Life on the Inactive List

fe on the Inactive List
Nov 6, 2007

Almond's game uniform has been traded in for a suit as he waits on the Inactive List.
NBA Photos/NBAE/Getty Images
The regular season is off and rolling. Our team is coming together and growing everyday, so that’s definitely a good sign for the future. It’s going to be another great year.

I’m learning more and more everyday. On and off the court - there’s always new experiences around every corner. And right before our first regular season game, I learned something I didn’t know very much about before at all: the Inactive List. I didn’t even know what that was until it was explained to me a few hours before tip off that the team could only dress twelve out of the fourteen players on our roster.

Ouch.

I’ll admit - that definitely got me thinking a little bit. Inactive list? Am I about to get traded? Where am I supposed to go? Funny as that may sound, I didn’t really know what to think.

At first I didn’t feel like talking about it with anybody. Didn’t feel like explaining anything. Definitely didn’t feel like blogging about it and broadcasting my ‘inactivity’ to the NBA.com world. (But I committed to blog this season through thick and thin, and I had to submit something for this week.) I really felt like I was the only rookie who ever started the beginning of his career on the bench.

But I’m a professional now, so I take it all in stride; everything that’s happening is in the nature of the business. It’s not personal, and once I realized that it was part of the growth process, I took it for what it was: an experience.

My college and even high school and AAU careers had similar humble beginnings, so I guess I shouldn’t be too taken aback by everything. I’m like everybody else - I want immediate positive results right off the bat. But my basketball past has taught me that, for whatever reasons, things don’t always work out like that. So I’ve learned to roll with the punches, and keep making progress regardless.

Like I said earlier, we’ve got a heck of a squad. Every time we take the floor in practice or wherever, I see more and more why this team was playing in the Western Conference finals last season. So I don’t take any shame anymore in sitting for the time being and learning behind talented, seasoned players. In the mean time, I’ll be putting in the overtime (there’s no greater motivator than the bench) while we as a team continue to thrive in regular season play. It’s a winning situation all the way around.

One thing the current circumstances "encourage" you to do is count your blessings, so-to-speak. Sure I was ‘inactive’ (I get a little chill down my spine every time I write that word) last game, but at least I’m healthy. My family is well. At least I’m on a good team and with a good organization. There are worse places I could be. At Rice when I wouldn’t get in the game, I’d have to walk back to my dorm room afterwards, dejected AND broke. At least I get a little scratch for my troubles this time around.

You see? I feel better about everything already.

So there you have it. That’s the whole spill from my end. Misery loves company, so I have to give a shout-out to all my other fellow rookies grinding it out around the Association. Remain calm - and keep hope alive!