starting to close games and we're getting those wins because of it.

BASKETBALL 24/7
People ask what Coach Brown is like when he's not talking basketball and he's a great dude, but the thing is, he's talking basketball 24/7.

There are not too many conversations that you'll have with him that aren't about basketball. He's a very concerned person, but he's 100 percent into basketball.

His impact has been huge. One thing about coach is he's going to bring it and be the same every single day. He will never stop coaching. I don't know if I've ever been around anyone who loves basketball as much as he does and has the passion for it that he does.

It never stops and he'll breakdown everything in footage. He'll breakdown a mistake that a rookie made at the end of the game as if it was the first play of the game that a starter would make. That's one thing I appreciate about him is that he coaches every single player the same.

If you make a mistake, he will correct you. He doesn't care if you're in your 12th year or your first. That attitude trickles down to our team and gives us our character.

Coach Brown has shown me the dedication every day that it takes to be great. It's about understanding the passion and knowledge that you have to have to be great. The way he talks about the game is totally different from anybody I've ever heard talk about it.

The way he breaks things down, the way he looks at mechanics, the way he understands why guys are great scorers or great rebounders. Everything he does is from studying and that's something I have learned from him.

For example, I'll shoot a hook shot or a short jump shot and I'll make it and he’ll come back and say, "Oh Tyson, come on, you have to get the ball in your fingertips."

After he says something like that it feels uncomfortable. But then I'll shoot it and miss it and he'll say, "great shot." Your first reaction is to say: "What are you talking about, great shot? I just missed that."

But I've come to the realization that he understands that it doesn't matter if you miss it that particular time. If you continue to shoot the ball the right way and you get to the point where you shoot the same way every single time, you're going to make a higher percentage. It works out better than if you're shooting half the time one-way and half the time another.

It's just stuff like that that he's a stickler on. He's a stickler on you doing things the right way every single time.

You have to have a team that's receptive to his coaching and his coaching style. Guys have to be willing to learn every day because he's not going to stop teaching. If you're the type of person that at some point wants that voice to go away, it's not.

Every player I've talked to that has ever played for him says: "You're going to understand how great he is when you don't have him."

It can be tough for guys being coached non-stop because a lot of players have never had that in their career. But when you're on a different team and away from him, you look back and realize that he was just an incredible coach. Every guy I've talked to has said I'll learn more than I've ever learned just playing for him and it's true.

READY TO RETURN
I'm getting closer to my return to the court and I couldn't be more excited.

I've been able to go up and down the court with the guys for the last couple of days. It felt good. I didn't have any pain afterward, which is a great sign. Right now, I'm in the transition toward coming back and I think I'll be back very soon.

I think it's a possibility that I could catch our two games next week. I wanted to come back for the Hornets game on Saturday and that's not necessarily out of the question. But if not, I could potentially catch those two games before All-Star or we could stay conservative and have me come back on the first game after. We'll just have to wait and see.

ROUGH AND TUMBLE
Being back in LA and it was great seeing my family.

My son got his first haircut yesterday. He got the mohawk that I used to have, except that his hair is way longer than mine was. Speaking of my son, there's another story I wanted to share with you all.

Right after my last blog, it might have been the next day, I got home and my wife couldn't stop laughing, she said: "You won't believe what happened today?"

So I asked: "What happened?"

So my wife said:

"Sacha comes in the room and she's so upset. I'm in there watching TV and she comes in and just sits on her chair in the corner. She has her baby doll and she turns her back to me and the TV. So I say Sacha, what's wrong? And she says "nothing" and I said "No really, what's wrong?"

She goes: "Well I was over there and I was being really gentle and really quiet trying to put my baby to sleep and then that rough baby came over there and hit my baby and so I accidentally pushed him on purpose."

So my wife starts busting up laughing and then she says, "wait, what did you say you did to him." And she repeats, "I said I accidentally pushed him down on purpose."

My wife said she didn't know what to do, she told the truth so she didn't want to punish her and she didn't want to laugh in front of her.

So when I came home I said: "Sacha what happened? Your brother hit your baby?"

And she says: "Yes, Daddy. Listen, I told Mommy I only want one baby. Not that one. That one is too rough. I just want one baby, not that one. Mommy can have another baby and it can just be me and that baby, not this one, ok?

So I said: "Sacha, that's your brother, what do you want us to do with him?

She said: "I don't know, but I don't want that one."

I couldn't stop laughing so I told her: "Sacha, he's just going through a little stage, he'll get older and grow out of it."

But she wasn't understanding or trying to have any of that.

He's always torturing her. He waits until she gets everything set up, lays the baby down and then walks away to go get something and then he dives on everything and knocks it down. She gets so upset, I feel so bad for her. He's doing it on purpose, but he doesn't understand the severity of how she must feel.

GET WELL SOON CHRIS
One more note, as I sit here preparing to comeback, it pains me to see my good friend Chris Paul go down with an injury for the Hornets.

I haven't had a chance to talk to Chris yet, but just knowing the type of guy he is, I know this has to be really tough. It's been a tough season for them and he's been banged up and had some injuries. He's a competitor and I know he wants to be out there every second, so it definitely has to be tough on him.

My thoughts and prayers go out to him and I wish him a speedy recovery.

• Add new comment