Collison averges about 13 minutes a game in first NBA season

With his injury behind him Iowa Falls native Nic Collison is settling in to his first season in the NBA with the Seattle Sonics. After a standout carrer at Kansas University, Collison missed all of what would have been his first season in the NBA after undergoing surgery on an injured shoulder. This season he has appeared in avery game for Seattle and averaged about 13-minnutes per contest. “My shoulder’s been a non-issue since the surgery. The surgeon did a good job and I did a good job with the rehab,” Collison says. “I had a little knee issue but I’ve been able to play through that. Someone told me once you get in the NBA, you’re not going to feel 100 percent healthy until you retire.” Collison says going from college to the NBA is a big adjustment. “The way the game is played as well as just the talent level and the size,” Collison says. The hardest adjustment for Collison, though, has been finding a role on the team. Collison attributes good old-fashioned hard work and his love of the game as reasons why he is playing in the NBA today. That love of the game came at an early age. “I love to play. I love to work on my game, definitely worked very hard at it,” Collison says. “There’s only 400 or so players in the league so to be one of the top 400 players in the world you have to put in a lot of hard work and I think most of the guys at this level have done that.” Collison was taken by Seattle with the 12th pick in the opening round of the 2003 draft.