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When you go to watch a baseball game, when you go to watch an NBA game, when you watch an NFL game, when you go to watch movies, the offering that those arenas are doing foodwise is 'all the hot dogs you can eat'; all the French fries you can eat; for $20 you can eat 20 hot dogs.
I've always been known as a pure scorer, and I've always said if I just sat outside and shot 3s and just really focused on that - coming off of screens and spot-up 3s - and shot six or seven 3s a game, I would probably be more known as one of the greatest shooters in NBA history.
I still run into a lot of people from Memphis, all around the NBA. I feel like they're with me every game. I feel their love, their support, their pushing. I know they still cheer for me. They let me know they cheer for me. And there's a part of them with me in every game I play.
When hired three years ago, I willingly accepted the challenge of leading the Bulls back to the type of team this city richly deserves. I'm proud of the fact that each year the team has taken another step toward an NBA championship, and played with intense pride and determination.
As I grew up, I played in sandals. I played in flip-flops all the time back in the day. That's why I didn't really care about spraining my ankles. When I first started in the NBA, I loved low-cuts. I can play (in them), because I used to grow up playing in flip-flops all the time.
I wasn't sure how it would unfold once I got to the NBA, but I knew if I got to the NBA, I could then have the platform and have the resources and the connections and the people around me that had more connections and more resources to help me really impact a lot of people's lives.
I have done a lot of NFL games, a season-opening home games, playoff games, championship games, and of course Stanley Cup games, World Series, NBA championship games. But I have never done a Superbowl. It's probably the only major sporting event I've never done and I would like to.
I kind of like the idea of just coaching, nothing else. But I just think some coaches are better suited for college than the NBA. I believe I'm one of those guys. I think Tom Izzo is one of those guys. Mike Krzyzewski. I think they found the right jobs and they've stayed with them.
You look at the NBA: there's all these young kids that are drafted on potential. They go to bad teams, they're in bad locker rooms, and now we got this analytics stuff that doesn't teach kids how to play. We've got these workout coaches that don't teach kids how to play basketball.
Obviously I bet on games I officiated. I passed on information based on the meetings that the referees were having, and based on what the league office wanted us to call in playoff games. With that being said, I was able to win at a high percentage when we were betting on NBA games.
I'm getting used to this as a coach because it's a little jealousy from a lot of these coaches around the country. I do understand that, because we are NBA players trying to come back, and we didn't have any experience as college coaches. So we didn't, quote, unquote, 'Pay our dues.'
If the White House could do more to tell parents that getting children reading is their business too, we'd see a big difference. Hollywood and the NBA or NFL could step in, too. In England they have an event called Book Day, where every child receives a pound to use at any bookstore.
They won't choose Joakim Noah as the MVP, but I think it's great that he's in the conversation and he should be. But it's just not the way it works, from my experience. It's got to go in the basket for you guys to pay attention to somebody. But he's pretty damn valuable in my opinion.
Absolutely, when you talk about the embarrassment that I caused in 2007 for myself, my family, the NBA, it was embarrassing then, and it's as embarrassing now seeing it play out in a movie 10 years later. It's tough to watch it. Every time I watch it, I cringe through the whole thing.
Playing the game at a high level, understanding what it's like to get to where I've already been and where they want to go. I tell those kids that we're going to develop you, we're going to teach you, and we're going to have you ready off the court and on the court to be an NBA player.
The personal impact KG has had on me is life-changing. He's been the most important piece to my career in the NBA and one of the best friendships I have in my life. So I'm always blessed to say that he's my brother. We bonded so well because of how passionate and emotional we both are.
It's rare in the NBA, but I have a lot of young female fans from eight to eighteen because of the way I dress and the way I do my hair. People sometimes call me a pretty boy, but I embrace it. It's fun, and I guess it just kind of comes with being a good looking white guy in the league.
After I made it to the NBA, I said that I didn't want to be the last player from Africa. After my rookie year, I went to the league and talked about this, and they embraced my idea and started conducting basketball clinics in Africa, and that's when I knew I wouldn't be the last African.
My goal is to live out my dreams, to have a long NBA career, win championships and provide for them. My mom works two jobs. She does security and event staffing. My sister is a waitress. Anytime I'm down or don't want to work out, I remember our situation and what I've got to keep doing.
Every time we go to Sacramento, I go see De'Aaron Fox. Every time he comes to Miami, he comes to the crib. We just kinda kick it and really think about it. 'We are in the NBA right now. This is real.' And we cherish those moments because you never know when your time is up on this earth.
What I find fascinating … you have to give David Stern and the NBA a lot of credit … ESPN pays the league, and then the league tells them what to do. It’s more ESPN’s problem. You gotta have no balls whatsoever to pay someone hundreds of millions of dollars and let them run your business.
It was the Michael Jordan/Nike phenomenon that really let people see that athletes were OK, and black athletes were OK. Defying a previous wisdom - not only that black athletes wouldn't sell in white America, but that the NBA as a predominantly black sport could not sell in white America.
I went through ups and downs as a young player dealing with criticism and things of that nature. To finally win that first NBA championship, it was definitely a relief of a lot of pressure and frustration we dealt with as a team. It was great to bring a championship to the city of Chicago.
These first few years, it's more trying to figure it out. What's going on in the NBA? Where do I fit in? Then my second year, I'm a player. 'Can he actually start?' I played pretty well my second year. My third year, now I gotta solidify myself. Now I'm here, and it's about winning for me.
People talk about Kobe's 81-point game, the second-highest scoring game in NBA history. I saw the game. I don't care if it was 79, 81 - I just remember the game. I remember the moves. I remember the shots. I remember the beauty of it. The numbers? What he shot from the field? I don't care.
