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Ask me to play. I'll play. Ask me to shoot. I'll shoot. Ask me to pass. I'll pass. Ask me to steal, block out, sacrifice, lead, dominate. Anything. But it's not what you ask of me. It's what I ask of myself.
For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like a man beholding his natural face in a glass: for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightaway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
I love business. I love helping urban communities grow. I love putting people to work of color. I love making sure - like right now the whole mortgage crisis, I want to help people get back into their homes.
I never want to say that I had glory days. I like to think that every new year there's something great that can happen, something great will happen, whether it's a basketball thing or an off-the-court thing.
I just take what comes to me. If the drive is there, Im going to take it. If its not there, Ill take a pull-up shot. Im a confident player down the stretch and I feel like I can make the play when I have to.
My strength comes from my mom. Just seeing what she had to go through to raise us, she wouldn't make excuses; she wouldn't put her head down. So I guess I looked at adversity right in the eye and took it on.
Mountain biking is such a very small community. I just want to put the hard work in so people don't think I'm a slacker. I want the hardcore mountain bikers to respect, 'Okay, well, he did it the right way.'
I have periods where I listen to regular rap, Jay-Z, Eminem and Lil Wayne. The next day I might have some Christian alternative music. The next day I have on some dance music. It all varies what I listen to.
There was no professional basketball for me in the United States when I was in grade school and middle school. I could look to the Olympics and college basketball, but that was only on TV for the Final Four.
Winning is the easiest thing that I ever did in the NBA, but being able to come to the realization of what it means to compete in this league no matter what - win, lose or draw - was the most difficult thing.
I played in Joe Louis in a playoff game. I played there when the roof caved in for half a season. The facility is great for basketball because it goes straight up, so you feel like the fans are on top of you.
It changes over the course of life, depending on how you're feeling. There's this incredible catalog of different songs, so it depends on what you're hoping for, what your dream is and that song will come on.
After you have a big game, you can't just say, 'That's it, I've arrived,' by any means. I'm always pushing it to be better. You always want to be better than you are, no matter what. I think that's important.
You may have to change how you guard somebody because of how they play. But the mindset stays the same - making people uncomfortable, making them do what you want them to do instead them dictating on offense.
I don't think there is a person who loves the Nets as much as I do - from our fans, all the employees in the arenas, the front office personnel and the owners. I will always be loyal to our fans and the Nets.
Lead, don't drive. And give credit. Don't blame. If an officer on your team suggested something and it worked well, give them credit. If it doesn't work well, you take the blame because you made the decision.
If you're a kid, it's all you think about if you stutter. Kids can be so mean. My grades suffered. Class participation weighs heavy in grading, and I wouldn't open my mouth to read or talk in front of anyone.
You can practice shooting eight hours a day, but if your technique is wrong, then all you become is very good at shooting the wrong way. Get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise.
When I played with the Knicks, I was just as important or just as smart as any other of the guards I played with. I still had to call out plays, notice schemes, know the systems, do everything they had to do.
The 'Goonies' are a close knit group. They believe in themselves, even though there are doubters throwing darts at them outside...'Goonies never say die.' That's pretty in line with the mentality of our team.
In San Antonio when I was asked to say other players were better than me to help their confidence so they can play better, that was the most disrespectful thing that I've ever heard from any coach in my life.
The fans in Dallas were hard on me my first year, but after having a great year last year they are now supporting me. It feels great to have my hard work pay off, especially when the fans made it hard for me.
Rookies are also coming in from college programs as big stars, whereas when we came in, we were just happy to be there. We were happy to be playing in a big gym, to be on television, to be playing in America.
To me, first and foremost, basketball is a fun sport. It is a hobby, an interest. And second, it is a profession. I feel that I am very fortunate that I can find a professional job that I really, really love.
God gave me all this; why waste the talent that he gave me? Why not go full throttle with it all and try to become in the class with the greatest players that ever played the game? That's just a great feeling.
You got to have the killer instinct. If you do not have it, forget about basketball and go into social psychology or something. If you sometimes wonder if you've got it, you ain't got it. No pussycats, please.
