postcard

Jim Eichenhofer

New Orleans rookie guard Buddy Hield – a native of the Bahamas, one of five international players on the Pelicans’ preseason roster – provides the second Pelicans.com “postcard” from the team during its week-long visit to China. Hield was a guest of honor at the brand-new NBA Play Zone, essentially a Chuck E. Cheese-type restaurant and facility for children who love the game and the NBA.

What’s good, Pelicans fans? It’s Buddy Fresh, coming to you from our Global Games trip to China.

We’ve now been here for a few days, and it’s been amazing to visit China for the first time, seeing all the love the people here have and passion for basketball. We’d heard about it before, but now you get to see it for yourself up close and connect with the fans. The fans here obviously don’t get to see you every day, because it’s a long ways from America. It’s great for us to be able to give back in this way to the game of basketball.

On Friday, I joined Eric Gordon of the Rockets at an event for kids at the first-ever NBA Play Zone, which opened earlier this year in Shanghai. It was unbelievable to be around the kids – the majority of them were under 10 years old – because you see how much they keep up with basketball, and to realize that they even recognize us at such a young age. It shows how connected they are with the players in America. We are role models, so we’re trying to do whatever we can to inspire them. It’s great to see that the game is growing so much.

When I was growing up, I remember seeing famous athletes come and spend time with us in the Bahamas. Now it’s my turn to do the same, because kids look up to us. They were excited just to be in our presence, and it made it so much fun to spend some time with them.

When we were at the NBA Play Zone, I saw local kids who were only 5 or 6 that had incredible ballhandling skills, especially for someone that young. That’s great, because it shows the intense level of training they get here. Kids want it. They want to be the next Steph Curry, Kobe Bryant or Dwyane Wade of the world. Like kids everywhere, the young players here just want to follow in those footsteps.

I’ve also been meeting many, many fans in Shanghai. They’ve been so friendly and so supportive. Outside our hotel, there are always people waiting for autographs or to take pictures, so I’ve stopped by and said hello as much as possible on my way to practices and events. I’ve even gotten some of them to shout out the Bahamas in videos I’ve taken with my phone… 242 to the world!

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Pelicans postcard from China: Buddy Hield

New Orleans center Alexis Ajinca – a native of France, one of five international players on the Pelicans’ preseason roster – provides the first Pelicans.com “postcard” from the team during its week-long visit to China.

Greetings from halfway around the world, Pelicans fans! I’m checking in with you from Shanghai, China, and wanted to update you on the first two days of our Global Games trip.

To be honest, I had never been to China before, so I was really looking forward to seeing what it’s like. I always enjoy getting to experience different places, and I had heard that it is an amazing place to visit, how the food is so unique.

This is actually my second overseas NBA trip, but the first since early in my career. When I played for the Toronto Raptors, we went to London, England, but that was for two regular season games in March 2011 against the Nets. It was cool and it was a good experience, but we didn’t have that much time to do a lot off the court. Mostly we were just trying to get some rest, because we were jet-lagged, and we were already about 60 games into that season. We got to see a few things, but not very much. This time I’m really looking forward to seeing the Great Wall of China on Monday and as much as possible during our visit. It’s going to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me, a lifelong memory. I don’t know if I’ll ever have a chance to come back here, so I’m going to take advantage of it.

Don’t get me wrong, if this trip was to France, it would be even better – I’m just saying. But no, this trip to China is something that will be a memory that stays with every player for a long time.

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Pelicans postcard from China: Alexis Ajinca

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