D-Will's Turkey Diary, Part 1: The transition

When we first got over here, I was in Turkey for a day, then went straight to Italy with the team for 10 days. I'd never been to Italy before and it was always someplace that I'd wanted to go. The first city we went to was Bormio, which is a really secluded farm town, but I'm told it's also a popular ski area.

We played a couple of games there and then we had to drive six hours to a city close to Florence called Castelfiorentino. That was different than anything I'd experienced in the NBA. There aren't any six-hour bus rides in the NBA.

Since I was gone for almost two weeks right after we got here, we only got a house of our own just a few days ago. Before that, the family was in a hotel for those first couple of weeks in Turkey and the kids were cooped up in a room for two weeks. We were trying to get them into school, but that was a little more of a process than we originally thought to get them enrolled. It was tough for them, but now that they're in international school, they've settled in. The kids are happy. They're making some friends and the two older ones are out of the house more. I think that's a blessing for us and for them.

Istanbul is an unbelievable city. We've been out to several Turkish restaurants already and the food is amazing. The Turkish people have been very welcoming. They love kids and everywhere we go somebody is stopping to greet us and hug the babies. There are just very warm people here. I'm really happy for that. The people here recognize me for the most part, but it's not to the point where we can't go out. I've been to a couple malls and a couple markets, and I'm always taking pictures and signing autographs. Basketball is pretty big here in Turkey. It's not as big as soccer, but it's big.