If somebody said, 'You're going to be the Number 1 pick; you're going to have a great team around you all these years'? It would've been too easy.
I never had a job. My first job was quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens.
It feels really great to finally be able to have the moment of being drafted No. 1.
I've been criticized my whole career. When I got drafted in the second round in the green room, they said I wouldn't even make it in the N.B.A.
I had been told I might be drafted in the fourth round. 'Great,' I said at the time.
I was a pitcher, shortstop and outfielder, and the Yankees tried to sign me out of high school as a first-round draft pick in 1981. I turned them down to go to college.
Tony Bradley is pretty good.
On draft day, I wasn't really nervous at all. Then you turn on the draft, the first five picks go by, and then you still thinking, 'Oh man, I don't know where I'm going to go.' It's really just, by the time draft hits, that's when you get nervous.
It's been a dream come true, you know, just making it to the NBA and being drafted by a great franchise like Boston.
A personnel guy always wants to get his pick right. We live that every year. We want to make sure the pick is right.
I was a professional baseball player from the time I was drafted out of high school in 1981 until the time I retired in 2003.
Having my name called to be the first pick for the Phoenix Suns was mind-blowing. Having all that confidence and leading up to that point when I saw Adam Silver come out, I was just waiting for my name, and when he called it, my mind went blank.
It's always different when a guy gets drafted and developed and comes up in his first organization and makes an impact. There's something special and timeless about it.
I came into the league in '94.
It's cool to be a Laker: that's basketball royalty, in a sense. The best franchise in basketball, so to be drafted by them is pretty cool, pretty special.
I had little or no expectations coming in. I was thrilled when I was drafted in the first round because that meant I was going to be given a full year's chance to make the team.
I definitely would embrace that opportunity to be the No. 1 overall pick, obviously that every quarterback would love to be that. It's no different for me.
Once my junior year finished at Florida State, I won the Rhodes Scholarship and I was also projected as a second-round draft pick.
It made the most sense for us to select Sam Bowie. It was almost a no-brainer.
I was pretty realistic about my chances of being drafted.
I don't think the Lakers really knew me when they first drafted me. They just saw my name and my size and my stats. They just picked somebody because they had to.
At the combine and at my workouts, I tried to be the perfect player. I tried to promote my strengths and conceal my weaknesses, and on paper, I kind of succeeded: I was the first pick in the draft. And with that, I inherited this big shiny trophy that I carried around, and it had one word engraved on it - anxiety.
I feel like the Knicks drafted me because they knew what I could do.
I remember placing the New Era cap on my head at the 2017 NBA draft - that moment changed my life. I'm excited to be a part of a brand that has a strong sport heritage and look forward to being a part of their history.
The Celtics were always going to pick me No. 1, but Philly didn't know that.
