The following questions were ones that I asked either one-on-one or within the media scrums (no different than the formats of previous Q/A's). For additional questions and answers, feel free to visit the Orlando Magic's site or the Orlando Sentinel's site to hear the additional commentary from the coaches and players.
Jameer Nelson:
What do you plan on doing to take that next step as a point guard and help lead the team to a title?
Like I said before, to continue to play my game, take more of a leadership role in terms of being more vocal.
How many of your teammates participated in the Building Magic week that you organized up in Philadelphia?
I don't really like to give out names, but it was ... I think ... 10 of us there. Certain guys that didn't make it had prior engagements but we had a good time and a good turnout. Mostly everybody stayed for the whole week so it was good.
What were some of the activities that you guys did?
Paintball, we did bowling, we did dinner every night. Just had fun and did things that you do when you're a kid. Everybody looks at it like an AAU team when we're up there because we're playing against other professional guys, sticking to our own team.
I saw that you hit a homer at Citizen's Bank Park [home of the Philadelphia Phillies]. What was that like?
It was fun. Nobody believed that I could do it because coach [Stan Van Gundy] is a big baseball fan and he called me immediately, had to confirm it to make sure I did it.
Do you think you're a tougher team, having guys like Brandon Bass and Matt Barnes on board? I know that you pride yourself on your toughness.
I think so. I think we're a little tougher than we were last year. One thing with toughness is that guys have to understand that you got to go and do certain things. You don't have to go out there making faces at people. You got to go out there and do the smart things, block out, take charges, rebound the ball, do things that you need to do to be tough.
Do you think that it was a matter of experience, in terms of losing in the Finals?
Not necessarily. Basketball is still basketball, it's just a higher place in terms of the Finals. We all know how to play the game of basketball, whether it's the Finals or whether it's the first game of the season. You know that you want to leave it out there for 48 minutes. Like I said, they made some shots and made some plays that kind of break your back.