Quick blog from the road

Hey guys, just checking in from out here in Valladolid, Spain. I thought it would be good time to do a little blogging and update you guys. Usually the internet at our hotels isn’t very good so I don’t update on the road much. Actually I haven’t been updating much at all. Partly because of internet issues and partly because I had been playing so terrible. Anyone that knows me knows that when I am not playing well I do not like to talk about it. I guess now that I have a website that I need to get over that. I’ll work on it.

This has been an extremely long road trip. We played at home on the island last Saturday vs. Blusens Monbus. The next day we took off for Krasnodar, Russia for our game vs. Lokomotiv Kuban. That trip is very long so we split it up. We flew to Vienna, Austria and spent Sunday night there before finishing our travels to Krasnodar that Monday. If you looked at my scoreboard on the homepage you can see that we got smacked that game. We can’t blame it on the travel though. We just still have some improvements to make to become a better team especially on the road. From Krasnodar we took off to Madrid, Spain on Wednesday. Instead of flying back to the island we spent 2 days in Madrid and practiced out there since Valladolid is pretty close. So for the last week we have seen nothing but planes and hotel rooms. That’s the life of a professional athlete. The good thing about it  is that you get to really bond with your teammates and get to know them better. I usually room with Alando Tucker so I have got to know him pretty well. He’s a funny dude. Spending time building these relationships and lasting memories is one of the biggest rewards of what we do.

But still, these long road trips are a beast and you have to be well prepared. Entertainment is a must. I recently bought and iPad2 and now I don’t know how I ever lived without one. I like to keep it simple on the plane rides. Sleep, movies, and music do it for me. I checked out a couple different movies this trip including “4 Christmases” with Vince Vaugh, The Debt, and Friends with Benefits starring Justin Timberlake. All 3 were pretty dope movies. Music wise I been listening to that Drake a lot. I didn’t even like it at first but it’s grown on me. I like Short Dawg’s new mixtape “The Adventures of Drakenstein”. You guys might not be familiar with him but he’s a local Texas guy and he is very talented. I also listen to a lot of Frank Ocean on these trips. He’s a mellow dude so his music helps me relax.

On the court things are going ok. I am starting to get more comfortable. Early in the year I was getting to the rim and the free throw line a lot but i wasn’t making any jumpers. Now I am making jumpers but not getting to the line as much. Once I have that balance of doing both effectively I think I will be a nightmare to guard in this league. As a team we’re still trying to find a good rhythm so we can string together a big amount of wins in a row and build some momentum. We took some big losses to Banvit, Lokomotiv, and Barcelona. Speaking of Barcelona, man they are a hell of a team. Just watching how they play can be beneficial. They are all high IQ basketball players with a lot of talent and of course they have “La Bomba” Juan Carlos Navarro. That’s a pretty cool nickname. I need to get a dope nickname. I love the TV show Spartacus so lately I have been calling myself “SpartaQuez”. A few of my fans on twitter have taken a liking to that one. If you guys have any good nickname ideas for me send them in. I will give you a big shout out and maybe a special surprise courtesy of HaynesHouse.

Other than that things are cool. My family is doing well, I am having the time of my life traveling the world and playing the game I have been playing since I was a little boy. It is holiday season so of course I am missing my family but this is the life we choose as professional athletes and I am blessed to be in this position. Speaking of blessings, for those that do not know, Monday December 19th is my 25th Birthday. Its crazy because I don’t feel a day over 18. Time flies. But if you guys want to make sure I have a happy B-day give me a shout out on my facebook or twitter. The links are on the homepage so you can follow me and add the fan page. I am about to go watch some game film. I’ll get with you guys later!

~ Quez

Oh man wait, 2 things before I go. 1) Shoutout to my boys over there in Chalon. Last I heard they were in first place and I expect nothing less. I called Blake Schilb to win MVP this year in a video interview I did in Germany. 2) you guys have to check out this video. It is a spoof making fun of Kobe, Dwight Howard, and Chris Paul. I cried laughing when I watched it. This should be a good laugh for all of you.