You can feel the vibes, feel the people pulling for you.
— Julius Erving
One of the most predictable things in life is there will be change. You are better off if you can have a say in the change. But you are ignorant or naive if you don't think there will be change, whether you want it to or not.
But you know, we have a very normal family. We've had our ups and downs. You know, we've had our issues, but we've had great cause for celebration.
You know, just in terms of having to have a life on the road, you know, having the celebrity aspect be a burden for my family, friends and extended family.
To be great we need to win games we aren't supposed to win.
I live my life trying to never appear to be a small man.
If you do things with a certain type of result and cause a certain type of reaction or effect, then you increase your market value. It's very much a competition for the entertainment dollar, and that's never been more clearly evident than in today's NBA game.
With the crowds on your side, it's easier to play up to your potential.
When I went to Philadelphia I was 26 years old and really sitting on top of the world. Family life, a professional career, plenty of friends and associates, and a good reputation, a wish list that could be the envy of many.
My role models in the business were the older guys on my team when I first got there: Gray Scott, Adrian Smith, Roland Taylor. These were the guys who took me under their wing, and really schooled me in terms of what the business was about.
I always try to keep a pretty conservative demeanor on the court.
Right up until the time I retired at age 37, I felt like there were still things that I could do better.
I had to spend countless hours, above and beyond the basic time, to try and perfect the fundamentals.
There's the typical books, Moby Dick and, I guess in my adult life I began to read biographies more than fiction. I started to want to relate to other people's lives, things that had really happened.
I think I started learning lessons about being a good person long before I ever knew what basketball was. And that starts in the home, it starts with the parental influence.
I firmly believe that respect is a lot more important, and a lot greater, than popularity.
Because of the makeup of the NBA, it cannot afford for the public to turn on them.
As a kid, I played a lot of one-on-none.
But you know, if you live an affluent lifestyle, there are all types of trappings that are there that you have to be cognizant of, and you've got to try and communicate freely and gain understanding about and then keep moving on, because you know, sometimes lifestyles are chosen for us as opposed to us choosing them.
The key to success is to keep growing in all areas of life - mental, emotional, spiritual, as well as physical.
They are taking steps, but they are baby steps.
One of the things in the back of my mind is that, after my sports experience, I never want to be, totally consumed by any one endeavor, other than my family life.
When handling the ball, I always would look for daylight, wherever there was daylight.
When the crowd appreciates you, it encourages you to be a little more daring, I think.
Being a typical Pisces, I might have experienced mood shifts, but I don't remember any depression, or needing to do anything, or to have someone bring me out of being depressed.
I grabbed 19 rebounds in my first professional game, and somehow found a way to score 20 points. I felt real good about it. I felt that this was the beginning of something good.
If you've experienced having control, you don't want to be moved to a subordinate position, if you have your druthers.
And I continued to grow until I was 25 years old.
And from the first time I picked up a basketball at age eight - I had a lot of difficulty when I first picked up a basketball, because I was a scrub - there were things that I liked about it.
In a lot of areas of my life, particularly in my teenage years, I began to think about the world, and to think about the universe as being a part of my conscious everyday life.
If you don't do what's best for your body, you're the one who comes up on the short end.
When I played, the owners had the power. The prisoners are running the prison now, not the warden. The warden is strong and he has say so but, the balance of power is definitely with the players.
When I get a chance to power jump off both legs, I can lean, twist, change directions and decide whether to dunk the ball or pass it to an open man. In other words, I may be committed to the air, but I still have some control over it.
You know, we always tried to rationalize by saying you take the good, you take the upside, you got to deal with the downside, you've to take the downside.
I keep both eyes on my man. The basket hasn't moved on me yet.
Goals determine what you're going to be.
One of the commitments that I personally have now is to a diverse approach to buying businesses, and the operation of those businesses.
In 1981, at age 31, I was voted the best player in basketball, and the most valuable player in the league.
If you get depressed about being the second-best team in the world, then you've got a problem.
Every team that I've played on, I've either been the captain or co-captain.
That was just my own personal program: I didn't want to get too high over the good moments because I didn't want to be saddened and depressed when things didn't go as I had planned.
I pulled the plug on it at a time that I thought was right for me to exit.
I liked the game, I enjoyed the game, and the game fed me enough, and gave me enough rewards to reinforce that this is something that I should spend time doing, and that I could possibly make a priority in my life, versus other sports.
Teachers are sort of faced with a thankless task, because no matter how good they are, unless they find a way to personally rationalize the rewards of their effort, nobody else is really going to do it for them en masse.
I came from a broken home, so my mom was a major influence in my life.
I demand more of myself than anyone else could ever expect.
