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.

I had a lot of maturing I had to go through. I consider myself a smart individual in seeing that this is not the road I want to take.

Not having a father helping you grow into manhood and teaching you those things about how to be a man hurts. It hurt my brothers because their fathers weren't involved in their lives.

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.

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.

New York is a different breed than any other city there is. Media can be very hard on you at times, but [Patrick Ewing] did handle it like a man. He was able to prosper in that whole atmosphere.

I think when you saw this year's playoffs, Miami and Detroit have a pretty fierce rivalry now. Also, the Suns and San Antonio look like they're starting to develop something there. I look forward to seeing those rivalries continue and develop.