When I was growing up, I wanted to be a coach. I had people telling me you can't do this, you're not a great player. Be realistic. When I got rejection letters from colleges where I wanted to coach, my mom would say, "You are going to make it someday. You have something special within you and that is your spirit for life which will help you get to the top."

I'm living the American dream.

A winner is someone who can look in the mirror at the end of the day and say in pursuit of my goal and dreams I gave my best.

An All-American is an ordinary person with an extraordinary desire to excel. You don't get to the top of the mountain by just dreaming. It's nice to dream. But it's the work ethic and pride that makes you get to that mountain top and that level of success.

Looking back, I remember telling my daughters that we didn't have money, pizzazz and a lot of the things we have today, but we had so much love and we lived like millionaires.

People that don't know me think that basketball is my life 24/7. Trust me, there is much more to my life. My number one priority in my life is my family.

It was tough getting fired by the NBA. I really didn't know where I was going, until [ESPN] called me. I said, "Hey, 'ESPN?' Never heard of it. It sounds like a disease." Now I have that same disease as a sports fanatic. All this sports madness we didn't have years ago, now I'm very blessed and fortunate to be part of it.