Jazz's Jeremy Evans felt like he was dreaming after winning NBA dunk contest

Orlando, Fla. — Official quotes from Jeremy Evans' press conference Saturday after winning the 2012 NBA All-Star slam-dunk contest title. Q. When Cheryl announced that you had won, what was your thought and what was your feeling? Were you shocked at all? JEREMY EVANS: I was just like, no way this is possible. But she did say it and it was live, so I felt like I was still dreaming. But just to come out and compete is fun. Q. Can you sum up just what a whirlwind experience it's been for you now at this moment that you won, and you weren't even in the contest early in the week? JEREMY EVANS: It's amazing. I came in, they asked me how long have I been practicing, and I think I found out maybe Tuesday, Wednesday that I was really going to be in it. So I told them. Thursday night, I came in, they gave me the 45 minutes on the court. That's about it. And last night I went in and stayed about three â€'â€' after I left the game. Q. How did you come up with the chair dunk? And being someone who's watched Dunk Contests your whole life, where do you put that among the allâ€'time greatest? JEREMY EVANS: Well, of course I stayed on the YouTube channels watching the Team Flight Brothers, the guys that were out there. I think it was just my agent, a couple of tweeted votes. I just think that was a pretty big dunk. Q. How important was it for you to get that Karl Malone jersey in honor of what was maybe the greatest player in Jazz history? JEREMY EVANS: Just me playing for the Jazz right now, I feel like that's huge. I love the fans there, and they love me. I love playing there, and I feel like Karl Malone, Stockton, those were pretty good players for the Jazz, and like you said, two of the best. And I just felt like I should do that. Q. Having Gordon work with you, how did that set up? And it seemed like that was a dunk that maybe turned people and caught everyone's attention. JEREMY EVANS: Well, I think Gordon was huge. I couldn't have done it without him, and I'm just glad he came. Just to go out there and have a teammate is special because you go out there by yourself, it's pretty tough. Q. Your thoughts on the fans for this year being the judges of this Dunk Contest. What's your thoughts on that? JEREMY EVANS: I feel like they're the ones that obviously made me win the contest. Without them, I feel like it may have went a different way or one of the other guys would have won it. So I feel like they chose what they thought was the best dunk. Q. Did you think any of the other dunks were better than some you did? JEREMY EVANS: I felt like some of those were nice dunks. Besides the twoâ€'ball one, I believe the rest of the dunks of the contest, beat out all the other dunks I did. I felt like the first dunk I did was horrible. But I go in thinking, I do not want to miss any dunks. I feel like those dunks that they had were amazing, yeah. Q. How much time did you put into orchestrating and coming up with the dunks that you did tonight? JEREMY EVANS: Like I said before, the 45 minutes they gave me Thursday night and maybe two hours on Friday. Probably three hours. Q. I know it's just a Dunk Contest, but just being around this weekend, being in the contest, is that something that can really boost your confidence and your game going forward, and maybe you're a much better player for just being on this weekend? JEREMY EVANS: Yeah, I believe so. Just coming out, seeing the other players, and of course they're a lot bigger than I am, but just to know you can go out and compete against whoever it is, even though they're the stars, you want to be in their footsteps. Q. It's kind of been a year of surprises. You kind of came out of nowhere. Is this the beginning of Evansanity? JEREMY EVANS: I wouldn't say that, but I feel like it's a start. People didn't really know who I was before this, but after tonight, hopefully they know my name. Q. The Karl Malone with Kevin Hart, how did that become arranged? Who was responsible for that? And the Karl Malone jersey, he's been going back and forth with Greg Miller. Did the Jazz have anything to do with that? JEREMY EVANS: Not at all. I was just thinking the Jazz fans, you want to do something to get them in it. So I felt like that was a good way. And Dwight Howard, he helped me big time. That was huge. The Salt Lake Tribune

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