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"\n\nA word from the editors:\n\nThis is Lang Whitaker, and I help edit Nick CoIlison&amp;#39;s blog here on GQ.com. In his last installment about the importance of knowing your role as an athlete, Nick wrote:\n\n&amp;quot;The hard part is being able to have the focus to do it over and over again, knowing you aren&amp;#39;t going to get a lot of credit. Doing a great job of talking on defense won&amp;#39;t get you any high-paying endorsement deals. Nobody is making a YouTube mix of all your badass screens with a Rick Ross track playing over it. (I&amp;#39;m not saying I would complain if someone did this for me.)&amp;quot;\n\nAnd then, shortly after those words were posted here at GQ.com, two very clever people got to work on Nick&amp;#39;s behalf. Now the universe has been blessed with a pair of YouTube mis of Nick&amp;#39;s badass screens with a Rick Ross track playing over them.\n\nThe first video, which is at the top of this post, comes from the excellent Oklahoma City Thunder blog, Daily Thunder, and is set to the Ross track, &amp;quot;Billionaire.&amp;quot; It&amp;#39;s titled &amp;quot;The ultimate Nick Collison mix,&amp;quot; and it contains many sublime moments\u2014Nick hurrying to inbound the ball, for instance, after a made basket at the 34-second mark\u2014but the bulk of the video is just Collison doing all the things most people don&amp;#39;t focus on when watching NBA games: setting picks, playing solid defense, drawing charges. It&amp;#39;s also worth noting all of the plays in this video come from a single game\u2014the Thunder/Kings match-up on February 9, which underscores Collison&amp;#39;s nightly importance to the Thunder.\n\nOnto Collison/Ross mash-up #2...\n\n\n\nThis one comes from user &amp;quot;birddogtheaction,&amp;quot; and is titled &amp;quot;Nick Collison: The Boss of Screening.&amp;quot; This video is set to the seminal Ross track, &amp;quot;Hustlin&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;&amp;quot; and it begins with a more narrative tone: We see Memphis Grizzlies forward Darrell Arthur dunking forcefully over Nick\u2014but Nick draws an offensive foul on the play. The Grizz players seem stunned by the call, especially Marc Gasol, who is downright shocked. But is he amazed by the foul\u2014or by Collison&amp;#39;s hustle? Perhaps we&amp;#39;ll never know. There is a delightful bit of editing-as-literalism at the 1:50 mark, when Ross says, &amp;quot;I caught a charge,&amp;quot; and on-screen Nick takes a charge from Minnesota rookie Derrick Williams.\n\nWhen most fans watch the NBA, they focus on the movement of the ball and scoring plays; to crib a line from Mr. Ross, &amp;quot;If it ain&amp;#39;t about cash, I don&amp;#39;t really care.&amp;quot; Nick, however, makes his cash by not being about cash (scoring, highlight dunks, etc.). And that&amp;#39;s why he&amp;#39;s a bawse.\n\nPS: Unrelated but equally entertaining, some user on YouTube points out that the digital version of Nick in NBA 2K12 is as adept at drawing fouls as the real Nick. Or maybe the game designers just think he falls down a lot.\n\n\n\nThanks to both talented filmmakers for their work, and thanks for reading. Nick will be back soon with a fresh post of his own."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.gq.com/story/the-nick-collison-guest-blog-a-very-special-bonus-edition>