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Q: You're looking better and playing better. Things going in a good direction for you?

A: It's funny. I'm starting to feel myself as the new year came around, and I'm proud to be here. These guys have worked with me a great deal, and it's a tribute to the organization, the people that we have on the training staff, the people that we work with physically and mentally every day. Now I just want to come out here and…

Q:Pay them back?

A:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You hit it right on the mark. To pay them back a little bit. It's fun. Right now I'm just focused and taking it game by game, letting my game come to me. Numbers and everything will go up, but I'm just worried about winning.

Basketball is what it's been for a long time for me again, and it's fun. That's because I'm playing with a great group of guys, great basketball players. Everybody here, we're friends, and we became family really fast. That's the most fun.

Q:So you feel like yourself again mentally, but how close are you to really playing like yourself again?

A: Oh, it's time now. It's time. My body is back. I'm at that point where I have to trust my body, trust my mind. That's the rhythm I like to play too. The rhythm , the rhythm to life. Even socially, like with Dallas, that's a great organization, but I wasn't myself. I was closed off. Those guys didn't get to know me. In the whole half a season, or however long it was. These guys have gotten to know me in a shorter period of time. I'm a lot more open, more talkative.

Physically, I probably was a shell of myself, but mentally and where my head was at, I was closer. It's exciting to be a part of this. So many good young players, and of course Chauncey (Billups) and playing with Grant Hill, in the city that we're playing in. And us putting a lot of expectations on ourselves- it's fun.

Sam Amick, USA Today