May's Days In Orlando

Sean May is in his second summer league with Charlotte after winning the MVP award at the 2005 Reebok Rocky Mountain Revue in Salt Lake City, Utah. The 6-9, 266-pound forward was the 13th overall pick of the Bobcats in the 2005 NBA Draft. He averaged 8.2 points and 4.7 rebounds In 23 games for the Bobcats, missing 59 games with injuries -- primarily to his knee. May will be corresponding with BobcatsBasketball.com every day from Orlando to give us his thoughts and give you, the fan, a closer look at what goes on during one of the top NBA summer leagues.

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Day 5: July 14, 2006

Just to let everybody know, the (sprained left) ankle is feeling good right now. It’s a little sore, but it didn’t swell up too much, so hopefully it’s just a little ankle sprain and will be alright in a couple of days. It gave me a little bit of a scare though. I was just like, “Man, it’s my last day here and now this?” After having a pretty solid summer, it was unfortunate and the circumstances are what they are, but I’m going to do what I have to do and get ready to go again here soon.

I know I could have sat this game out, but I wanted to be out there today, especially having four solid games, and it definitely motivated me to play after losing last night. We started off slow, and it took me a little while to start feeling good. Then, just when I started to get going, I rolled my ankle. I looked over at the Indiana bench and saw guys like Danny Granger and David Harrison sitting out, but my whole focus was coming down here and playing five games. Unfortunately I just got hurt in the last game.

I think we started off slow today because everybody knew this was the last game. The last game in a summer league like this, it’s always harder to play because everybody has other things on their mind – their flight, what comes next and what they’ll be doing later on. I think we just kind of got ahead of ourselves and dug ourselves in such a big ditch that we couldn’t get out. I think it was a combination of guys pressing too hard and just not being focused.

Overall, I’m proud of myself with how I came back and proved the things I knew I was capable of doing. I wish things would have gone a little bit different the last two days, but besides that fact, I’m excited with what’s ahead for me. I’ve proved that I added some dimensions to my game even though I was hurt last year.

Next up, I’ll be coming back to Charlotte to find a house on Monday or Tuesday, but don’t have much time because at the end of next week, I’m going to Las Vegas with J.B. (Bickerstaff), Alan Anderson and Raymond (Felton) to Tim Grgurich’s camp in Vegas for two weeks. A lot of vets go – it’s more working out , two-a-days and stuff like that. I think Emeka (Okafor) might come with us, and any time you can get guys together who play together, it just adds to the chemistry.

I’ll probably be back in Charlotte towards the middle of August. I have to go back to Chapel Hill and do some things to finish up school. I’m currently enrolled in some classes that are continuous study, so I don’t have to actually be on campus, but I have to go in there to take some tests. I’m just trying to finish up my degree. I took six hours earlier this summer and finished those, and right now I’m in six more hours. That should leave me with 12 more hours to finish next summer. So I’ll be back there then and will come back here about the middle of August. I know I’ll be out there for the World’s Greatest Alumni Game. I’m not sure I’ll play in it because I got hurt out there last year, but I’ll be there.

I just want to thank you all for coming to the site to read what I've had to say each day during the Orlando Summer League. I've had a lot of fun giving the fans and inside look at what goes on here and can't wait to see you all at Charlotte Bobcats Arena for the 2006-07 season.

-- Sean May | 5:29 p.m. 7/14/06

Day 4: July 13, 2006

We took one on the head today against the Nets. We came out and played well, but it was just unfortunate that we didn’t get the win. It’s good though, because we won three in a row and I think we might have got our confidence up too much. This provides us with a different feeling for tomorrow that we have to come back and redeem ourselves. The worst thing we can do is to go home with back-to-back losses.

You could see out there on the court that I was frustrated with us giving this one away. I think sometimes take whatever they read in the paper and read on the Internet and say, “Oh, the guy says he’s a competitor. Whatever. Yadda, yadda, yadda.” It is the summer, but when I say that stuff, that’s what I mean. I come out here to play – it’s not just for fun or because they asked me to and I just want to get through it and go home. I’m out here working. I could have easily sat out tonight, but I wanted to play, and I want to win every time I step out on that floor. I think everybody on this team does. Unfortunately, they just played better than us tonight.

