I never cared for stuff like the All-Star Game.
Every year's going to be a what-if. That's the game of basketball. What if a guy turns his ankle? What if a guy gets in a car wreck coming to the arena? There are so many different aspects that could happen that nobody knows. Only the man upstairs knows.
To me, I have always been a Rick Adelman fan. I felt like if I had been in his systems, I probably would have been a better player than I was because if you look at his system, it was ideal for me.
A lot of guys... they want to take the big shot, and they talk about it because they're scared of it. You never heard me talk about it. You heard a lot of guys talk about it. But you don't have to talk about it, because if you have the confidence in yourself, and your team believes in you, you don't fear anything. You don't fear losing.
You know what's funny, I really hate Par 3's. I feel like you have to be perfect from jumpstreet. But on Par 5's, you can mess up a little bit, but you still have time to adjust before you get to the hole and still end up with a birdie or a par.
Some days, I feel like being known as a smart players, sometimes clutch.
Whenever I hear people crying about Kobe yelling at people in practice or wondering whether or not LeBron is best friends with his teammates, I just roll my eyes. You know how many off-court conversations I had with the Zen-Master Phil Jackson in my entire time with the Lakers? One.
You know, pass now to pinch post, cut, shoot the shot. Do things to facilitate the offense. That's what I did in Alabama.
I think Phil Jackson started that feud. It happened many times that after team practice he would say, 'Kobe said this about Shaq, and Shaq said that about Kobe... ' We couldn't believe how could that happen, because just the day before we saw them together, jumping on one another.
25 was my number in high school and college. But when I got traded to Lakers, it was retired, and Derek Fisher had 2, so I was stuck with 5. Nothing more special behind it than that.
It's hard to guard two dynamic players working together rather than guarding them going one-on-one.
When I got traded to the Lakers in '97, Kobe Bryant was just a rookie.
The Laker brand and name itself is fantastic. When you have a guy like Kobe Bryant in that brand also, it takes it out of this world. I think the fact that everybody sees the work ethic this guy has makes them work harder.
The Houston team I was on - we were just rolling. We just hit the right stride at the right moment. And the Lakers team, we were rolling again.
When I played, you had a lot of enforcers. You would go to the hole, get knocked down, and the referee would look at you and say, 'Get stronger, get up, and keep playing.'
I get excited for the regular season also, but it's just added excitement when the playoffs start.
My favorite champions is the 1995 championship with the Rockets. We were the sixth seed without home court advantage.
I enjoy Otis Thorpe; he took me under his wing when I was a rookie. I'm also a fan of Ron Harper. He showed me the ropes and showed me what it was to play in the NBA.
I love playing videogames.
