A Quote by Sonny Vaccaro

NBA has a selfish rationale. It saves the owners money by delaying the time a player gets to a second, more lucrative contract. Even the player's union is on board. There are only 450 jobs in the NBA, and the one-and-done protects veterans' jobs.
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.'
Inch for inch, the 6-foot-3 Westbrook is the NBA's most sensationally talented player, a relentlessly explosive basket-attacker with a deadly pull-up jumper - a top-10 NBA player by any big-picture statistical measure from Player Efficiency Rating to Win Shares.
I always felt that I had to leave a legacy on the African continent. As I was only the third player to come to the NBA from Africa, I felt I had to do my best to recruit more young Africans to come and play in the NBA - and also find a way to bring the NBA to Africa.
My dream was to be in the NBA. I wasn't really focused on being a star player on a team. I just wanted to make it to the NBA. I've been blessed for the opportunities to be in the Finals, been in the playoffs ever since I've been in the NBA.
The NBA is a difficult thing because the head coaches, they definitely have one of the more difficult jobs and one of the jobs with, I guess, little amount of security as possible. There's so much turnover all the time.
It's tough at first. You realize in the NBA, it's not easy. Each and every night, you're playing against that player that was the best high school player, that player that was the best player on his college team.
You can ask all the best players in the NBA - there's not one player in the NBA that guards them like me.
I know I can play in the NBA, and I can be a very good player in the NBA.
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.
I'm the NBA's best NFL player, and I've always been the sexiest 7-footer in the NBA - for 12 years running.
That's what people don't understand, that in the NBA these are the best 450 players in the world, in the game of basketball, are in the NBA.
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.
To be a great player or a good player in the NBA, I have to work on my perimeter game.
I experienced the G League in two forms: one as an assignment player, and then one of actually being in the G League after I got cut by the Bulls. Obviously, both situations are different. You actually sort of still get treated like an NBA player when you're on assignment. When you're in G League on contract, you're down there for real.
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.
The NBA is a culture shock for college kids, and even more so for kids from another country. The NBA is a unique environment, so there is going to be transition for any young kid, but I think coming from another country and culture is even harder. It does take a special toughness and confidence to deal with that, especially since a lot of times you don't play a lot as a young player.
This site uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience. More info...
Got it!