Kblaze8855
11-20-2019, 09:15 AM
You wake up at 9. You go to a shoot around at 10:30 where a local business provides all your favorite lunch and breakfast foods for free. You dont have a full practice since you have a game tonight. You are rubbed down and tended to by among the best trainers on earth. You work up a mild sweat shooting then go back home for a nap before the game. You go to the arena about 5 where once more a small army of trainers and gofers tend to all your needs. You are given the new shoes you requested and go play for 31 minutes spread over 2 hours of commercial beaks, timeouts, challenges, free throws, half times and so on. After the game the army of medical staff prepare your ice bath, cryonic chamber, or whatever you feel keeps you at peak performance. Then the tough part of your day comes...
You grab yet another free meal of whatever it is you tell them to have ready before a 16 minute bus ride to get on a gigantic custom private plane built by Delta specifically to accommodate your unusual size. You sleep or watch film on a tablet for an hour and ten minute flight before getting off and going to the hotel on the road where the following accommodations await:
The housekeeping staff sets the stage for the Rockets' visit. If NBA teams arrive after dark, shades are drawn and lights are left on. "It's important that they're not on display for everyone when they walk in," says assistant executive housekeeper Mary Odom. Housekeepers also lay out an extra-tall giraffe-print robe on each bed and a special Rockets' room service menu on the side table.
Sundberg lifting a chair during staging. "Staging" begins as the staff sets up a special pre-registration table alongside the front desk, something akin to where you'd find your seating card at a wedding. On the table rest alphabetized envelopes, each printed with the name of a member of the Rockets' traveling party. James Harden, Dwight Howard, Ty Lawson (now with the Indiana Pacers) and Josh Smith are missing -- they're under aliases we'll protect in this feature. While envelopes are being arranged, Sundberg and four members of his staff begin clearing out furniture to make room for all the incoming luggage, which will be set in the gallery area, an alcove off the lobby that Sundberg's crew will use as a transfer point between the bus and the room.
A text from Rockets equipment manager Tony Nila: "Just landed." The team's initial ETA had been 11:50 p.m., but their game in Utah went to overtime. The Rockets' bus and their accompanying truck carrying baggage and gear pull up at the Monaco Portland. Sundberg and his crew kick into action. Typically, bellhops at the Monaco Portland are encouraged to be congenial with guests when they arrive. "How was your trip? Where are you coming from? What brings you to Portland?" But when NBA teams arrive, you suspend the chit-chat, especially when they arrive late at night. For the next half-hour, Sundberg runs a distribution center in the gallery. Personal luggage and training equipment are tagged and marked with a corresponding room number. All that stuff is then stacked onto trolleys according to floor. Team equipment and gear that never needs to see the inside of a hotel room goes into the fire control room on the lobby level.
Montrezl Harrell, left, and Ty Lawson roughhouse in the hallway. Players rarely occupy more than one-third of a team's block of rooms. The coaching staff is good for eight rooms, while the training and equipment staff claim another 10 or so, as do broadcasters and their production crew. That still leaves public relations, the team's director of security, possibly the general manager, owners or top brass from the business side.
The kitchen gets its first room service call, for chicken Alfredo. Hotel Monaco assembles a special 24-hour room service menu emblazoned with the visiting team's logo based on its own crowdsourcing of NBA players' requests over the years. "Chicken fingers are a must," says Jones. "They also love pasta with Alfredo sauce and burgers. They travel constantly and likely just want something that reminds them of home."
Team and staff members of the Houston Rockets gather in the hallway of Hotel Monaco Portland in advance of a team breakfast on Feb. 24. Whether they prepare them in-house or forage for food from an off-site restaurant, the staff at the hotel arranges the lion's share of meals for the team during its stay.
Sundberg, joking here with Jason Terry, has had opportunities to rise in the ranks of Kimpton Hotels, the boutique chain that owns and operates the Monaco Portland. But he says that he's more than happy to remain in the position he has held for close to two decades, during which time he has essentially grown up with the NBA players he serves.
K.J. McDaniels is 6-6. To accommodate NBA players like him, many Hotel Monaco rooms have beds that are 95 inches long -- 12 inches longer than standard, and showerheads that are 8 inches taller than the standard 6 feet. "I'm 6-7 and like to sleep diagonally," says Rockets forward Trevor Ariza.
NBA players draw NBA fanatics, which means Sundberg and his crew have to keep the autograph-seekers at bay. "They're always aware of who's coming and going," Sundberg says. "They'll be parked in their cars waiting for the bus to arrive. They know the routine -- a team usually leaves for shootaround about 10:30 and return around 1. Some of them track the team flights." Sundberg makes a practice of not being a jerk, but he makes it known that they're not to traipse in and out of the hotel to use the bathroom or help themselves to the complimentary happy hour. "It's a matter of being tactful with them, but letting them know I need to make sure players can come and go from the hotel without being harassed."
You have a 130 dollar daily per diem to eat on the road(even though the team still provides food)
You have yet another shootaround in the morning and play 29 minutes that night then fly home for 3 days.
Can you imagine doing this at a rate of about 130 thousand dollars per hour of PT....and calling your job and saying you cant do it tonight because you did it yesterday?
What activity would wear you out so much...you couldnt do 30 minutes of it spread over 2 hours back to back days? I think I could do actual slave labor in a mine shaft at gunpoint for 30 consecutive minutes back to back days without too many physical issues given those accommodations and staff even without the money. I wont even require the giraffe print custom sized silk robes.
There isnt much to say about the load management issue that has not been said so the specifics arent really my concern....
