I thought I would make it (to the NBA). I believed that I would make it. But I had a Plan B. I was going to get my Master's degree at Tulane University had it not worked out. I think the pressure of making it wasn't on me as great as some other players that had no other options. I was going to do something special in life and I wanted to play in the NBA. I had a backup plan but I went full speed ahead with my Plan A.

I just want to help people become winners. That's what I'm about. I'm about winning.

I've always been a man of commitment whether it was academically or professionally. But spiritually I wasn't committed. I was talking the talk and I just wanted to make that commitment. It also made the commitment in other areas of my life stronger.

I just refuse to listen to any more lies. You hear them from FEMA, you hear them from Red Cross and I just didn't want to hear it from him.

My standards are so high because of who I serve but it doesn't put any water on my fire for winning. I'm still an intense person. You can be intense and saved. You can compete and still be saved. You can challenge a guy and still be saved. There was nothing soft about me as a player and there isn't anything soft about me as a coach. You want to be a man of integrity and you want the players to know that you care about them. Whether or not they still like you or not is a whole other deal.

Every era of coaches has their own set of problems and challenges. Today's player is different, but some things about them are better than they were in the past. I don't think coaching today's players is any tougher. I think we're a little too hard on the current day player because he's different.

In 1989 at Greater Saint Steven Full Gospel Church, I gave my life to Christ. That's pretty much where it all started for me. I was 23 years old at the time, right after my first year in the NBA. The pastor preached a message about being fully committed. That pretty much was me. I wasn't fully committed. I was kind of in and out all of the time. So I just wanted to make a commitment.