I think this might have been my best game individually. In the first game we played, I did some good things, and tonight I just shot the ball particularly well. I think I was a little more focused throughout the game than I have been in terms of being aware of what was going on and being a little more active. It just stinks that I was that active and we lost.

Tonight I didn’t want to just showcase that I can shoot the long ball. I got inside, made some plays and drove a little bit. That was part of being more active. I got my offensive rebounds up, went to the glass a little bit more and just wanted to be more aggressive and help my team. We looked kind of lethargic coming out in the second half, so I just wanted to come out and set the tone to get us back in the game.

I was also able to get to the free throw line more this game. It’s not anything that I focus on, but as a forward in this league – especially a power forward – you’re going to the line a lot. You can get a lot of points and make an impact by getting to that free throw line, so I pride myself in trying to shoot 75 percent of better, and at 80 percent tonight (8-10), I was right along those lines.

I’ll tell you what though, today is probably the worst I felt before a game. Waking up this morning, it took me a long time to get stretched and get ready for the game, but Mark Coffelt did a good job of getting me ready and getting my legs ready. It’s hard on your body -- five games in five days -- but provides a good test for you endurance-wise and shows your commitment to the game. A lot of guys are only playing two or three games and sitting out, but I’m trying to keep it going.

I think you’ll see a lot of fire out of us tomorrow. We have a lot of competitors on this team, and a lot of the guys are pretty upset with the way they played and the way we played together. Especially because we did enough to get the win but just didn’t close it out.

-- Sean May | 5:22 p.m. 7/13/06

Day 3: July 12, 2006

To us, it doesn’t really matter who we’re playing, but this win was nice especially because Orlando is at home and they might tend to get some calls because they’re on their floor. We just wanted to go out and get a good jump out of the gate. The guys came out real aggressive because it was a quick turnaround from last night. I think it allowed us to go home, get some rest, stay focused and get back in the gym.

The early start was a little bit better, just because you’re not lying around the hotel all day. Sometimes when you have a lot of time on your hands, you can get out of your routine, especially because it’s the summer and you can get away from stuff you’re accustomed to doing. For me, it was good. I got up this morning, had my pre-game meal, got taped and headed to the gym.

I started off strong, but my legs are kind of going right now. I was able to get off to a good start with eight points in the first quarter and felt good, but after that, the shots kind of stopped falling.

Playing this stretch of five games in five days is tough. It’s kind of like your AAU days back when you were 12 or 13 years old. The good thing about it is it’s really helping me to work on my cardio and get back into shape. The legs start to go a little bit and you find ways to get through things with the quick turnarounds.

After that first quarter, Coach (John-Blair) Bickerstaff took me out for most of the second quarter, and I told him that I’m getting old. I can’t sit 10 minutes and come back out. I have to play, and my knees feel good. I told him, “Hey, just let me know if you’re going to hold me out so I can put a couple heating packs on to stay fresh.” But seriously, he gave me a little bit of a break and I got going again in the third quarter. Then he took me out a little bit earlier in the game to save my legs for tomorrow.

I’m feeling good but am a little bit disappointed in myself the way I’m rebounding the ball. I haven’t gone to the glass as much as I would like, but to me it was more that I wanted to come out here and prove to myself that I could run, play and score the basketball still. That’s just something I’ll continue to work on and by the end of the summer I’ll be getting to the glass a lot more.

Things are a lot different here this year as opposed to my rookie year in summer league. When you’re coming out of college or coming from overseas, you don’t realize that the game is played at a faster place, but once you’ve played here, the game is faster up and down but moves slower in your eyes. You see everything before it happens and understand situations because you’re seeing them over and over again. For me, it’s easier now, and that gives me an advantage.

I’ll tell you one thing though, it’s definitely nice to be undefeated at this point. The thing you try to do every time you go out -- no matter if it’s summer league, in the park, during the season or in the playoffs – you try to win. Guys who are true competitors pride themselves in winning, no matter what, so we’re looking to close this thing out on the right note and hopefully get two more wins.

