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The fact that I can come in and give energy to the team, no matter my skill level, I have that. That's an NBA ready skill.
Moving from Cameroon to Texas, that was a change. Learning English, the culture, everything was different so I had to adjust.
To be honest, I see more championships, I see MVP, I see so much more that I can accomplish. There's no reason to be satisfied.
It's about continuing to develop as a player and continuing to get better and that's something that I'm hoping to do every single year.
When you get minutes and you have the trust of the coaches and guys just letting you play your game and be yourself, it definitely helps.
I think that's the beauty of it - knowing you're not where you want to be, there is something new you can learn every day. That gets you excited.
My life hasn't changed, it's been the same. What's helped me with that is keeping my circle tight, having the people that care about me around me.
There might be games where I feel like I don't have the energy I'm supposed to have. So for me, I think it's important that every single night I bring the energy.
I'm able to guard multiple positions, switch and pick and rolls, guard from two to four and be able to help my defence out and rebound the basketball, block shots.
Watching Ibaka and all those people. They were from Africa. They spoke French. They were kind of like me. That's when I began thinking basketball is something I can do.
I just work and continue to do whatever I can do to get to the highest level I can get. If that's an All-Star? Sure, I'll take it. But I don't have my mind set on that.
I ask myself what my father would think of me making it to the NBA every day. I hope he's proud. I hope he's watching down and realizing that his dream became a reality.
I think I always knew that the things that I was born with can definitely translate to the NBA. Energy and being able to run, rebound, those things will always translate.
People would make fun of me because they were acting like I can't dribble. But, in my head, I was always a guard... I was like, 'Yo, I'm tall, but I don't care. I'm not no big man.'
I think that's one of the advantages for me. I know I have so much to learn. I have to grow. It allows me to look at my mistakes and evaluate them and try to see how I can do better.
If I'm starting, I'm gonna do that, that's the main goal for me, to be the best player I can be. But being on the bench, I'll be the best I can be and help the team to the best of my ability.
It's gonna be on me to go out there every single night and make sure that I'm the best player that can be and I continue to work hard and don't get complacent and do everything in my power to to be at that level.
When my dad passed away, the NBA became a major priority for me. It became bigger than just loving basketball; I suddenly had extra motivation. I was willing to do absolutely anything I had to do to get to the NBA.
I've always believed in myself and I've always put the work in to get to not only be an all-star but be an all-star for a long time. That's my goal. I think about these things and I feel like I have the ability to do it.
I always feel like I just wanna go, and that's something that I'm learning every day - understanding to think more instead of just going because I see an advantage or I see that 'oh, I can make this move, I can make this shot.'
It's not to say I don't want African players to hustle and play hard, but I also wanted to show we can do more. We can dribble. We can have high IQs. We can pass the ball. We can shoot. I wanted to make sure I changed the perception.
My dad is a part of who I am, and he was a very hard working person and someone who worked to achieve his goals and make sure his family is straight and I always admired that. My mom worked so hard. I had two hard-working parents around me.
It wasn't like I came in and was like, 'I'm going to be a starter.' That was never in my head. It was always about, like, 'I can make sure I come and I'm better and I can handle the ball and I can shoot and I can defend. And, if I can do those things, I will play.'
Having more freedom to bring the ball up and have the ball in my hands, just trusting me with the ball, that was one of the big things. My rookie year, I didn't have that. Just having that trust in me, just working and them seeing that I'm getting better at it, that I'm capable, that was kind of like a changing point for me.
Scoring, that's my thing... Didier Drogba, Samuel Eto'o, those were the guys that we looked at as kids like, 'Man, they're doing it, and they're doing it at a high level.' We would see them on TV. So, it wasn't much about basketball, to be honest, it was just those type of athletes. Those guys were the guys that we looked at as kids.