If it wasn’t for agent Marc Fleisher, Utah Jazz 1999 #24 pick Andrei Kirilenko wouldn’t have known he was drafted to the NBA.
(via Knuckleheads with Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles):
Kirilenko: “When it happened, he called me at like 5 o’clock in the morning and said, ‘AK, congratulations! You’ve been picked by Utah!’ I’m like, ‘Oh, really? Oh my God! The Utah Jazz just played a couple of years ago in the Finals against the Bulls. It’s Mailman, John Stockton.’”
Darius Miles: “So, you was familiar with them already by seeing them play against the Bulls?”
Kirilenko: “Dream Team, you know everybody by name. Jerry Sloan, legendary coach. It’s amazing.”
Quentin Richardson: “So, you weren’t even aware when you got drafted? You didn’t see it? None of that? You just got the phone call from your representation 5 in the morning like, ‘Congratulations!’?”
Kirilenko: “Yeah, you didn’t know anything about it: when is the procedure, when is the draft. I got a call and next morning, the whole team, I was with the (Russian) junior team. The whole team was like, ‘What’s up, Mailman?’”
