On game days we have a shootaround, which is a light one-hour practice, around 11 AM. We watch film clips on the other team’s personnel and walk through some of their favorite sets. The scouting of the opposing team has been done by advanced scouts, who have been in different cities watching the opponent’s last few games; an assistant coach watches the last few games on film. We then run through our plays 5-on-0 and do some shooting drills, then head back to the hotel. I usually eat, take a nap, eat again, pack my bag and give it to the bellman, then check out. When we go to games there are three buses, and guys have different times they need to be at the arena. I take the second bus, which arrives two hours before the game. I get dressed and get on the table for about 15 minutes of treatment with our physical therapist. I have a few minor issues I need maintenance on day to day to avoid bigger problems down the road. (I had knee surgery in the spring of 2010. Our therapist does manual work to make sure my knee keeps its proper mobility. I’ve also dealt with things like thigh bruises, broken fingers, sprained ankles, hip pointers, and nasal fractures that you can play through but need day to day work to get over.) While I’m on the table I read my scouting report and start to really focus on the game. With 75 minutes on the clock before game time, I get with our strength coach and do a light 10-minute workout, then get on the court for my shooting routine with one of our coaches. Each player has his own routine with a certain coach, at a certain time before each game. Then we all meet at 40 minutes on the clock and watch some film clips of sets the other team will run.

Coach Cheeks told me when he played, teams didn’t have buses. They piled into a few Cadillacs and got to hotels and arenas by themselves. If the guys on our team had to do that—get around all these different cities using an actual map, instead of Google Maps on our iPhones—it would be a disaster. I would get lost and be late to half the games. The only pregame requirement back then was that the players had to be dressed and seated 40 minutes before game time. There wasn’t much scouting; the assistant coach went to games when he could to see other teams. That was all they had. Each player had one uniform and brought it himself to every game. After the games, he was responsible for washing it. On back to backs, Coach Cheeks would shower with his jersey and shorts on, washing them and leaving them to dry in the room. The home uniforms would be white at the beginning of the season and by the end of the year they would end up somewhere between off-white and grey.

In his 30 years in the NBA, Mo Cheeks has seen the transformation of the NBA from a league with its Finals televised on tape delay to the huge money-making business it is today. He says the most obvious change from then to now is the size and athleticism of all 15 players on the roster. Back then, most teams would have three or four elite athletes, and the rest of the roster would be guys who could play but didn’t have the special athleticism that so many guys in the league have today. Fighting was much more frequent then, because throwing a punch would only get you a technical foul and maybe a $50 fine, compared to the hundreds of thousands of dollars lost to the guaranteed lengthy suspension a punch will get you today. The players are more friendly now and all seem to know each other. In Coach Cheeks’s day you only knew your teammates. He told me a story about how he hated the Celtics but had to share a cab with Robert Parish at an All-Star Weekend, and ended up really liking the guy.

One thing that hasn’t changed is players still have days where they don’t want to practice. He recalled one day when the team was practicing and the guys didn’t want to be there, so Darryl Dawkins said, "I’m gonna rip the rim off the backboard so we can get out of here." Dawkins then did exactly that, shattering the backboard and sending glass everywhere. It didn’t work, though: their coach just made the team finish playing half court on the other end.

Playing in the NBA is a blessing. In my opinion, it’s the best job in the world. It has gotten so much better for players over the years, and we’re all really fortunate to be playing in this era. I love playing for so many reasons, and hearing some of these crazy stories from a NBA lifer like Mo Cheeks is right up there at the top.

Nick Collison, 31, a power forward for the Oklahoma City Thunder, will be guest-blogging for GQ throughout the 2011-2012 NBA season. Follow Nick on Twitter, @nickcollison4.