A Quote by Giannis Antetokounmpo

The Bucks and John Hammond chose me in the draft, got me in the NBA, kept me in the team with a role from my very first season, and they are my basketball family. — © Giannis Antetokounmpo
The Bucks and John Hammond chose me in the draft, got me in the NBA, kept me in the team with a role from my very first season, and they are my basketball family.
It is very important to me to maintain a consistent workout regimen during the season. The Bulls staff does a great job with providing me with a weekly workout, and these kept me energized throughout my rookie season. In the off season, I try to increase my strength and add new dimensions to my game.
For me, when you're going in the late rounds you just always have that chip on your shoulder. At the end of the day, every team that didn't draft me - including the team that took me 203rd - everybody passed me a few times. And, for me, that kind of fueled me over the years.
Basketball is definitely basketball and that's what we love to play, but in the NBA, there's a business side of it. It's a very serious matter and it's important. It's important to me, it's important to my family.
When I was 17, I made the decision to have a good attitude. I was a junior in high school; the coach said I was going to be the captain of my basketball team. I thought – that surprised me because I wasn’t the best player. John Thomas was better than me, and I was probably second or third best player. And I kept thinking, “Why am I going to be the captain?” I think everybody else was thinking that too. And the coach then answered, “The reason John is going to be the captain is he has the best attitude on the team. He encourages others, he believes we can win, he never gives up.”
When I got to the NBA, that first Knicks group was pretty dysfunctional. But it was on me, too. I didn't understand the game as much as I should have. I should have watched more film. Instead of thinking of the team, I was thinking about me. That Knicks team went 23-59.
I'm not gonna be someone I'm not, because I don't want them to draft someone who's not me, and then I have to try and fill that role. I'm gonna be me, and hopefully a team falls in love with me.
I played a little basketball, but basketball interfered with theater season. That's when we did our term plays and did nutshell versions of Shakespeare for English classes. And, believe me, I got a fair amount of looks from the guys on the team. 'You're in theater but you can play football?'
It's humbling to know that you have fans all over America and all over the world and they want you to play on their respective basketball team. It's very humbling that they respect the way I play the game of basketball. I can't discredit that. I can't say I don't enjoy it because you put in a lot of hard work to have fans. And for me to be a role model and for me to have fans all over is great. It's very humbling.
When ROH came to me, they made it very clear they wanted me on their team. It wasn't a case of them finding me, I chose them. I knew they were the company for me.
From age 23 to 44 - I'm 45 now - I was always in need of money, and I was especially in need of it from 23 to about 34, and my great aunt would always give me money, a hundred bucks, every two months or so, and a lot of times that hundred bucks made a huge difference - I could eat or pay a small bill. It kept me going. She gave me money. It was very loving.
Even before I made my high school team, I'd say I want to be a NBA player, and people laughed at me with, 'Get out of here, you ain't going to be a NBA player. You don't even play basketball.'
My dream was to become a rec league coach. I love basketball so much, I love playing it, I just never thought I'd make it to college, NBA, or be standing up here today. It is a surreal feeling. So many people doubted me and motivated me. I failed so many times and got back up. I got through the toughest times with my family, but I'm still standing.
Writing, yeah. Me and my friend Scott Bloom just finished the first rough draft of a script. It's taken us three years to do, but we finally got a first draft. And we'll see whatever happens with that.
When I came out in the draft, people kept asking me, 'So are you a small forward or a power forward?' and I was like, 'I'm a basketball player.' Period.
First draft: let it run. Turn all the knobs up to 11. Second draft: hell. Cut it down and cut it into shape. Third draft: comb its nose and blow its hair. I usually find that most of the book will have handed itself to me on that first draft.
I remember Emilio [Estevez] and I were at John's house during the rehearsal process. And John [Huges] had mentioned he wrote the first draft of Breakfast Club in a weekend. And we both at the same time went, "First draft? How many do you have?" And John said he's got four other drafts. And we go, "Can we read them?" And for the next three hours, Emilio and I read those other four drafts.
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