We’ve got another early game tomorrow at three o’clock, so I’m going to go back to the hotel, and a couple of guys are talking about going out for an early dinner at the mall, so maybe we’ll go walk around the mall a little bit and may step out tonight. But it’s going to be a quick turnaround again with the early game tomorrow and it’s about business for me here, so I’ll be ready to go to work.

-- Sean May | 5:18 p.m. 7/12/06

Day 2: July 11, 2006

What a game. We came out, played well and built a nice lead early in the second half. We just didn’t keep doing what got us the lead and therefore put the game in the referee’s hands. Luckily we got a nice little call at the end where D’or (Fischer) tipped it in to give us the win.

Late in the game, I was able to do some things I wasn’t able to get going early on, and my teammates did a good job of finding me. I want the ball in my hands in those situations, and Alan (Anderson) made a nice move getting to the hole and was able to dump it to me to get me started. I hit a couple of hooks and got to the line and was just hoping to change the game there at the end.

For the second game in a row, I connected on a three-pointer, too. Those threes are something I’ve been working on ever since I got into the league, and I’m trying to face up a little bit more and show my range. Tonight I settled for a lot more jumpers than I would have liked just because I really couldn’t get anything else going. Finally I started to hit some and my post game started working for me later in the game.

The story of the game though had to be Adam (Morrison). He had 25 points in the first half – that was pretty impressive. The kid just played extremely well and the basket had to look huge in his eyes. Once you get on a hot streak like that, things open up so much. Everybody knows the kid can score and he did a good job proving it tonight. Adding him to this team is going to make things a lot more interesting with our post game, because we got guys who can handle one-on-one defense in the post. We just need more shooters and more scorers to open things up, and I think adding Adam will make things a lot easier for us inside.

It’s a quick turnaround now. I’m going to go home, hop in an ice bath before hitting the sack to get ready for tomorrow. Talk to you then.

-- Sean May | 9:21 p.m. 7/11/06

Day 1: July 10, 2006

It felt good to get out there again in a game situation, and I was just so excited to be out there doing what I do best. My teammates did a good job of finding me, and of course with Raymond (Felton) being out there on the floor, it made things a little bit easier because our chemistry is so good. I just went out there and had a good time with it.

I feel like I’m playing well and doing some good things right now. I’m shooting the ball well and showcasing some of my ability with my back away from the basket. I’m just feeling comfortable right now – this is the first time I’ve been healthy in a long time, so this is a good opportunity to showcase my talent right now.

But as always, this summer is about this team. We’ve got four guys out here in me, Raymond, Alan (Anderson) and Kevin (Burleson) that spent their rookie season together last year. With us playing together and working out together, we understand where each other is going to be, and I think we did a great job in our first game of just knowing each other’s games, being in the right place at the right time and being able to make plays off of what the other guys were doing.

We’re trying to take on leadership roles as the veterans on this team, and I think all starting to get comfortable out here after a week of camp together. We’ve got four more games to try to put things together.

For us, it was important to come out and have a good showing today because we had three bad days of practice last week. It was good to come out and set the tone. Ray did a good job of getting guys in the right places, getting them the ball early and helping build everybody’s confidence.

After last year’s performance in the Reebok Rocky Mountain Revue, I know how getting that early confidence can carry over from game-to-game in Summer Leagues. But I don’t ever focus on trying to go out and get MVP awards. That was a nice honor last year in Utah, but for me it’s all about trying to help this team win games and contribute the best way I can. If that’s by scoring down on the block or hitting the glass, I’m ready to do whatever it takes, wherever we play.

It doesn’t matter to me, Utah or Orlando -- no matter where you’re at, this is the summer league. You’re not here to go out and have a good time. This is about business, especially for me not playing for so long, I just want to play. I’m not worried about going out – I’ll go out when this is all over with. I just want to play.

Now I’m going to go back to the hotel and maybe catch a movie, sit in the room, rest up, get some treatment on my legs and get ready for tomorrow night.

Talk to you all tomorrow.

-- Sean May | 7:42 p.m. 7/10/06