After spending more than 17 years playing for the NBA, in the summertime, I always came back to community service and different basketball clinics.

I believe in the Democratic party, and their philosophy and what they stand for - for the poor people.

Me as a backup center? Hell no.

My heroes always are mostly my parents - my father especially, and my mom, who's passed on already. My dad is a very strong man, and by him being educated, and a principal and school superintendent over 37 years, he plays such a big role in my life.

It's easy to be a spokesman and ambassador for a great organization like the NBA. I thank Commissioner David Stern for putting that trust in me to serve the NBA around the globe.

24,000 people, 18,000 of them children, die every day because of hunger. Each year we bring food to nearly 90 million people in more than 80 countries. Food - there's no greater gift, and no better way to give it than the World Food Programme.

There are people out there dying every day, so when you wake up, you just have to thank the Man Upstairs for another day on this planet. There's not much else we can ask for.