Im just wondering where the switch flips from just being a basketball guy who plays for hours at a time to needing this level of pampering to just show up. We all would play for nothing. Id pay them just to travel like that and not get into games. I honestly cant imagine reaching a place I would ask not to play. Id need a "Love of the game" waiver like MJ so I could play anytime I wanted without fearing for my contract if I get hurt.
You grab yet another free meal of whatever it is you tell them to have ready before a 16 minute bus ride to get on a gigantic custom private plane built by Delta specifically to accommodate your unusual size. You sleep or watch film on a tablet for an hour and ten minute flight before getting off and going to the hotel on the road where the following accommodations await:
The housekeeping staff sets the stage for the Rockets' visit. If NBA teams arrive after dark, shades are drawn and lights are left on. "It's important that they're not on display for everyone when they walk in," says assistant executive housekeeper Mary Odom. Housekeepers also lay out an extra-tall giraffe-print robe on each bed and a special Rockets' room service menu on the side table.
Sundberg lifting a chair during staging. "Staging" begins as the staff sets up a special pre-registration table alongside the front desk, something akin to where you'd find your seating card at a wedding. On the table rest alphabetized envelopes, each printed with the name of a member of the Rockets' traveling party. James Harden, Dwight Howard, Ty Lawson (now with the Indiana Pacers) and Josh Smith are missing -- they're under aliases we'll protect in this feature. While envelopes are being arranged, Sundberg and four members of his staff begin clearing out furniture to make room for all the incoming luggage, which will be set in the gallery area, an alcove off the lobby that Sundberg's crew will use as a transfer point between the bus and the room.
A text from Rockets equipment manager Tony Nila: "Just landed." The team's initial ETA had been 11:50 p.m., but their game in Utah went to overtime. The Rockets' bus and their accompanying truck carrying baggage and gear pull up at the Monaco Portland. Sundberg and his crew kick into action. Typically, bellhops at the Monaco Portland are encouraged to be congenial with guests when they arrive. "How was your trip? Where are you coming from? What brings you to Portland?" But when NBA teams arrive, you suspend the chit-chat, especially when they arrive late at night. For the next half-hour, Sundberg runs a distribution center in the gallery. Personal luggage and training equipment are tagged and marked with a corresponding room number. All that stuff is then stacked onto trolleys according to floor. Team equipment and gear that never needs to see the inside of a hotel room goes into the fire control room on the lobby level.
Montrezl Harrell, left, and Ty Lawson roughhouse in the hallway. Players rarely occupy more than one-third of a team's block of rooms. The coaching staff is good for eight rooms, while the training and equipment staff claim another 10 or so, as do broadcasters and their production crew. That still leaves public relations, the team's director of security, possibly the general manager, owners or top brass from the business side.
The kitchen gets its first room service call, for chicken Alfredo. Hotel Monaco assembles a special 24-hour room service menu emblazoned with the visiting team's logo based on its own crowdsourcing of NBA players' requests over the years. "Chicken fingers are a must," says Jones. "They also love pasta with Alfredo sauce and burgers. They travel constantly and likely just want something that reminds them of home."
Team and staff members of the Houston Rockets gather in the hallway of Hotel Monaco Portland in advance of a team breakfast on Feb. 24. Whether they prepare them in-house or forage for food from an off-site restaurant, the staff at the hotel arranges the lion's share of meals for the team during its stay.
Sundberg, joking here with Jason Terry, has had opportunities to rise in the ranks of Kimpton Hotels, the boutique chain that owns and operates the Monaco Portland. But he says that he's more than happy to remain in the position he has held for close to two decades, during which time he has essentially grown up with the NBA players he serves.
K.J. McDaniels is 6-6. To accommodate NBA players like him, many Hotel Monaco rooms have beds that are 95 inches long -- 12 inches longer than standard, and showerheads that are 8 inches taller than the standard 6 feet. "I'm 6-7 and like to sleep diagonally," says Rockets forward Trevor Ariza.
NBA players draw NBA fanatics, which means Sundberg and his crew have to keep the autograph-seekers at bay. "They're always aware of who's coming and going," Sundberg says. "They'll be parked in their cars waiting for the bus to arrive. They know the routine -- a team usually leaves for shootaround about 10:30 and return around 1. Some of them track the team flights." Sundberg makes a practice of not being a jerk, but he makes it known that they're not to traipse in and out of the hotel to use the bathroom or help themselves to the complimentary happy hour. "It's a matter of being tactful with them, but letting them know I need to make sure players can come and go from the hotel without being harassed."
You have a 130 dollar daily per diem to eat on the road(even though the team still provides food)
You have yet another shootaround in the morning and play 29 minutes that night then fly home for 3 days.
Can you imagine doing this at a rate of about 130 thousand dollars per hour of PT....and calling your job and saying you cant do it tonight because you did it yesterday?
What activity would wear you out so much...you couldnt do 30 minutes of it spread over 2 hours back to back days? I think I could do actual slave labor in a mine shaft at gunpoint for 30 consecutive minutes back to back days without too many physical issues given those accommodations and staff even without the money. I wont even require the giraffe print custom sized silk robes.
There isnt much to say about the load management issue that has not been said so the specifics arent really my concern....
Im just wondering where the switch flips from just being a basketball guy who plays for hours at a time to needing this level of pampering to just show up. We all would play for nothing. Id pay them just to travel like that and not get into games. I honestly cant imagine reaching a place I would ask not to play. Id need a "Love of the game" waiver like MJ so I could play anytime I wanted without fearing for my contract if I get hurt.