Last year around this time, Washington Wizards center Brendan Haywood was trying to figure out how to cope with an injured wrist that sideline him much of the season. After a brief return towards the end of last season, Haywood is 100% healthy, and is poised to be a force in Flip Saunders new offensive system.

In this audio clip, Haywood discusses the hype surrounding the Wizards, his understanding of how centers perform in Saunders’ system, his enthusiasm about the arrival Fabricio Oberto and of course, Gilbert Arenas.

While talking with Chris Bosh during media day the first thing I noticed was the significant amount of weight he put on. It’s clear the extra weight wasn’t in his gut from lounging around some players tend to do, rather the Raptors franchise player clearly dedicated himself to adding some bulk to what once was a lean upper body.

Last season he played at a slender weight of 225 pounds and this year he’ll be playing between 240 and 245 pounds.

So, how did Bosh do it?

Boston Celtics
CelticsBlog | LOY’s Place | Celtics17 | Red’s Army | Hoops Addict | Celtics Central | Celtics Hub | Gino’s Jungle
New Jersey Nets
Slippery When Nets | Barkley’s Mouth
New York Knicks
Posting and Toasting | Bandwagon Knick
Philadelphia 76ers
Liberty Ballers
Toronto Raptors
RaptorsHQ.com | Hoops Addict

Steve Nash has long been heralded as everything right with basketball in Canada since he helped lead the national team the Olympics back in 2000. Once the talented point guard won back-to-back MVP’s he essentially became a basketball god in Canada.

Nash is so heavily regarded in Canada that over the past two seasons he has been a bigger draw for the media than LeBron James, Yao Ming or Dwyane Wade. Trying to get a question in during a media scrum with Nash is next to impossible as the media horde surrounding him swells much larger for him than any other NBA player.

So why would Colangelo throw out Nash’s name as a way to compare his new acquisition? It turns out a lot of the characteristics that Colangelo admired in Nash are shared by Hedo Turkoglu.

Based on his prominent role during the Las Vegas Summer league in July, much will expected of Nick Young in this his third season. After scoring most of his 10.9 points a game last season by creating his own shot off the dribble, Young will be required to play a much different role in Flip Saunders offensive scheme. In this clip, Young talks about his specific role in Saunders system, what he did this summer, and how he’ll handle a seemingly more serious Gilbert Arenas

My favourite quote from the Raptors media day was when Bryan Colangelo joked he would have made more roster moves but he ran out of players.

All kidding aside, Colangelo did a great job of getting rid of parts that weren’t working and exchanging them for players that have a lot of promise. With nine new faces in training camp minutes are up for grabs. Not only that, but on paper this is the deepest roster in the history of the franchise.

During media day, Dominic McGuire spoke about raised expectations for this year, what he worked on during the summer, and how he plans on dealing with the fight for playing time.

Bryan Colangelo talked with the media about which players are poised for breakout seasons.

During his first media day as a member of the Washington Wizards, Mike Miller talked to the media about the team’s expectations for the season, his feelings on playing on a team with postseason aspirations, and how he can individually help the team.

While the Raptors stole most of the headlines in Toronto this summer due to the teams flurry of roster moves, it was the Canadian National Team that stole the hearts of basketball fans. When the team left for Puerto Rico few fans cared about the team but once they returned with a third place finish in the FIBA America’s Tournament the team was the talk of the country.

One of the many men behind the scenes responsible for assembling the team, Maurizio Gherardini, took some time to talk with Hoops Addict about what the plans are for the team leading up to the World Championships next summer.