Motley Crue Spaghetti

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"All along, I've had my doubts about what I was up to," DiMaggio says. "I figured I was going to get to be a reserve player. You are to the best one of the best player in your class."

He then described his ineligibility, the need to reach a certain level and the usual trappings of being an NBA reserve.

"The people sitting in the media meetings -- they couldn't believe I couldn't make it. They had a bunch of people from other leagues at it," DiMaggio says.

The media was in attendance on Wednesday at his introductory news conference.

"That night, the No. 1 seed, they never made an arrangement. They had no intention whatsoever of letting me do this," DiMaggio says.

The selection committee will meet again next Thursday between the Cavs and Lakers, once the NBA season has concluded.

DiMaggio said he would not reveal his vote since the information would be protected while he competes, but added that he had hoped to break in with another big leap.

"I never imagined" -- and never expected -- DiMaggio to get to this point, he says. "I never put anything in play that made me think it would happen," he said.

DiMaggio said: "I thought I had to try. They had to know I would try. I set it up to have a very difficult time with this, something nobody else has to deal with. It's not something I wanted to think about. It happened with a pretty unexpected method."

His mentor Mike Green was an acquaintance of DiMaggio's father, who coached John's boys at the YMCA school in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. Green coached college during DiMaggio's junior college days. DiMaggio was born in Detroit but grew up in Flower Mound, Texas. A longtime friend of coach Bruce Fizdale, a friend of DiMaggio's father, is a member of the Lakers' coaching staff.

On Wednesday, DiMaggio thanked Gail Collins, his Lakers front office contact since his days with Jim Bunning, for her encouragement during his career.