Wanted: Off the Court With Jacque Vaughn [Archive]

Bruno

03-02-2007, 05:20 AM

March 1, 2007
Off The Court With Jacque Vaughn
by John Robbins, spurs.com

Now in his 10th NBA Season, Spurs point guard Jacque Vaughn is settling into life in San Antonio. Spurs.com recently sat down with Jacque to find out a little more about his life off the court.

Q. When did you first realize that you wanted to play in the NBA?

A. In college I felt that each year my game was improving and that I could compete at this (the NBA) level. Before that I just loved the game and wanted to play it.

Q. Who was the biggest influence on your basketball development growing up?

A. I would say my brother Marlon. He's about seven years older than I am and played college basketball at Cal State Fullerton. I followed him around as far as going to the playgrounds and those types of things.

Q. What sticks out most in your mind about your college playing days ?

A. The relationships and friendships that I built and still have. The memories of the wins and losses with a great group of guys. The journey each year. The anticipation.

Q. You have a degree in business and graduated with a 3.72 GPA...If you weren't playing basketball, what would you be doing?

A. That's a tough one! I'm not sure if I can narrow that down. I love the game of basketball, I'm not sure if I would be affiliated with it somehow. The business world is also something that I love. I did an internship at a major financial investment company and loved my experience there.

Q. Which Kansas University teammates do you still keep in touch with?

A. My whole starting five. That's a great thing.

Q. How would you compare the coaching styles of Roy Williams and Gregg Popovich?

A. The passion, the love for the game, the respect for the game and the idea of wanting the best from each player and getting a guy to give his best.

Q. You've been called on now to be the primary backup point guard, what's been the reaction from your teammates?

A. I think it's been very positive. Being here, it's a continuous process of me learning each individual and I think I've done that.

Q. Do you feel like the team has turned the corner since the rodeo road trip?

A. I think there's been a realization that there's less than 30 games in the season. It's getting closer to getting in that realm of playoff time, so I think guys are definitely sensing that and our play of late has stepped up.

Q. What the most interesting thing about you that nobody else knows?

A. I love to learn.

Q. Have you had a chance to explore the city of San Antonio, maybe find a favorite restaurant?

A. I'm a big mexican food fan, so it's been pretty easy for me. I've pretty much kind of tried every little mexican restaurant I've ran into.

Q. What's in your ipod right now?

A. I was just talking about this with Matt Bonner the other day! Honestly I listen to just about everything except for country. Nothing against country, but I haven't quite got it yet. I am a big fan of music. You'd find anything from Miles Davis to Jay-Z to the Counting Crows on my ipod.

Q. Has not liking country music presented any problems in Kansas or Texas?

A. (Laughing) I've never offended anyone! I never said that I dislike it, I just said that I haven't grown to love it like the other music.

Q. What do you watch on TV?

A. If I turn on the TV I love turning to the financial channel to see what's going on. Maybe I don't have it on for the same amount of time that I have on the news or SportsCenter, but I flash by and stay on each channel for a little while.

Q. What is the last movie you saw?

A. The last new release I saw was over the All-Star break. It was my wife's choice of movie selection this time and I saw Music and Lyrics. I've seen just about everything except for The Last King of Scotland, which I am definitely going to see.

Q. What's your favorite movie?

A. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Q. Who's your favorite actor?

A. Jack Nicholson.

Q. Have you seen Nicholson's Oscar-winning The Departed?

A. I've seen The Departed. I saw it the first night it came out. Loved it. Jack was amazing.

Q. You have said that you enjoy poetry...who are your favorite poets and what draws you to that?

A. I'll go to a bookstore and pick up a poet I haven't read before, read a couple poems and do a little research about the person and try to get in that person's mind to see what they were thinking. That's the fun of it for me.

My favorite poet of all time is Maya Angelou. What draws me to her is her story, where's she come from, the person she has become, the ability for her to walk into a room and captivate the people without saying a word and then when she speaks, for me, it's a euphoria. I've heard her speak before and it's one of the treats of my life.

Q. Have you ever had the chance to meet Maya Angelou?

A. Not one-on-one. She was at a symposium that I got the chance to go to and she spoke. I'll never forget that day.

Q. Are you reading anything now?

A. I have Barack Obama's first book Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance on the nightstand right now that my wife got me.