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.

Great communication, Character, Competitive drive, Consistency, Compassion, Confidence -- skills successful leaders share.

I was really fortunate. I don't believe in luck so I was really fortunate. God really blessed me in terms of my health. ... I was really healthy. But I tried to do my part in terms of preparation, in terms of perseverance. I tried to do my part to make sure that I was always ready to play and try to stay ahead of the game. I tried to beat people with my mind. I wasn't the biggest or the one that jumped the highest, but I had a real high basketball IQ and I knew it. ... I was a student of game and tried to prepare and be professional and have a good attitude. All of those things helped me have a long career.

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.

That MAC gun can put a round clean through a Covenant Capital Ship.

Growing up in New Orleans, my mom and dad were churchgoers. I would go to church with them. Also, I was going to a Catholic school so I had a fascination with the Catholic Church mainly because, in my mind, (their services) didn't take as long. I was bouncing in between my mom's Baptist church, which was called Second Zion Baptist, and going to a Catholic Church.

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.