I don't care what anybody says: a pro athlete is going to be a role model. I tried to use that as a positive influence, to let kids know we are regular people.
— Clyde Drexler
You have to understand, the Blazers and their fans had a unique relationship. I'm not sure there has ever been a love affair between an NBA team and its fan base like we had... We had good players and good citizens.
Some of the guys in the Eastern Conference, I had never been on their teams - like Larry Bird: even though you make the All Star team, you're going to be in the West; he's on the East. So you're never going to be teammates.
You talk about demand, and these are big-name NBA players fighting for spots to be in the BIG3. So you gotta bring your game to make a squad, and that's what Ice Cube's envisioned when he started the BIG3.
In professional sports, things can change quickly. You keep your balance. You keep your perspective, and things will work out.
If you've got the best record, you're going to be the favourite. So you've got to play as the favourite with a bullseye on your back.
Basketball is a global sport.
You may score 50 points and grab 40 rebounds and have 30 assists, but if I don't make the free throws at the end of the game, and we lose, does that make you not a champion?
Because coaching is a challenge, it makes you want to come back. But if you do, you know you're going to be negligent in other areas.
This should be a written rule: Guards should always defer to centers. I don't care how good you are, those big guys make the game so much easier for every other person on that team, and without them, everyone else needs to work twice as hard.
Without the hand check rule, players are more likely to work their way open.
Going to the Portland Trail Blazers, who actually took the time to invest in me, was perhaps the best thing that ever happened to me in my career. I got to a small market where I could focus on basketball, basketball, basketball. No distractions.
I retired at 35 in '98 and thought, 'There's only one place to go, and that's downward.' I retired at a good level. I was at peace after 15 years - I was lucky to play that long.
If I had to make a choice for the Hall of Fame... I would have gone in as a Portland Trail Blazer.
I never stopped trying to improve - after 15 years of playing, I was still trying to think of something I could do better throughout the course of the year.
I had a lot of wonderful accomplishments in the game of basketball. Of course, to win a gold medal for your country - it doesn't get any better than that.
Jeff Kwatinetz and Ice Cube and Amy Trask - all those people are real visionaries, and the league that they started has been phenomenal. And my job as commissioner now is to kind of help continue to build, improve the fan and the player experience.
Come on, everyone wants to win a championship, but a lot of players have had great careers without one. Sometimes it just doesn't happen for whatever reason.
The key ingredient is talent - you've got to have talent. If you look at the regular season, they've got the best record in the entire league, so they've got the talent.
Everybody's mom plays a huge role in their development and support. Mom was awesome. There is no one better. I had a good family. I had six brothers and six sisters, and they were all very supportive.
Guy Lewis was all about efficiency. He was a great motivator. He got real talent and taught his players how he wanted them to play: hard and aggressive!
There's a lot to be learned by watching. I think the younger generation could fare a lot better in their game if they could sit down and watch some of the games of the past.
If I had a great game, and I was hot, usually we were up by 20-30 going into the fourth quarter. That means I don't get to play in the fourth quarter.
My favorite player growing up was Julius Erving, because I loved the way he played above the rim, all of the tricks with the ball, big hands, and just phenomenal showmanship.
If you're a young man, and you're being coached by someone like Guy Lewis, you're going to become a better man.
All kids need to figure out how to manage their time as a young adult.
I am a Blazer at heart, and I want those fans to have something good to cheer for.
It makes you a better player when you're around better competition. If you pay attention, you can learn something.
As commissioner, you have to have a great relationship with your players but also to the upper executives: you gotta make sure their mandates are all on target and in line.
To be able to have a professional 3-on-3 league and be a part of that, that's been a ton of fun, ton of fun. The fans love it, the players love playing it, and it's just a lot of fun to be around.
We had some great years in Portland. We went to the finals twice. We won 63 games one year. You can't tell me those weren't championship teams.
There are going to be some teams in Europe. There are going to be some teams in Asia. And they're all going to be a part of the NBA umbrella, eventually.
That's the part of basketball that we have to understand. You can never look at it as an individual sport. You rely on so many other people.
I wanted to retire on my own terms. I wanted to leave before they kicked me out.
Houston fans want a high value for their entertainment dollar, and if you don't win, they will drop you and go on to the next big deal.
In my day, defenders played you with two hands and an elbow. You're not getting by a guy, especially if he has an elbow and a hand on you and is a strong defensive player.
Growing up, people will tell you that you have a better chance to become an astronaut than becoming an NBA player. So when you finally get to the NBA, you've beat the odds. So when you put on that jersey, everything else is downhill.
I love the game and played from 13 to 35 for almost every single day.
Education is worth its weight in gold. Make no mistake about it.
