It felt like there were a thousand NBA events going on today. The Rookie and Sophomore shootarounds were taking place at the Jam Session. The cattle-like media availability session was over at the Sheraton hotel. The NBA's Day of Service projects were going on all day, all across the city. I’ll be honest; the choices were a little overwhelming. I have problems deciding whether I’ll take milk in my coffee most mornings.

But in the end, I decided to roll the dice with the Rookie practice. Two real reasons why: (1) it was at the Ernest Memorial Convention Center which was only a 5-minute walk from my hotel. Score. And (2) I really wanted to see Luis Scola live in the flesh. (Mission accomplished!)

Anyway, if you're up for it, a few award-winning photos and thoughts after the jump.



As you can probably imagine, the Rookie practice was exceptionally, um, laid-back. (It was like God had pressed the "slow-mo" button or something.) Mic'd-up Rookie Coach Darrell Walker walked the guys through some shooting drills and called a few team huddles. That's it really. His words of advice? “Have fun, play together, and you’re going to be on national TV tonight so don't poop yourself."



Nets' forward Sean Williams was definitely having the most fun out of the lot. He skipped his way round the court, turned every third shot he took into a fall-away-rainbow jumper, and basically just goofed off. That, and his headband was as far as way back on his dome as I have ever seen it. He must use bobby pins to keep that thing on..



No, definitely not the largest crowd in Rookie practice history ...



This was DJ Bedz. DJ Bedz enjoys Missy Elliott club-bangers and living in his basketball net home. He lives a simple life, DJ Bedz. This picture made me incredibly sad.

Related: BDL in the Easy