I don't want to be the next Michael Jordan, I only want to be Kobe Bryant.
Sports are such a great teacher. I think of everything they've taught me: camaraderie, humility, how to resolve differences.
I'm more than comfortable just sitting back and scoring 21, 22 points or whatever and getting 10, 11 assists whatever the case might be. More than comfortable with that. It's just a matter of the pieces that you have around you and what you can do to elevate everybody else.
Christmas morning, I'm going to open presents with my kids. I'm going to take pictures of them opening the presents. Then I'm going to come to the Staples Center and get ready to work.
I'm extremely willful to win, and I respond to challenges. Scoring titles and stuff like that... it sounds, well, I don't care how it sounds - to me, scoring comes easy. It's not a challenge to me to win the scoring title, because I know I can.
Everything negative - pressure, challenges - is all an opportunity for me to rise.
I focus on one thing and one thing only - that's trying to win as many championships as I can.
Magic has five championships. I have five championships. I'm pretty sure we both know what we're doing.
I'm chasing perfection.
The people who truly know me know what I'm like. There have been people who try to say things that aren't fair, and I check them. And then they don't like me because I checked them.
These young guys are playing checkers. I'm out there playing chess.
Dropkick Murphys get me going, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nirvana... plus, all the regular hip-hop stuff.
It's hard for me to grasp the concept of somebody being nervous when I'm talking to them.
What people see on court is another side of me; it's not me.
I draw from the crowd a lot.
I've got four dogs, and I just don't do dog doo. I'm a diva when it comes to that.
Can I jump over two or three guys like I used to? No. Am I as fast as I used to be? No, but I still have the fundamentals and smarts. That's what enables me to still be a dominant player. As a kid growing up, I never skipped steps. I always worked on fundamentals because I know athleticism is fleeting.
If I panic, everyone else panics.
I like playing for the purple and gold. This is where I want to finish up.
We all know what flopping is when we see it. The stuff that you see is where guys aren't really getting hit at all and are just flailing around like a fish out of water.
