A Quote by Quinn Cook
I was fortunate to be in a great situation in Canton, be the leader of the team my rookie year. I got to show a lot of people that I was an NBA player on a nightly basis.
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Obviously in the NBA, winning is everything; every NBA player will tell you when you are in a winning situation that's what this league is about. That one year in Phoenix when we went to the Western Conference finals was amazing; Portland when we got to the second round was a great year.
During my senior year, there were NBA scouts at my games. At some point, I guess, I started hoping I'd get drafted by a team where there would be a great situation for me. As it turned out, Portland was the best situation for me.
For me, I spent four years at Duke, and I was 22 my rookie year. For a lot of guys, I was old as a rookie, but nothing could prepare me for the NBA, both on the court and off the court.
It took a lot of work to go from the 'Not Top 10' to being selected for the NBA All-Rookie First Team.
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.'
A lot of people, when a guy scores a lot of goals, think, 'He's a great player', because a goal is very important, but a great player is a player who can do everything on the field. He can do assists, encourage his colleagues, give them confidence to go forward. It is someone who, when a team does not do well, becomes one of the leaders.
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.
You always miss a great player, but I think the players on this team have taken a lot of pride in overcoming obstatcles when we have a player down ? not only the offensive players, but the defensive players. We were very fortunate that we played that well.
But when you get into a situation where you can acquire a proven leader, a proven quality player, an unselfish player, a guy who taken a team to the Super Bowl, I think you do it.
I remember when I was in 'Hairspray' - my first Broadway show - I truly was in awe of the voices I got to hear on a nightly basis around me. I'm thinking, 'Wow! Why aren't these people selling millions of records?' They're the ones that are out there, you know, belting their faces off!
In my rookie year, I got a chance to play and from there on, I just tried to prove I can be a really good player in this league.
Out of high school, I was, like, 202-205 pounds. My rookie season, I was, like, 245; my second year, I was 255. My third year, I got up to like 272, and I tore my ACL. I don't know if my weight was part of the cause of that, but I got hurt, so I just tried to re-evaluate my situation.
Visualize a wagon wheel as a complete team. A leader might be the hub of the wheel at the center. Now suppose the spokes are the connecting relationships the leader is building with people on the outer rim of the wheel. If the hub is removed, then the entire wheel collapses. In a situation like that, if a team loses the leader, the entire team collapses.
There are a lot of things that you learn as a rookie and you grow the most, I would say as a rookie from your first year to your second year.
I've been very fortunate throughout my life with a number of opportunities, a number of great people that have helped me be in the position that I am today to be an NBA basketball player and to be living out my dream.
Two years ago, of course, I was just a rookie and listened to everybody. In a way I am still a rookie. I'm only 23 and I'll be surrounded by great players who have played in a lot more Ryder Cups than myself. But the rankings say I am the best player at the moment and so that brings a responsibility.
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