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From ESPN.com: Marc Stein’s Interview with Vlade

September 24th, 2009 Leave a comment Go to comments

Stein sat down with Vlade Divac and talked about the European legend’s career in the NBA and beyond.

Here’s the video:

And a little excerpt from the article:

“Back then it bothered me,” Divac said. “From this distance, I am OK. I know we didn’t win [the] championship, but I think we were a championship team.

“People here [in America] are making a big deal about ring or no ring. I was playing against the Lakers and I remember someone [in the crowd] shouted, ‘How many rings you got?’ I told him one. He looked at me [funny], so I said, ‘I got one in ’89 when I got married, I got a ring from my wife.’ That’s the most important thing.”

In a subsequent conversation, Divac adds: “It doesn’t bother me at all. I think we did something special [in Sacramento]. … People around the world, not just in Sacramento, liked to watch [that team]. So that was, right there, [a] big accomplishment for our team. … In my heart, I believe we were the champions. We didn’t win, but we played the way champions should play.”

Typical Vlade. Always a great guy and he always seemed to have things in the proper perspective. You should really take a few minutes, click the link and read the entire piece by Marc Stein. It’s a great glimpse into a great man.

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  • Aykis16

    Loved the article and video. Also, Harper get active on PASPN. Look what I’ve done with your T-Wolves. They should have hired me instead of Kahn. Also approve the trade offer I sent you. Love ya!

  • MustangMBS

    What a class act that Vlade. Bringing up the paid off refs and seeing his reaction really was interesting. As was his statement that he sees the Kings as the Champions. You can steal the Title with paid off refs on the books, but you can’t take that from Vlade. In his heart of hearts he knows which team was the Championship contender.

  • Russ

    Vlade’s a great player and gave that special attributes to his team. A big fan of him since he started with the Lakers.

  • pookeyguru

    Great interview by Stein. He always did appreciate what the Kings were, and was always one of the few national writers to give Rick Adelman love by the same token.

    That’s why I’m not as harsh towards Stein as I am towards many of the other long time ESPN talking heads minus Henry Abbott and JA Adande. (I like them, too.)

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