Because of the makeup of the NBA, it cannot afford for the public to turn on them.

My role models in the business were the older guys on my team when I first got there: Gray Scott, Adrian Smith, Roland Taylor. These were the guys who took me under their wing, and really schooled me in terms of what the business was about.

When I played, the owners had the power. The prisoners are running the prison now, not the warden. The warden is strong and he has say so but, the balance of power is definitely with the players.

So much of becoming a good athlete involves bringing other things to the table, other than physical skills. It involves intelligence, it involves many of the things that you learn during the process of being educated. How to analyze, how to assess, how to equate, how to reason.

The ones who become stars or superstars are the ones who have a head on their shoulders and know how to use it.

As a kid, I played a lot of one-on-none.

I always try to keep a pretty conservative demeanor on the court.