A Quote by Ernie Johnson Jr.

You're more apt to criticize an NBA player than you are a college players. Some of these guys are freshmen. They are learning the game. The other guys have taken it to the biggest stage there is. That's the NBA. So they are going to get more heat if they don't perform.
I always tried to be an all-around player. In college, I felt like I needed to add to my game to get to another level, to get to the NBA. The NBA has really turned to positionless basketball, so it was very important to me to have an all-around game so I could stand out in front of other guys.
College is so different from the NBA. You have three guys coming at you and trapping all over the place, and NBA is different. There's more space.
Yeah, I was ready for the NBA. Because I went through a lot of things back overseas. And you know, playing professionally from a young age and then playing against the older guys - guys over 30; older, talented guys - was really tough, but it also helped my game grow and just get me ready for the NBA.
The Energy job was probably the key. It kind of transitioned me back into the States. It gave me a link to the NBA. And I got to make some contacts and meet some players and get players set up and learn the NBA game and terminology and coaching those type of players. It was certainly a huge, huge key to getting to the NBA.
I've always found myself watching the NBA game more, even when I was coaching college. So I'll probably gravitate toward doing something in the NBA.
I remember when I came into the NBA, eighteen years ago, there were maybe nine to twelve international players playing in the NBA. Today we've got more than 85, so that tells you how our game has grown at that level.
My good friend Yao Ming was the first big player in the NBA to come from China. He gave himself to the game and was successful. That inspired the NBA to invest more and do more for the game of basketball. We're building academies not just in China, but in India, Africa, Europe and South America as well.
To me it seemed in college ball, guys are more hungry. It's for a different circumstance when you're talking about playing for money and playing for heart. Not saying that guys in the NBA don't play for heart, but once you get that money, you're under a different mindset.
Hey, the Clippers are a good NBA basketball school. Helps out all the young guys who come into the league. It's not a fast team, not like a real NBA team. All the players have to worry about is improving on their own. You are there for your first few years. They teach you a little bit about the game, and then they let you go.
If you look at the history of the NBA, guys that came out of high school are the guys that held the NBA together. You look a Kobe Bryant, you look at a LeBron, these are household names.
It's a new NBA, man. Guys are playing on a new team every year now, and it has nothing to do with how good of a player you are, it's just how the NBA is.
I kind of like the idea of just coaching, nothing else. But I just think some coaches are better suited for college than the NBA. I believe I'm one of those guys. I think Tom Izzo is one of those guys. Mike Krzyzewski. I think they found the right jobs and they've stayed with them.
You can ask all the best players in the NBA - there's not one player in the NBA that guards them like me.
I think it's not just me. I think there is a lot of guys in the NBA that - just kind of big men in the NBA that can affect the game in so many ways.
I had never dreamed about the NBA like some guys did. I was a non-scholarship player at an NAIA college. I played on the Boys and Girls Club team in my freshman and sophomore years of high school before I made the high school team. I was our backup center in college.
The NBA has more than 435 players and there are at least 100-some players doing more than expected. Shaq is doing a lot. Dwight Howard, [Manu] Ginobli. Dirk [Nowitzki] is doing a lot, and not just in Europe; he's reaching out to Africa and all other places.
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