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Duke recruits the best basketball players. They don't recruit dunkers or highlight makers. They recruit good basketball players.
I can't afford to do the highlight dunk and miss it because, if I do that, I'll be sitting right on the bench beside the coaches.
When I started playing, my mom said there were three players she wanted me to watch - Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan.
I definitely want to be in a situation where I'm playing with players that are getting me better every day by pushing me and vice versa.
My stepfather is my mentor. He's also like a father to me. He taught me how to be a man, how to carry myself and how to handle my business.
Since I was a kid, I dreamed of making it to the league and having the type of impact on the game Michael Jordan had and continues to have today.
Before I got big, I was playing point guard, so I'm kinda like a pass-first person. Some people tell me I should be more selfish, but that's not me.
Coach K, he's just the most legendary coach to coach college basketball. I felt like going to Duke University I can learn a lot from him in my time there.
When I was a little kid, I looked at my mom, stepdad and said, 'I want to be an NBA player,' just because I love to play the game of basketball like 24/7.
I try to be the most versatile player on the court. If that means being a four and posting up, I'll do that. If it means playing on the wing, I can do that too.
I was waking up at 5 A.M. when I was 9 working. I know that I'll only have to work harder if I want to make it to where I want to be. But I'm definitely not complaining.
I think I fit into any type of system because I don't really have a certain position. Sometimes people try and label me, but I don't look at myself as being locked into one position.
Once I feel like I know my teammates, know where everybody is going to be, being a basketball player will allow me to attack from anywhere on the court, get better shots and facilitate.
You may go through a lot of good times, you may go through a lot of bad times, you just have to try to prepare yourself as best as you can, and for me, that's just sticking with my family.
Growing up, I loved what Kobe did and Dirk did. My intentions are to stay with the Pelicans my whole career, but if something happens, I wouldn't leave because I hate the place. It's just the business.
People aren't used to guarding this kind of size and I'm able to add a little finesse to my game so it has flavor and I'm a playmaker so I can create for my teammates and when I have to finish I'm gonna finish.
People always say you have to grow into your body, but for me, it wasn't even growing into my body - the more weight came, it didn't faze me. It made me faster, stronger. It helped me become a more versatile player.
It's part of the reason I went to Duke. Coach K came to me. He saw everything but the dunks. He was like, 'It's a dunk. It's two points. Who cares?' He saw every other part of my game that I wanted the world to see.
I love it when coaches don't talk about which position they see me at. When they just refer to me as a basketball player and talk about all of the different positions they can see me playing in, I definitely listen more.
When I was like nine or 10, my stepfather and my mother would just say 'if you want to be one of the greatest, you've got to work when nobody's working,' so I'd get up at 5:30 A.M. and head to the outdoor court and play.
My mom to this day is the hardest coach I've ever had. There were times when my stepdad would look at me and say 'you had a good game' and my mom would be like 'I don't know what you're talking about, you had 2 or 3 turnovers.
It would be a huge honor, knowing that a team would take me No. 1. You can't dream this any better than that. Every kid dreams about being the No. 1 pick. If I have the honor, it would be a huge honor, something I can't even put into words.
New Orleans is my kind of city. I think there's a lot going on, but it's also very calm. It's a place where I can actually drive a car without being stuck in traffic for for 40, 50 minutes. It's my kind of city. A lot going on but still calm.
I can guard guys my size and bigger, because, typically, I'm stronger than them, but sometimes guys get by me on the wing. It's not as big a deal because I can recover pretty well and I'll block their shot at the rim, but I hate when guys go past me on the wing. I hate that.
One thing I'll say about Drake is that he never talks about me about going to any schools. I know people think that, but he has never done that. He just talks to me about how I'm dealing with life and things like that. He's like a big bro and I really appreciate that about him.