Hana's Huddle: Floridians know how to celebrate October in the stands
Living in Florida, people like to think that we don't see the best of October. Yes, we know, we don't see too many leaves falling (unless caused by hurricane-like winds) and our sandals are still considered appropriate footwear throughout the month.
But what these people don't know is that we Floridians know how to celebrate October the proper way... in the stands.
We get to see this.
And this.
And who wouldn't want to see this?
Hello, October.
The Miami Heat and the Orlando Magic are in training camp this week, and the preseason action starts early for the Heat who take on the New Orleans Pelicans this Saturday. I don't know about you guys, but my eyes will be permanently locked to the screen on Tuesday in Miami.
Obviously, we all want to see how the Heat have geared up during practice for their first Lebron-less season, but I'm definitely itching to see what the Magic's young talent can bring to the table. Orlando has something brewing with a roster that includes Aaron Gordon, the fourth pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, and Victor Oladipo, the No. 2 pick in the 2013 draft. The team can expect to make some serious progress in their rebuilding.
Don't forget to watch FOX's Sun Sports with me on Tuesday as Orlando visits Miami in preseason action. It's only preseason, but let's hope both teams are setting the stage for something good.
With new head coach Gerard Gallant and first-overall draft pick defenseman Aaron Ekblad, the Florida Panthers are looking for a comeback season.
Check out this preview to the Florida Panthers Preseason Special, which premieres at 6:30 p.m. Friday on FOX Sports Florida.
Kyle O'Quinn and Nikola Vucevic
Last weekend, I visited Lake Eola in Orlando to catch a look at the brand-new Magic statue. If you're in or passing through the Orlando area, I highly recommend making a pit stop at the Lake Eola bridge. This thing is seriously cool.
Former Orlando Magic players Nick Anderson and Bo Outlaw, as well as current players Nikola Vucevic and Kyle O'Quinn, visit a new statue located at Lake Eola in the Orlando area.
Former Magic players Nick Anderson and Bo Outlaw visited the statue, along with current players Nikola Vucevic and Kyle O'Quinn. They took a moment to catch up with me about their summer along with their hopes for the season.
HANA: How's your summer been going preparing for the season?
O'QUINN: Just working out and things. I've been stationed out in Las Vegas and coming out to support the young guys that have been here. I came for summer league to hang out with those guys... learned a little bit about what they like so we can get a jump start on the season.
VUCEVIC: Just working out a lot, just every summer you work out, get ready for the season, put a lot of time in the gym, weight room, running, doing a bunch of things just to get ready for the season and get better.
HANA: And how are the new guys holding up?
VUCEVIC: They're looking good so far, as much as I've seen them in the past couple weeks when I got back here. They all look pretty good, and a good thing is that all the guys look like they've been really working out this summer, put a lot of time in the gym. They looked like they were ready to go come into training camp, so we'll see when it all starts, but I think we've got a good team. It's a good mix of younger and older guys, so it should be a better season for us.
O'QUINN: Oh, they're doing good -- they're ready to buy in, they're ready to get started. A lot of guys... came back ready to work, so it's kind of one of those things that you can see that they really want to be good.
HANA: How's Aaron Gordon doing?
O'QUINN: He's good, he's a good kid, he's a good person, and that's more important than anything.
HANA: So what are your expectations for the season?
O'QUINN: To win a lot more games than we did last year and to really get our season started at the beginning and not wait.
HANA: You guys play the Heat in Miami in your first preseason game. What are your expectations for that game without LeBron?
O'QUINN: With or without LeBron, we expect to win. We trust coach's gameplan of course, and we want to go there and like I said, get a good jump start on the season and use preseason games to get us rolling during the regular season.
VUCEVIC: It'll be much different, but it's a very good team. They've still got players like Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade who are some of the best players in the NBA, so it's still a good team. It'll be our first game, it'll be fun. It's always fun to play in Miami, so it'll be fun to finally get back into it.
HANA: And can we expect to see the two of you, the twin towers, out on the court this season?
O'QUINN: I hope so. That's something that we both look forward to. We both like playing with each other, but if it happens, it happens, and if it doesn't, it doesn't. We're still going to support each other no matter what.
VUCEVIC: But I do enjoy playing with Kyle. We played a lot together last year, and it was fun. He's a great teammate to play with, but it's coach's decision, so whatever he decides to do.
