NBA quotes of the week

QuotagePaying the corkage fee

Memphis Coach Lionel Hollins, on why the Grizzlies traded away leading scorer Rudy Gay as part of a three-team deal: “When you have champagne taste, you can’t be on a beer budget. It’s a small market and I understand the economics of being in a small market.”

Vernon Wells makes more than he does?

Miami forward LeBron James, on being paid less than he is worth because of NBA salary cap restrictions: “What I do on the floor shows my value. At the end of the day, I don’t think my value on the floor can really be compensated for, anyways, because of the” collective bargaining agreement. “If you want the truth, if this was baseball, it’d be up there, I mean way up there.”

It could be time to go

Minnesota guard Brandon Roy, on the latest setback in his rehabilitation from knee surgery: “As soon as it happened, in my head, I said, ‘I quit. I just quit.’ That was my first thought, that I couldn’t do this anymore. I’m at a crossroads in my career.”

They’re tops in disappointment

Minnesota forward Derrick Williams, on the struggles of other NBA players who, like himself, were selected No. 2 overall in the NBA draft: “I don’t want to say any names, but there have been a lot who haven’t worked out. A couple have skyrocketed and a couple have been pretty decent. My whole life, I never wanted to be a decent player.”