Originally Posted by NBA.com

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We started training camp on Saturday, so we've been going through that every day. Training camp is going well. We've got a great team, a great group.

My toe has been good. It was sore coming into training camp, because I hadn't been with the trainer. He loosened it up and all that good stuff, so it's all good. I'm able to go through all the basketball drills in practice.

I think we got a lot better this year. It's one thing on paper and seeing the guys that we brought in and the changes that we made. But now, being with the group in practice, and watching guys compete for positions and time, we've got some guys with some high character. And we've got a good chance to mesh and make a good splash. It's definitely amazing to me how fast guys are coming along.

THE NEW ADDITIONS
James Posey is making a huge difference on our team, just his whole attitude and perspective. He knows what it takes to win a championship, obviously. He's won championships with two different teams, so he understands what it takes to get there. And now having him, when he's telling guys what we need to accomplish defensively, what we need to do and how we've gotta hold things down, it's really starting to make sense. And we're starting to bring the team together. It feels like it's a little closer.

He's one of those players that sometimes you don't care for, because he gives a guy on your team a shot. He does whatever it takes to win the game, and even though you can appreciate that, sometimes you might not like it if your teammate is getting the bad end of the stick.

It's funny. We were talking in the training room today. He was talking about if a guy is scoring and going off on him, they're both gonna be out of the game, because he's gonna put him down. At that point, the first thing that popped in my head was Kirk. I wanted to say something, but we're on the same side now. I guess it doesn't matter too much now. I like that attitude.

We've also got Devin Brown and Sean Marks, who are both huge for us. I think Sean's one of those guys who have gotta be in the right place at the right time. He's an extra big guy who can stretch the floor and knock down jumpshots, give me and D-West a breather, come in and play D and all that. And he's been huge for us in training camp.

So, those three new players have been big.

Devin, because we needed that big guard, that kinda one-two combo who can guard twos, guard the point, give Chris a break, run the pick-and-roll, just that extra guy who can get the team into the offense, as well as lock up defensively.

So, I think we got better at every position. Now having the combo at one-two with Devin, with Posey at the three and with Sean at the four-five, it makes our team a lot deeper. I think our biggest problem last year was our bench.

Me and Jannero were very close. But sometimes in this league, guys have to move on. And it couldn't be a better situation for both sides, for himself and his family, and also for our organization.

SUMMER WORK
I've been training pretty much the whole summer.

I was training for the USA team, so I've been training since a couple of weeks after the season ended. I was training for that, and right before the training camp for the USA team, my toe started to get sore, I think from not getting the proper stretching and all that in. And I didn't think I was gonna make it to training camp, so I had to give them a call and let them know that I wasn't gonna be a part of it.

It was very disappointing, because I was on last year's team, the team that enabled this team to qualify for the Olympics. I was looking forward to going, being in Beijing, playing for the gold and just being able to experience all of that. So, it was very disappointing. Initially, I didn't make the first 12 and I kinda was OK with it. I was deciding whether to continue training or take some time off. I didn't know what I was gonna do.

And then, shortly after, I get the phone call that they wanted me to come and still be a part of the team, be a part of everything and go to Beijing. So I was excited about that, but then when I couldn't do it, I got a little down again. I had been training all the way up to two or three days before training camp and I'm like, "Man, all this hard work, all this time and effort, and I'm not gonna be able to be a part of it. I'm not gonna be able to experience the gold medal."

But in the back of my head, I was like, "Hey, sometimes, guys need to make sacrifices with different things. And I was a part of it, because I helped get the team there." So, I was OK with it at the end of the day.

But because of the hours, I might have caught like one ending of a game. I didn't see much of it. It was mostly Phelps and Jamaican runners. I didn't TiVo it either because it was summertime and I was leasing a beach house and I didn't have TiVo. I was roughing it, you know what I'm saying. I was living the beach life.

CP said he loved it, but he didn't have to tell me anything. I already knew how big of a deal it was, how great an opportunity it was. It was a big deal in Vegas, so I can only imagine the real thing in Beijing.

THE OTHER NEW ADDITION
My wife is 7 1/2 months pregnant now.

I was in the ultrasound room, and I'm back there just sweating bullets, right? And the nurse has got the ultrasound going, and she's like, "Well, we're gonna learn today. The baby's giving us a good view."

I'm sitting there like, "C'mon, c'mon. Be a boy." I literally had sweat beads coming down. It was me, both of my little brothers, my mom, my mother-in-law, my wife and the baby's godmother. All in the ultrasound room, eight people.

So we're in there, and I'm saying in my head, "Be a boy. Be a boy. C'mon. Be a boy." I'm just going back and forth.

And the nurse had a smile on her face, saying "I'm not telling yet." But I knew, because her face would have changed, because she knew how bad I want this boy. And then she says, "Do you want to know?"

And I'm like, "Yeah, what is it?"

"It's a boy!"

I started screaming "Yeah!" like I had just won the NBA championship or something. My brothers are yelling and we're in there jumping around, giving each other high fives.

Afterward, I walk out and the nurses are like, "What was going on in there?"

We told her, "It's a boy."

And she said, "Yeah, that happens when men come in here and they find out it's a boy."

We decided to name him Tyson Chandler II. We're gonna induce Nov. 25, because that's when I'll be in L.A. to play the Clippers, and my wife is in L.A.

She's coming back here and she's gonna go to Europe with us. Then she's gonna fly back to L.A. in the beginning of November, because that's the last time she can travel. She's gonna stay in L.A. so my mom and her family can help her after the baby's born.

AN ADJUSTMENT FOR SACHA-MARIE
My daughter didn't understand what was going on for a while, because my wife was telling her she can't jump on mommy's stomach, because baby Tyson's in there. So, she wasn't liking that. And then she started putting two and two together, that there was a baby in there. "Now, I don't like this baby, because it's taking up my playing time, because mommy's not feeling good all the time."

So we were in the ultrasound where you can see the baby in 3-D. And I've got her in my lap and I'm trying to give her extra attention. I'm like, "Do you see baby Tyson? Are you gonna be baby Tyson's big sister? Are you gonna love baby Tyson?"

And she's like, "Baby Tyson doesn't love Sacha. Baby Tyson doesn't ever want me around," because my wife is always telling her to get down when she climbs on her. She thinks it's because of baby Tyson.

So we have to play this game like, "It's Sacha's baby. Mommy's having this baby for Sacha." So, then she started liking the baby, and now she's walking around with a doll under her little shirt, like she has baby Tyson.

So, first she didn't like baby Tyson, then baby Tyson didn't like her, and now, she's baby Tyson's mother. So, we'll see how things work out when the baby comes out. But I gotta watch it, because her uncles are telling her that she has a little princess attitude. They're all young and they tell her, "As soon as the boy comes, we're not playing with you no more." They're messing with her.

I'm telling them that they can't stop showing her attention just because there's a boy around. So, I'm curious to see how this is all gonna work out.

And my family's not coming back to New Orleans until the baby's at least a month and a half old. They're gonna be out in L.A. until then. At that point, we're in and out, in and out, in and out, so I won't be home much anyway. But that's the tough part, because it's gonna be rough for me without my baby for the first month of his life. That's the kind of thing you sacrifice.

I've got iChat, and the problem is, I try to get my wife to iChat now, and she's always uncomfortable. She doesn't feel like doing it. Hopefully, it's better after she has the baby.