As brilliant an individual that Michael Jordan was, he was not successful until he got with a good team unit.

When I was 17, I worked in a mentoring program in Harlem designed to improve the community. That's when I first gained an appreciation of the Harlem Renaissance, a time when African-Americans rose to prominence in American culture. For the first time, they were taken seriously as artists, musicians, writers, athletes, and as political thinkers.

Culture and politics were inseparable [in the Sixties], which gave a soundtrack to political awareness and activism.

Fundamental preparation is always effective. Work on those parts of your game that are fundamentally weak.

A lot of players think the game is all about individual performances when it's really all about a team game.

Pride was his life force; for us it was a live nerve that he could teach us to brush. One stroke, a good practice, and we could tingle for days ... First, he found the pride in each of us, then he taught us how good it could feel. What he was ultimately after was for every one of us to learn to light our own fires and glow our brightest.

We want to show how hip-hop, which kind of fuels today's basketball stars, is directly related to jazz.