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.

As a player all you can do is play within yourself, even in the context of a team sport.

I don't think people fully appreciate the trauma associated with losing. It takes a lot out of you, year after year.

Personalities seem in many cases to dominate the lucrative endorsement market. But that doesn't upset me. What upsets me is when not enough attention is paid to the product-the game.

Confidence is a lot of this game or any game. If you don't think you can, you won't.

You can't imagine how much good luck is involved in winning, but all of a sudden, you get in a situation where every break goes your way, every call goes your way, every ball that rolls around drops in instead of out. It feels magical.

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.