With sports you have to take the wins with the losses, the good with the bad: so I figured I would do the same as I write for my blog. One of the most frustrating things for an athlete is to underachieve, and that pretty much sums up our season in Detroit as a team and especially for me on a personal level. Although I don’t believe it was from a lack of effort—I do think that I worked hard last season, my work was somehow not efficient or effective. I just know that I didn’t get the results that I am capable of, hence the disappointment.

The life of an athlete is full of ups and downs, the highs of winning big games and career best performances, and the lows of buzzer beating losses and shooting slumps. As frustrating as the season was last year, I can say that I learned a lot about myself: areas I need to work on and strengths that I didn’t know existed. To the fans in Detroit, I simply want to say “thank you” for your support. Your encouragement was a constant that helped us make our way into play-offs at the end of the season.

To current players on all levels, I want to pass on a few words of encouragement. I often get questions asking for advice about how to handle different situations that you experience as a player. For those of you who might have recently gone through a frustrating season in your sport, I want to start of by saying that you must believe in yourself. When times are tough, the people who were there exclaiming your “greatness” are going to be hard to find, therefore you must gain confidence from yourself (regardless of how you are playing). Just keep working on your game, go back to the basics and make the game as simple as possible.

Disappointments cause us to question ourselves. It is in the process of seeking these answers that we come to realizations about ourselves. Realizations that highlight the avenues of change, and allow us to get better and eventually find the good out of a disappointing season.