Society is fast - fast food, fast cars, fast everything.
B. J. Armstrong
Either you change with the times or you get rolled over.
One thing I can say about Michael Jordan, nothing was going to deny him to achieve what he wanted to achieve. That includes the Bulls' front office, the league, or whomever. The man just had an undeniable spirit about himself.
Having a mentor gives someone a huge advantage in life.
Winning covers a multitude of sins. If you play bad and you still win, everyone says that's the sign of a good ballclub. But when you play bad and you lose, all of a sudden you have problems and everyone wants to know why.
A true champion walks off with his head high.
Understanding is the solution to every problem.
LeBron James has proven he can lead by example. My wish for LeBron is to understand the following: He's an exceptional leader because he leads by example. The next step on the road to Legend, which he's already on, is to trust he's the best player in the best system anywhere in basketball.
My adult life, I grew up in Chicago. When I go back there, I always have fond memories.
It takes an inner strength to succeed.
If there was ever a true emotion of a Chicago Bull, Derrick Rose embodies it. Because he is Chicago. That kid will do anything for the city of Chicago.
Jordan had phenomenal talent. He had phenomenal understanding. But he also had a mentality that I haven't seen. He had a sense of urgency every time he stepped on the floor.
I have pride, and my pride won't allow me to accept losing by 30 points four games in a row.
Individual success comes as a result of team success.
He made the game look easy. But being Michael Jordan, and all that came with it, that wasn't easy.
When you're losing by 20 to 30 points night in and night out, that's no fun. You can't accept that as a player.
If I could do anything, I'd ride horses all day.
Whether you're playing sports, starting a business or anything else in life, you need to identify your talents. Your responsibility is to find what you do better than anyone else. Once you identify what that is, you need to put yourself in the best position to succeed.
Now that I've had a chance to play for a team where we won 30 or 35 games, you understand how special winning is.
To me, that's the brilliance of Michael Jordan. He was an incredible, amazing individual player who matched his talents to the team, matched the team's talents to him, and he lived in the middle of those extremes. I don't know how you do that.
If your best players are taking a shortcut, they're going to have problems holding everyone else accountable and responsible.
When I played, I would never, ever try to run Reggie Miller off the line because I knew Reggie. If I ran at him, and I was trying to run him off the line, I was going to get kicked.
I don't wish stardom on anyone. When I hear people say, 'this guy's a star,' I always say, 'good luck.'
The more time you play, the more confidence you get. The more confidence you get, you get a little success.
Tremendous teammate, that's what comes to mind when I think of Scottie Pippen. He was a very caring teammate who was always concerned about the team. The way he played and expressed himself on the floor exemplified who he was as a player.
You learn a lot of about people in failure.
I've learned how to function in chaos.
Who says a center can't make the pass into the post? Michael Jordan, effectively, was a post player and you saw with the championship teams players able to do multiple things.
I just go out there and play and work hard.
In 1989-90 I became one of the group known as the Jordanaires, a.k.a. the Bulls. From the day I arrived in Chicago, I knew what everyone else on the team did: Michael Jordan was a phenomenal talent.
Greatness is empowered in a system where you pass the ball, not pound it.
Isolation basketball will always be part of the game. But the system has to be predicated on ball movement and, more importantly, player movement.
I remember as a young player I had this dream of playing in the NBA.
I always say, to this day, that the Air Jordan guy was great and God bless him. But I'll always just remember Michael, the guy.
Michael was the first person to show me what it meant to be a star... but you cannot be that star and not accept all the things that came with it.
All the other things that happen, they don't resonate with him other than winning the basketball game. That's just who he is. He's just a humble kid and he's just trying to go out there and do his thing. I wish I could say some secret formula or training method, but sometimes you got to let things be. That's who Derrick Rose is.
M. J. was M. J. His body of work speaks for itself. We've seen his career, we've dissected his career and had the chance to watch it. That's done.
I've been around enough athletes to know when someone is working, someone's not.
I'm from Detroit, but Chicago is a second home for me.
My previous experiences taught me my true passion was working with the players. I love the business. I love sports. I love everything about the team aspect. But I have this deep appreciation for the players and their perspective.
The one thing I didn't expect was to learn how much of a sense of humor Jerry Reinsdorf has. He's really funny. I never got a chance to see his sense of humor when I was working for him or playing for him.
Scottie's game changed with where he was at physically. He wasn't the same player at 21 as he was at 30. Both he and Michael aged gracefully in this league and that's the beauty of being a professional player. You continue to grow and continue to change your game, but you do it to be just as effective.
I don't know what position Scottie was; he was just a basketball player. He could dribble, shoot, pass and rebound. Defensively, he was excellent. He had quick hands and quick feet with a great understanding of the game. He could do it all.
This is to LeBron James: If you want to be the best, get rid of the comparisons. Get rid of all the comparisons that are out there. That's what Michael Jordan did.
It didn't work out for me at Golden State, in terms of wins and losses. Still, I tried to exhibit what a competitor is all about.
Winning is the easiest thing that I ever did in the NBA, but being able to come to the realization of what it means to compete in this league no matter what - win, lose or draw - was the most difficult thing.
So much has been said about Michael Jordan as a basketball player, but when I played with him, the Michael I knew was just Michael. I guess more than anything is that I got to experience the human side of the so-called gladiators, warriors and heroes that we worship.
For all that Michael Jordan could run, jump and entertain, he is best known for one thing: He won. If you want to be a great player in this league, you have to focus on one thing - the bottom line, which is winning.
Since I've been a part of this league, I can't recall when they've actually made rules that have actually helped to improve the game of basketball.
For every LeBron James that jumps onto the scene, or every Derrick Rose that does really well in year one, you have a lot of others that take time to transition. Those guys are just brilliant in their own way, but a lot of other guys need a little help along the way.
