It's not up to anyone else to make me give my best.

When I was playing, I didn't realize how much of an impact I would make on people, Muslim or non-Muslim. We played a lot of games during Ramadan. On national TV, the announcers were commenting about Ramadan, and this raised the awareness to the general public and we made all the Muslims very, very proud.

Well, the problem is the freedom that the sport gives you without getting to politics. Unfortunately, you cannot now separate it because people cannot be truthful; they have to be politically correct. There's no more sincerity. What we had before was freedom of speech and freedom of expression without judgement. That's why I don't get into politics.

My background playing soccer gave me a natural advantage over many of the American-born players.

Basketball is in my blood. It is my obligation to try.

When I look at the system here and look at my position - not just as a basketball player, but when I look around me at the values of the people and the culture and compare them with the values of where I came from - I feel so blessed to be from Africa.

God comes first. Paradise is not cheap.