GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- They've only been together for a week and a half -- but the Grand Rapids Drive are already sick of each other.
No, they aren't at odds with one another; they just want to go against players in different uniforms - and are ready for the franchise's first NBDL season to start on Saturday.
"We've pretty much beat each other up over the last week and a half," head coach Otis Smith said after practice Tuesday. "I think because we work so hard in practice, when you get to the game, it's almost refreshing - almost like a let-up - because the game is a lot easier than the actual practice. So I think it'll be good once we get out and play a couple games against someone else to see where we are and to see what we need to continue to work on."
"A lot of guys are very, very ready," Robert Covington, the franchise's first-ever draft pick, laughed on Tuesday. "We've done a lot this past week and a half. Like you said, we are tired of beating up on each other each and every day, but that's the thing you gotta do to get better as a team."
The Drive open the season with four straight road games, starting at Bakersfield on Saturday at 7:00 p.m.
