Pero Antic walked up to the Hawk’s practice facility on the first day of training camp, eager to make a good impression. He opened the door, and walked towards the gym, encountering Jeff Teague. He smiled warmly and extended his hand. “Hi, I’m Pero Antic, your new teammate.”
Jeff smiled and shook the offered hand. “Sorry, I didn’t catch that first part, but whatever. I didn’t realize we signed Carlos Boozer! What happened, you get amnestied or something? I don’t remember any trades going down.”
“You must have misheard. I’m not Carlos Boozer. I’m Pero Antic, from Macedonia”.
Jeff wasn’t listening. “Come on, let’s head to the gym, I want to introduce you to the other guys. They’re gonna be so excited. Except for Paul, you two are gonna have to fight for minutes!”
Pero followed his new teammate dutifully. He tried to clear up the confusion, but he could hardly get a word in as Jeff regaled him with tales about the nice weather and hot babes in Atlanta.
As they walked into the weight room, they encountered Kyle Korver. His initial confused look was replaced quickly by a wide smile. He walked over.
“Booze, so good to see you again! I wasn’t aware we signed you! We’re gonna be recreating that sick Bulls team, except instead of Rose we get this loser.”
Teague laughed. “At least I can stay healthy!”
Pero tried again to rectify the misunderstanding. “No, no, I’m not Carlos Boozer. I’ve never even met him. I’m Pero Antic. I never played on the Bulls.”
Kyle looked concerned. “Man, Carlos, your voice sounds really messed up. It’s like you just got off the plane from Skopje or something. You feeling okay?”
Pero threw up his hands and walked out, muttering Macedonian obscenities to himself. The remaining two Hawks looked at each other surprisedly.
“Sorry about that, Jeff. Booze can get a little testy sometimes. And I heard he got amnestied, that must be tough on him. Poor guy.”