You can't ever totally know what's inside of someone else, or see the kind of will someone like Magic has. You have to rely on your instincts to find people who hate losing and know how to win.

I'm just ultracompetitive. I will be till they put me in the grave.

To be candid with you, free agency hurts all sports. It's great for athletes making an enormous amount of money. But to say it helps the sports, I don't believe that.

The passion to win games, the incredible, focused energy and also the camaraderie of the team were all things that I really loved.

The trick in writing children's books is to set up danger, mystery and excitement on page one. Force the kid to turn the page . . . Then in the middle of each chapter there's a dramatic point of excitement, and at chapter's end, a cliffhanger.

I was disappointed if I didn't have a chance to win a game, and if I had the chance and didn't do it.

It was clear to me that I was never going to be the same kind of player I had been. It was time to quit.