Huestis on offseason, confidence, focus
cashing in on long odds to move up in the pecking order.
Hornets’ Walker has minor surgery
The Charlotte Hornets say All-Star point guard
has had a successful minor arthroscopic procedure on his left knee.
The Hornets said Wednesday in a release that the typical recovery time for Walker’s procedure is approximately six weeks.
The six-year NBA veteran appeared in 79 games for the Hornets last season for the Hornets, averaging a career-high 23.2 points, 5.5 assists, 3.9 rebounds and 1.1 steals in 34.7 minutes per game. He was named the Eastern Conference AllStar team for the first time in his career. Thunder forward
plopped down in his chair at the Thunder’s practice facility Wednesday with two deflated basketballs in his hand.
It makes the Spaldings easier to travel with, and Huestis, 25, has plenty of plane trips in his summer. That night, he was off to Montana, his home state, where a family friend asked him to speak at a high school graduation.
This summer, the 6-foot7, 235-pound forward says he’ll train in Spokane, Wash., Los Angeles, and Miami.
Then, he’ll descend upon Coeur d’alene, Idaho, for his wedding Aug. 20. In between, he’ll play for the Thunder’s summer league team in Orlando the first week of July.
“Just kind of bounce around, mix up the competition, mix up the scenery,” Huestis said.
“I think if you stick in one place for too long, you can get a little stale. By bouncing around you can make the workouts better.”
Huestis sat down with The Oklahoman to expand on his summer plan and where he’s at in his development:
“Not so much the draft lottery. I peek in and out of the playoffs, especially the Spurs-Warriors series. It’s pretty interesting to me because it’s a pretty highly publicized series and both really great teams obviously. It would be nice to still be playing of course, but since we’re not I’m taking advantage of it, and try to relax because we’ve been gogo-go for seven or eight months. I finished working out and I’ve got the rest of my day to myself, so I try to take advantage of that, fill my time with different things I wouldn’t normally have during the season.”
“Take a lot of photos. I travel – I was in San Diego last weekend. I’d never spent much time out there. I got a drone, so I’ve been flying my drone, which is pretty cool.”
“Yeah. The way I try to look at it is each of the last three seasons I’ve improved. Statistics-wise, this was my biggest jump. I’m starting to come into my own as a player and figure out my strengths and weaknesses as a player, how to apply what I’m best at in a game. And my confidence has gotten so much better in the work I’ve done and having a couple of years under my belt.”
“Just practice, honestly. When I was either with the Blue or with the Thunder working with coaches I would get so many shots up in practices. I wasn’t playing when I was here, so it gave me an opportunity to work a lot, get a lot of reps up. I get my confidence from the work I’ve put in, step up and go ‘I’ve done this a million times before.’ There’s nothing different about the shot I’m about to take than the ones I take in practice because I work out at game speed, take game shots. It translates so well.”
“I think of it as … you see these in OKC all the time, the horses that pull the carriages? They have the blinders on? All they can see is straight ahead? That’s the way I think of it. You have to put your blinders on. You can’t be looking around at everyone else, because everyone else isn’t you and you aren’t everyone else. Ever since I got into high school, something that’s always been told to me is ‘it’s a marathon not a sprint. Your journey is your own.’ Mine’s been pretty unorthodox, it’s been different than other people’s. I can use it as motivation – ‘Those are guys I want to go at. Those are guys I want to beat.’ At the same time, you can’t beat yourself up over that type of thing because you’re two completely different people. It’s easier said than done.”