The actual act of sitting out doesn't directly fight systemic racism. But it does highlight the reality that without black athletes, the NBA wouldn't be what it is today. The league has a responsibility to our communities in helping to empower us - just as we have made the NBA brand strong.
The United States is where I want to finish. I love the States. I want to have a subscription to NBA and go with my children to every game. I can already see myself there. I do not yet know the city, but why not play for Beckham's franchise in Miami? Playing under Beckham would be the best.
In college, the line is so close that you can kind of half-heartedly shoot the ball off-balance and fading away. To shoot an NBA three, because the arc of your shot has to be a little higher, you have to be squared up and get your legs into it more, which can be tough in the fourth quarter.
I want to be an NBA all-star and help my team win. That's what it's all about, is winning. I'm a competitor... People said a lot about me being selfish and stuff like that. Getting into the league, I can't wait to shut that down. I'm a guy who wants to play and to win and love my teammates.
At first, I wanted to be a good player in the NBA. When I get to a team where you have one of the two best scorers in the league, I just said to myself that I needed to do something. I need to do something to help my team, something to make my name. That's where I started to focus on defense.
I want the kids to know that it's not a myth that somebody from their city plays and wins in the NBA. I just want to influence them to work hard and do whatever they want to do in life, whether it's to be a basketball player or scientist... if they believe in themselves, they can do anything.
My first motion capture game was with Sony - 'NBA: The Life.' It was very ahead of its time. Brandon Akiaten, he was the writer and director. He had a real vision of what this game was meant to be; it was a basketball game where I was the Jerry Maguire sports agent type guy. And it was great!
One time, I put up 40, 50 points dunking on Shawn Bradley. After the game, he brought his family over. He was like, 'This is my wife. She wants to take a picture.' I'm like, 'Nice to meet you.' I smile into the camera, take the picture, and then feel guilty about dunking on him so many times.
I'm a wuss. I'm a pushover and a wuss. But it's worth it. And that's the joy of being an NBA player. Because I can go out on the court and be an animal, be a beast. I ain't a pushover. But when I go home when I'm with my family, my friends and my wife and my child, I'm just Dad and a husband.
I always tried to be an all-around player. In college, I felt like I needed to add to my game to get to another level, to get to the NBA. The NBA has really turned to positionless basketball, so it was very important to me to have an all-around game so I could stand out in front of other guys.
When I say about 'dream is free,' I don't only mean about basketball or to be in the NBA like Serge Ibaka. No. I mean in general, in anything you do. You can do anything you want, anything you dream about. You can do it. You just have to know the dream is free. And dream is free for everybody.
People asked me, 'Why aren't you doing something more important?' When I was doing well in the D-League, they were like, 'Why can't you get an NBA job? Or a college job?' I don't think people thought much of what I was doing. That's fine. I was learning. Not just X's and O's, but team dynamics.
One of the advantages of going to a small school is that you're expected to be the man. They have to give you the ball, and there's more room for error in a situation where you can play your way through mistakes (and no matter how good you are, this is a valuable coping skill at the NBA level).
There's no representation. That's why the NBA Players Association was formed, players' unions were formed. That's why those unions were formed - to have representation before you make rules for me that I have to abide by. How can I participate and how can it be fair if there's no representation?
I'm a huge fan of the game. It's beyond a fringe benefit of obviously getting to work at the league office. I watch a ton of games in person, on television, on all forms of new media I follow the league. And so it's just beyond my wildest imaginations to me to now be the commissioner of the NBA.
I think it's the hardest part for about 80 percent of the guys in the NBA. That's just the way it is in the NBA, unless you're a mega superstar. You're just going to play wherever you go. You try to find the right fit and the right team with the right system and the right coach at the right time.
I am really irked by healthy NBA players resting. I really don't understand it. Players in the past have played all season for years. I just don't love it. I feel like it hurts the integrity and competitiveness of the game. It's got nothing to do with the TV partners; it's about cheating the fans.
I've learned a lot from the experiences that I went through in high school, through college and overseas, and just everything in life. That is what prepared me for coming into the NBA, being undersized, no recognition, not getting anything easy, and I have been fortunate to prosper in this league.
When I look back at my first few seasons in the NBA, we didn't dominate as a team. There were a lot of nights where we took a beating and got whacked across the head. But we got better along the way, and we started to taste the success. With that came the pressure and expectations to be successful.
I didn't know there was an NBA draft. But in my mind, I was always telling myself, one day, 'I'm going to be in professional basketball.' And I believed it. One day, I will. I believe this every day. I think about this every day. I was going to do whatever I had to do to be there. And it comes true.
We would play songs live on stage, and then we'd watch their reaction we were receiving immediately, if people were dancing and singing along. If they weren't, then we'd go into the dressing rooms of the different NBA teams that we were playing in their arenas, and we'd change the songs right there.
When I travel around the globe, I try as hard as I can to represent the NBA and the game of basketball to the best of my abilities. I get to go around the world and not only share the game but also my philanthropic work. Building a hospital in the Congo is one of the proudest achievements of my life.
I have the mindset of a mid-level guy or a minimum guy. My path here wasn't expected: my path wasn't that I was going to the NBA and making $16 million a year. So I identify more with those guys, and I want to be a voice for them. I want to help them elevate their status in the league. That's my goal.
It’s kind of like, I would say, maybe college recruiting. I’m pretty sure a lot more goes into it in the NBA. A lot more money is spent. I’ve heard stories, guys getting called right at midnight. It’s something that I haven’t experienced. I may want to go through it. I haven’t thought about it at all.
I feel like I grew up differently, when you're a child actor you grow up differently, but it's not that different than growing up as, like, a child basketball player who goes to the NBA. There are certain kids who become professionals at a very young age. There's a lot of sacrifice that goes into that.