Growing up, I was always wearing my brother's hand-me-downs, so nothing ever fit me. I told myself whenever I have my own money and my own choice with what I get to wear, it's always going to fit me correctly.
It's an honor to be considered in the same breath, but I'm not Michael Jordan. I'm the first Chamique Holdsclaw. And I think that's where the women's game has to get to, when women are recognized on their own.
They always try to make it like jocks discriminate against gay people. I've been a big proponent of gay marriage for a long time, because as a black person, I can't be in for any form of discrimination at all.
I've always believed in my abilities. Nobody ever gave me anything in life. I had to work for everything I got. It may have gotten really rocky for a while, but I persevered, because I'm not afraid of failing.
I have millions of dollars, and I don't know finance. I've had some bad things happen in my career. I've got to educate myself. I sit down with my finance guy once a month and go over everything, line by line.
I can't get mad about peoples' opinions, I always say that. That's their opinion. They got every right to say or think whatever they want to say and think. And whatever they say and think don't affect my life.
A guy that's going to do all of the dirty work, that guy that is willing to defend anyone and do the little things and not really care about all of that other stuff. I think every championship team needs that.
Man, anytime the ball goes through the basket. It doesn't matter if it's a jumper or a drive. Any time the ball goes through the basket, and it's going through consistently, it's demoralizing for any opponent.
The 76ers currently play very good basketball, and we don't. However, we are still only one win behind them. If we continue to improve, we should be on the top of our division at the end of the regular season.
You can try to call it coincidence, but at the end of the day, there are 20, 30 things when you combine them all that had to happen at the right time in order for me to be here. That’s why I call it a miracle.
Profound responsibilities come with teaching and coaching. You can do so much good–or harm. It’s why I believe that next to parenting, teaching and coaching are the two most important professions in the world.
Leaders must have patience for those under your supervision. Don't expect too much too soon. Maybe it was easy for you, but that doesn't mean it's going to be easy for somebody else. Be sure you have patience.
Ken Heitz got drafted by the Bucks the same year I did. He went to their camp just for the experience, then dropped out to attend Harvard Law School. I always admired his combination of athleticism and brains.
Directors tell me what to do, and I kind of just put my own twist to it, just to get inside my personality that everybody doesn't really get to see - my off-the-court interests and the way I act. It's just me.
I'm a fighter. So if you're going to doubt me or say that I can't do something, I'm going to prove to you I can do it. And when I do it, hopefully I earn your respect and you'll know it didn't come easy to me.
I'm not afraid to take a step and if I fall, I fall. I pick myself up and move on. If we can all learn one thing in life, it's don't be afraid to take on something that you believe you're capable of achieving.
I watched my parents battle, work night shift, work two jobs. That's toughness. That's toughness... That's something; it all carries over from your parents, and I was fortunate to have both parents in my life.
I think you're a product of your influences, your environment. You see guys with so much talent, but they got the wrong people around them telling them the wrong things. They wind up going down the wrong path.
Where I come from, dressing is a culture. When I go back home, I cannot dress bad. I cannot miss, or people will be like, 'What's going on with you, Serge? Did you lose your mind, or what?' That's the culture.
My free time at home is usually spent emailing, listening to music, reading and talking on the phone. I wish I was on the phone less, but I have been fortunate to stay in touch with so many incredible friends.
Now if you ask me about coming from Europe, I would suggest to any young player interested in the NBA to not spend two or three years in Europe searching for money. Just give it a shot. You can always go back.
Of course I feel like any player that plays this game should want to reach the highest level and the highest accolades, which includes the All-Star Game. So, yeah, I would be dumb not to want to be an All-Star.
You can lead a team in a lot of different ways. It can be talking to somebody who is down or, during the course of a game, looking to penetrate and then dropping the ball off to someone else for an easy bucket.
I like to play physical, and I'm a big guy, and I think sometimes - maybe sometimes I am pushing somebody, and I don't realize how hard I'm pushing them. And then they do it back, and it's kind of like, 'Jeez!'