But rather than rest on his late season laurels and take the summer to enjoy the trappings that come with celebrity, Gay spent the summer working tirelessly on improving as a player.

He and New Orleans Hornets point guard Chris Paul took a trip together to the Bahamas shortly after the season ended, but rather than enjoy the sun and atmosphere, the pair went spent the two weeks doing very little other than working on their games. So why go all the way to the Bahamas just to play basketball, when they could have easily done it anywhere in the U.S.?

“It wasn’t really about the vacation. It was about nobody calling you, nobody could bother you, just straight working out.”