| Nenad Krstic-All Access News |
I’m mentally ready for basketball. It’s been a long time and now I’m on the court again. It was really tough to come back again especially because I played the first 10 games of the season. But I’m back and I understand it’s the middle of the season and everybody has their own roles and everything and I’m just trying to get in basketball shape and trying to get my rhythm back in a game and everything. I understand it’s really difficult but mentally I’m fine and my knee’s feeling great right now. There’s no swelling; I was working with (Physical Therapist) Matt Gibble and he did a great job with me and everybody else like Timmy (Walsh, Nets Head Trainer) and all the coaches. (Coach’s Assistant) Jimmy Sann was working with me almost everyday. Everybody was trying to help me and I really appreciated that and for me right now just to be back on the team and be healthy is a great success.
I never had one year out in my career. It was really tough, especially the first couple of months and especially since I was looking forward to having a really good season – a breakout year – and I wanted to be back. The other day we actually played against the Lakers so that was the first time after I got hurt against them last season. It’s weird. In my life, I’m always going to remember that moment when I got hurt and it was really terrible but right now I’m back. There were so many tough situations in the past year. So many times I was frustrated with everything but right now I’m really happy. It was a really tough rehab that I went through. Like I said, though, that’s past. This is the present time now so it’s really just looking forward to play again.
For the first couple of months after the surgery for me just to get out of the house and go to treatment was big because I couldn’t walk too much. If I walked too much my knee swelled up so I was just trying to stay off my feet. That was pretty much it. I was watching movies, playing video games, nothing special. Then when I started working out more and running it started to get better. I went home during the summer, which was really nice and spent time with my family and then came back here.
Away from the court, my girlfriend is here with me in New Jersey so I try to spend a lot of time with her. On the road, I like watching the Sopranos. I recently started it. I also like to go to dinner or do something like that. It’s the same thing here at home. I like to go to restaurants in New York a lot, in Manhattan. That’s pretty much it. I try to rest because I practice a lot and work out a lot and now I’m starting to play so I need to take care of my body, especially my knee.
When I was doing rehab and all the different stuff, I was doing the pool and the weight room. The weight room really helped me because you lift weights and you feel better. You’re tired and you can go home and sleep for 1 to 2 hours and you feel better. I had a lot of free time last season. I went into New York. I really like to try to get to know Manhattan and get to know the restaurants. That’s pretty much it. I go with my girlfriend to the mall, stuff like that.
The West Coast is always tough on me; there’s a lot of travel, especially the last trip. We changed a couple of time zones. We went to LA and Phoenix, then to Denver and Minnesota. One is like 60 degrees, 70 degrees and one is like zero degrees. For me that’s really tough. There was three hours difference between New Jersey and there. It’s always difficult especially when you’re playing. For me that’s the toughest thing to do in the NBA. Sometimes you play back to back games and it’s really hard to prepare for the games and stay really focused and play well.
When I was playing, I would get recognized. Right now, nobody knows me. I’m just a tall guy.
Used courtesy of: NJNETS.COM |
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