Portland Trail Blazers guard Pat Connaughton was drafted out of Notre Dame on the basis of his athleticism, including his ability to dunk the ball with ease. Jason Quick of NBCSports Northwest interviewed Connaughton this week and found out that his core inspiration for slam dunks was one of the all-time NBA greats, Vince Carter.
As Quick chronicles, upon reading that Carter first dunked in 8th grade, Connaughton developed an obsession.
“I thought: ‘I want to be able to dunk’ … I just really wanted to do it,’’ Connaughton remembered.