Transcript and Video: Blazers C Arvydas Sabonis Naismith Basketball Hall Of Fame Induction Speech

Well deserved.

short and sweet. very nice comments from Arvydas!

The What If questions about him are no another fascinating aspect of the story as well. What if he had come over in ’86? How many banners would that team have added to the Coliseum and then later to the Rose Garden? If he came then, where would he have been ranked in the All time best players? What if he never had the debilitating injuries, how much greater would he have been? I never saw a big man with so many uncanny guard like qualities, from his possessing phenomenal passing skills to his shooting range he was truly a one of a kind IMO. Congrats Sabas, we miss ya…

It is well deserved

Lets bring him back @ the age of 46! He’s still better then half the centers in the league!

The blazers were lucky to have Sabonis. Class act and world champion. Smith was right in the video, no other center could pass or shoot the way he could.

Well deserved.

a man of few words (at least in Englsh) but he was the key to that contender Blazers team.
I remember thinking on any game, “is Sanbonis playing?”… that was the big factor.
Love him together with Walton, two of my favorite all time players.
Really nice to see them both getting recognition and honor.
Someday, in a better world, there will be no injuries, and no aging. I want to see them play again.

can bring Greg in.
Yes, it could happen.

Well earned. It’s a shame, as Jack McCallum said (and numerous others), that we didn’t get to see a young Sabonis. That would have been something to behold.

Also, I can’t believe I’m hearing Sabas speaking English. I can’t remember a time where he wouldn’t speak Lithuanian while eschewing English.

Greg watch video of Sabas in action. Pay attention to those black things on his knees.

   Yes congratulations to Sabonis on what I think is well deserved recognition. I’d say more, but in honor of Sabas…I’m keeping my praise short and to the point.

as far as Hall of Fame speeches go…way to show the rest of the league how to be classy #11

he’s prolly best Europian player ever played in NBA
and i can understand why he gave thanks to Blazers medical staff -when he did get on Blazers team noone could even say that he will even properly walk again
-i remember seeing him when i was a kid and he was in his early 20ies -he was so dominant that it’s really shame that he had to play his NBA game with legs like this and in his 30ies -though he still had amazing impact -if only you could see this running jumping backboard crushing Sabas that he was back in a days
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mwuNWNSgeQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18tnToDLHV4
huge respect to Arvydas

Too bad they didn’t use a translator, though. It would have been fun to hear Sabas talk more extensively about his great basketball career—in Portland and abroad.

He’s not My Vydas. He’s not Your Vidas. He’s AR Vidas!

"I’m satisfied with my career," says Sabonis, 46, who lives in Lithuania, runs a youth basketball school and is part owner of the Zalgiris club, for whom he began his pro career in 1981. "Maybe one regret – that nobody stopped me when I first got injured and explained to me to watch for the symptoms."

He was almost a sports invalid after playing through his knee injuries before coming to Portland. Probably not only the treatment he got was better, the Blazers also trusted him that he could still contribute even on balky knees and that there was no use in using up all that was left within a season. Whatever they possibly did wrong with Walton and later Blazers rushing them or misdiagnosing things, they did a lot right with Sabas.