“Leadership is getting players to believe in you. If you tell a teammate you’re ready to play as tough as you’re able to, you’d better go out there and do it..”

First master the fundamentals.

I always know what’s happening on the court. I see a situation occur, and I respond.

I wasn’t real quick, and I wasn’t real strong. Some guys will just take off and it’s like, whoa. So I beat them with my mind and my fundamentals.

Anytime you’ve got an opportunity to play for your country and win a gold medal,

But it is a black man’s game, and it will be forever.

When I go to the line I’m thinking ‘All net.’ When I don’t think that, I’m likely to miss.

I just shoot until I feel good.

Practice habits were crucial to my development in basketball.

Whether it’s a tie game or down by 1 or up by five, it was always the same shot. So I always felt comfortable with the ball in my hands because it was in there a million times before.

I don’t think that once you get to one level, you can relax. You’ve got to keep pushing.

I’m a firm believer in that you play the way you practice.

I wanted to compete at the highest level again – and that’s the NBA.

I didn’t play against the toughest competition in high school, but one reason I was able to do well in college was that I mastered the fundamentals.

You never make any of the shots you never take. 87% of the ones you do take, you’ll miss too. I make 110% of my shots.

Leadership is diving for a loose ball, getting the crowd involved, getting other players involved. It’s being able to take it as well as dish it out. That’s the only way you’re going to get respect from the players.

Basketball was always a game to me. One of the greatest things in life for me was to be able to play what I loved dearly and get paid for it. So it was always a game to me and that’s how I perceived everything.

I feel like making music because – and this has much to do with the way I was able to make this record – there’s more of myself in it.

I’m not concentrated or concerned with any other factors rather than just being able to do the best job that I can.

Was it the forgetfulness of old age or personal incapacity that made the man able to say please but not thank you?

Yet, when your ears come upon the truth, the facts of life, you hide your faces and cry, not able

I believe a lot in the subject of the power our own bodies have as marginalized beings to be able to change the sense of things.

How I measure success is getting to make another record and being able to the come back to the same town and play again cause you sold out the last time.

We are able to feel and learn very quickly through music, through art, through poetry some spiritual things that we would otherwise learn very slowly.

You can learn a little bit from everybody, so you should be able to work a bit with everybody.