At that time we didn't have much movement within our team. [ Pit Riley] pushed us as much as he could from a mental stand point. He knew it was time to leave and for us as players we knew it was time to part ways.

As a young man, you get to a point in your life where you feel like you have grown up and have to make decisions and not having that father figure in your life to guide you to making those decisions.

You look at the assistant coaches under [Pat Riley] that played and they have become prosperous within this game. It triples all the way down from the assistant players to the coaches. Patrick Ewing went into coaching as well as myself.

It was tough [to move to the Golden State Warriors] because of my success level in New York. To leave this city and go out west and move my family was tough, but this is part of the business. Something as a player that might happen to you.

That was always a dream of mine to play division one basketball. Not knowing that I wasn't going to get the opportunity because of my past and previous couple of years in college. The opportunity to play with only one year of eligibility was great.

[Spike Lee ] went to a game six playoff game at Indiana which was a hostile environment believing we could bring it back to New York for a game seven. That's just the kind of person he is. Also his commitment to the team and our friendship.

I only had one year of eligibility and I wasn't getting many offers from other schools. I jumped on it to make a mark. That was the most wise decision I made coming out of Oklahoma junior college.