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"FacebookPinterest\n\nOklahoma City Thunder power forward Nick Collison has spent the last two seasons contributing to GQ.com. Today Nick makes an appearance with his trademark Twitter mailbag column...\n\nShina Ototivo @tao23G2G\n\n @nickcollison4 Did your parents play basketball?? Or any other sport?\n\nMy dad played college basketball at Briar Cliff University, which is an NAIA school in Iowa. My mom played 6-on-6 high school basketball in Iowa. Small schools in Iowa played 6-on-6 girls basketball all the way until 1993. It was basically two games of 3-on-3 on different ends of the court, so girls who played offense the whole game were called \"forwards\" and players like my mom, who played defense the entire game, were called \"guards.\" So she literally played defense her entire high school career. She hurt her knee late in her senior year but played the last couple of games. Last year, her knee was bothering her and she went to get it checked out. The doctor told said her ACL had disintegrated. She had torn her ACL in that game and had been walking around with a torn or nonexistent ACL for the last 40 years. I also weighed 11 pounds and 9 ounces at birth. My mom is tough as nails.\n\nKelly Allen @KellyMAllen11\n\n @nickcollison4 With so many young guns on the Thunder team, how do you see your role as a mentor for those new to the league?\n\nI've played with around 70 or so teammates in my 10 years with this organization. If you add training camp invitees and summer league guys who never stuck around, I'm sure I've played with over 100 guys. There have been a lot of guys who have helped me a great deal. There have been some who have given me great stories to tell. Most of my teammates have been great to play with, while only a handful of others haven't.\n\nNow I'm at the stage of my career where I'm one of the veteran guys, and I definitely try to help out the younger players. The main point I always try to make to new young players is that you are a professional now. You represent yourself. You shouldn't look at the work as something your coaches are making you do anymore. Instead, look at the work as an investment in your career. Find a way to help the team, and do the work to get better at it. I can't think of many careers with the opportunity to advance financially that playing professional sports can provide. On the flip side there are few careers with less job security when you consider the number of roster spots compared with the number of new applicants every year.\n\nPlayers can tell if you're fake--you can't say one thing and do another. It's not about making speeches or taking guys out when you're on the road. It's about doing the work every day, and helping when you can.\n\nMelanie Darter &amp;amp;#xE2;&amp;amp;#xBF;&amp;amp;#xBF;@hippiemel\n\n @nickcollison4 what's your most embarrassing story that happened on the basketball court?\n\nI was at an AAU tournament the summer before my senior year of high school. At the time I was a highly recruited prospect, and I had a ton of college coaches there to watch me play, including Mike Krzyzewski and Roy Williams. I thought I was bad. I was about to take the ball out on the far end of the court, when I noticed my shoe was untied. So I stopped to tie my shoelaces, which were ridiculously long for some reason. I threw the ball inbounds and took 2 or 3 steps, when I tripped over one of the ridiculously long loops and fell all the way to the floor...all alone in the backcourt...after the game had stopped so I could tie my shoe.\n\nKyler Hallmark @kylerHallmark\n\n @nickcollison4 What is the product you use to keep your hair looking so \"GQ\" during games?\n\nFor some reason, when I put out the call on Twitter for this mailbag, I got more questions about my hair then anything else, so I feel obligated to answer at least one. And I have to admit I feel strange about giving style advice, but then, who am I to deny the people what they want? So here's my secret: I don't put any type of product in my hair during games. I have before, and when the sweat gets in my eyes, it stings. I wash my hair 3 or 4 times a week, and I use conditioner. I usually take a nap on game days, so I put my head under the shower to get rid of the bed head, then use my hands to part it to the side, and I'm out the door.\n\nBrett Ballard &amp;amp;#xE2;&amp;amp;#xBF;&amp;amp;#xBF;@brettballard3\n\n @nickcollison4 You drove a woodgrain mini van in college. Any thoughts of bringing that look back into your whip game?\n\nThis question comes from one of my favorite former Jayhawk teammates. Brett, lets take a moment to appreciate the beauty that was \"The Woodgrain.\" (She looked similar to one of these heavenly creatures.)\n\nShe had style. She had grace. She was a work of art. She dressed in navy with those rich mahogany sides. She had that shape I like with so much room in the back. We had some unforgettable nights. She even let my teammates come along for rides, because she understood \"it ain't no fun if the homies can't come.\" She was a 1990 Dodge Caravan and I loved her.\n\nThe truth is, we were both young. We had our ups and downs. I still recall the night when, visiting friends at another school, her sliding door came off the hinges in my hand, and we had to drive 60 miles back home on the highway with no door. I still remember overhearing Drew Gooden tell a girl, \"Yeah, I got a car... well I mean, its like all of ours. It's the team van.\" It was a crazy new time. We were just getting started when, tragically, her transmission went out the fall of my junior year.\n\nEventually, I had to let her go. She was my first love.\n\nNick Collison is a power forward for the Oklahoma City Thunder and a GQ contributor. Follow him on Twitter at @nickcollison4."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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