[外電] Garcia adjusting in bid to make Hornets' roster
原文出自nola.com
http://www.nola.com/hornets/t-p/index.ssf?/base/sports-1/1098860128258400.xml
Garcia adjusting in bid to make Hornets' roster
Play on court easier than language, eating
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
By John Reid
Staff writer
Hornets guard Alex Garcia likes going to restaurants in New
Orleans, but he never orders specialties like gumbo, shrimp
etouffee or oysters on the half shell.
It's not that Garcia dislikes New Orleans cuisine; he just
isn't ready to try it yet. Garcia is from Sao Paulo, Brazil,
making him one of two foreign-born players on the Hornets'
roster (Jamaal Magloire, Canada, is the other).
Since training camp opened this month, Garcia mainly has been
eating hamburgers and french fries.
"I think one of the problems I've had has been the food," Garcia
said after Tuesday's practice. "In Brazil, we eat a lot of rice
with beans. I never heard of gumbo before I came here."
Adjusting to unfamiliar foods has not been the only change Garcia
will have to make. New Orleans is the first city he's lived where
a majority of the people do not speak Spanish. Garcia speaks
Portuguese and Spanish. He understands English but can't speak
it fluently.
For interviews, the Hornets' media relations department has
assistant Kurt Fedders, who is fluent in Spanish, help Garcia.
Coach Byron Scott said during team meetings he occasionally goes
a little slower to make sure Garcia understands everything. Scott
also spends time with Garcia to be certain he understands certain
plays.
"But other than that, he understands a lot," Scott said. "He's
just like most European guys. You'll ask them do they understand,
and they say yes, but you know they don't know what you've just
said. But he is a great kid."
Garcia is the sixth international player the Hornets have had in
franchise history. Besides Magloire, the others are Vlade Divac
(Serbia), Jason Miskiri (Guyana), Jerome Moiso (France) and
George Zidek (Czech Republic).
The Hornets signed Garcia last June after the San Antonio Spurs
released him. Garcia, a 6-foot-3 point guard, had an injury-filled
rookie season for the Spurs last year. It started after he
fractured a bone in his left foot during a preseason game against
the Hornets, and it forced him to miss the first 33 games.
After returning, Garcia injured his right knee and missed the
final 47 games.
"We were sitting there, and he was really playing good, and
before we knew it, he got hurt," said Hornets general manager
Allan Bristow, who attended last season's preseason game in
San Antonio with Bob Bass, who retired before this season as
the team's executive vice president of basketball operations.
"We liked his toughness."
After seven preseason games this month, Garcia has shown the
same toughness. Still, he remains in a close battle with
free-agent signee Junior Harrington for the third point-guard
spot behind veterans Baron Davis and Darrell Armstrong.
Garcia is averaging 5.8 points and 1.8 assists going into Friday's
preseason finale at San Antonio. He played 29 minutes in Sunday's
loss to the Los Angeles Clippers and scored nine points, with
three assists and a steal. Harrington scored 14 points, grabbed
four rebounds and got a steal in 29 minutes.
Garcia, 24, got his first start in Saturday's loss to the
Sacramento Kings and scored four points in 16 minutes. He did
not get an assist. Garcia and Harrington were able to get start
this past weekend because Davis missed two games because of a
strained left ankle.
"Last year I couldn't play basketball because of the injuries,
so I'm excited about this season," Garcia said. "My knee and
foot are good, and I have practiced hard every day."
Soccer is the most popular sport in Brazil, but Garcia said his
older brother, Eduardo, taught him how to play basketball.
Garcia stayed with it, but didn't draw offers from American
universities.
Instead, he played on the Brazilian national team. That exposure
helped him land a spot in the Brazilian Professional League during
the 2002-03 season. He averaged 17.9 points and 4.0 rebounds and
was selected the league's top forward. He wasn't drafted by an
NBA team, but Garcia was offered a free-agent contract with the
Spurs before the 2003-04 season.
"We know it's been a learning experience for him, trying to adjust
to everything," said Armstrong, who has helped Garcia throughout
camp. "He doesn't know the English language like we know it, and
he's had to adjust to the play. But hell, half of my teammates
don't understand what I'm saying, either, and I speak English.
So I've tried to help him."
Bristow thinks it's a just a matter of time before Garcia gets
more comfortable and shows all of his potential. He still needs
to increase his assists average and improve as a shooter.
"He's got good potential, all the mechanics of his shot are there,"
Bristow said. "I think he's done some other things that have
impressed the coaches. It's coming down to the wire now, and
it's been a heck of a battle between him and Junior."
In the meantime, Garcia still isn't ready to take many chances
when it comes to food. He is going to stick with what he knows
-- hamburgers and french fries -- even on road trips.
. . . . . . .
John Reid can be reached at jreid@timespicayune.com or
at (504) 826-3405.
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