How I dress is the way I feel. If I'm wearing bright colors, I'm probably in a great mood.
— Willie Cauley-Stein
I come from a town of 800 people, and you just listen to Jay Z there. You never think about meeting him. Then suddenly, one day, you're in his office, hearing stories about his whole journey.
Basketball is everything, but I love fashion, too!
It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. You know what you've done and what you've been through to get to where you are.
The chip comes from people saying I'm not good enough, or I can't score, or I'm not a real basketball player.
If I really want to be the best player in the country, all I have to do is work at it, and eventually, you're gonna get there.
I'm not your average athlete. I'm good at other things. I'm not just a basketball player. I'm multi-talented.
Call me whatever you want, but I'm eventually going to play like a power forward.
When your teammates are telling you to score and telling you to shoot 3s, when you ain't shot a 3 in your whole life, that's cool. I mean, that makes you feel good. and, like, all the work you've put in, they are telling you to show what you have been working on.
I'm really straightforward. I'm going to tell you how it is. I'm going to speak my mind.
I'm just trying to win something... I play with a chip on my shoulder, a real passion.
With my grandparents, it was almost like a hippie lifestyle. I could do whatever I wanted. If I didn't want to do my homework, I didn't do it.
I don't think I'm as good as people say.
I used to be super self-conscious about my height. I mean, going everywhere and someone just looking at you - you're never not in the spotlight.
You're a pick-and-pop guy sometimes. You can get rolling with what the defense gives you.
Seeing my teammates happy is more fun than me actually doing something.
People say I don't have a jump shot, so that's what I've been working on.
Whenever I really want to, I can paint. It kinda just goes by my emotions and feelings at the time.
Every possession matters, and everything goes down to the wire.
Every game is a playoff game.
Nobody else can tell you what you are.
How you balance class and school and other stuff outside, then working out twice a day - as a freshman, you're thrown right into that. It's good for you. It makes you go through adversity.
I feel like potential is limitless. It's as far as you want to take it.
I love the game, but I'm not going to play the game for the rest of my life, so you need something else you're good at, another passion. You have to be well-rounded, or else you're going to burn out, and you'll lose passion for what you're doing.
I have an advantage over most big guys - I'm quicker and faster.
I'm trying to be a franchise player one day.
A lot of kids my age can make a lot of mistakes, but college athletes that are in the spotlight, you have to grow up so much faster than regular students or regular kids your age because you are a public figure, so you get one shot, sometimes two.
I don't really care about my game, honestly. I just want to win.
You've got the power to change people's lives just by talking to them for a few minutes or by smiling at them. It makes you feel kinda weird, but it can also make you feel really good.
The way I dress, the way I talk, the way I do things, what I say on Twitter - it's just like, that's who you are, so don't try to mask who you are just because of what other people think of you.
I'm just unique. I do my own thing. I live by my own rules.
I just want to hoop freely.
Being more vocal - I think that's something, as a professional, you have to be really good at. You have to be able to speak your mind.
Since I got to college, I wanted my own shoe and clothing spot. It's called 'Catalyst.' That's the ultimate goal. I wanna put it downtown Sacramento. It's poppin down there. They don't have anything like that.
I probably started painting when I was in preschool.
I have a tattoo on my arm that says, 'The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.'
A lot of the quote-unquote interests that I have are not really interests.
I don't know how you can be an All-American in this country and not be a good basketball player.
I see myself as the No. 1 player in the draft, but it is what it is. You can just take it day-by-day, put in the work, and the draft is going to be the outcome of whatever the draft is.
The only problem that I had in my younger years and in college was not knowing if I had the confidence on the offensive side to just take over.
I'm not your cookie-cutter athlete, and that scares people. People don't know how to take that.
I'm too athletic to play the dunker role at center.
I'm real mentally strong, so there's just not a lot that people can say to get me off of my own self and lane, and my confidence.
I play hard all the time and bring a lot of energy to the table.
I'm getting drafted because I can guard multiple positions. Anything that comes other than that, there's no pressure there.
Some weeks, I'll go super-hard at practice for two straight days, but then the third day, something happens away from basketball, and I'll lose focus. I'll say, 'I just want to get through practice. I don't want to conquer it today.' But then I'll go home and realize I missed a chance to get better, and it'll bother me.
I don't like to be in the spotlight. I like to just chill and observe other people.
Numbers don't lie. I think it's pretty cut and dry what consistency is.
I've gotten better every year. I'm only going to continue to get better and better, and I'm just scratching the surface. I'm 25 years old, and I've been hooping at a high level for a long time.
I think it's getting proven I've got good mechanics; I make my free throws. I handle the ball, too. I can do a lot of things I didn't do in college.
