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.

Sports plays an interesting role in society. The greatest sportsmen have platforms to speak out on issues and really affect how the public thinks about some very critical issues facing the world.

I remember at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Shaq always wanted me to show him steps over and over.

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 type of basketball is about how to create space, how to maneuver, how to get your shot off.

Allah says in the Qur'an not to despise one another. So the criterion in Islam is not color or social status. It's who is most righteous. If I go to a mosque - and I'm a basketball player with money and prestige - if I go to a mosque and see an imam, I feel inferior. He's better than me. It's about knowledge.

I've now been in this country for thirteen years, since I was seventeen. So this is my second home.