Kanye West - he's all over the place, and I think he defines what an artist is because none of his work is the same, and he's into what he's into.
Chris Bosh
I would want to work with guys that maybe aren't starters, guys that are the fourth or fifth option.
People used to ask me, 'What else do you want to do?' For me, the answer was, 'Nothing.' I loved basketball. It's all I wanted.
I do kind of marvel at my journey. But at the same time, I look back at a lot of the steps, and maybe not every step, but a lot of the steps, and since I was 12 or 13, I look at the people who helped me and the moments that were inspirational to me, and you can recall what my mindset and what my make-up was at that time to try and be the best.
I don't jump as high and I'm not as fast as Dwyane Wade and LeBron James. I don't have many highlight plays, but I can play this game.
The post area I had to unlearn. And yeah, now it's a relearning process. It's different. It's learning what works and what doesn't work.
If they need me to score 30, I can go do it. If they need me to just rebound and defend, I can do that. I can play this game, just in case people forgot. You just carry that chip on your shoulder, and you go out there and do what I was put on this Earth to do.
I remember in high school, I ate some nachos probably like an hour, half-hour before the game, and it's kind of gross, but a little of it came up while I was running - you know you get that burp - and I literally coughed at the same time, and it got caught in my nose, and it was during the game.
When I was a kid, I used to cry every time I lost a game, up until, like, the 8th grade. I used to go ballistic. I used to go crazy. If I cried, it'd be like, 'Ah, Chris is crying again... damn it... come on, get in the car.' All that over one game. I hated to lose.
You have to be ready to compete. Because lots of people dream that dream, to be the best at something. But are you ready to commit to the hard work that it takes to get there? For me, it just became a part of my life, and it was what it was. Another day, another basketball practice or another game.
I learned HTML in high school and then graduated to CSS. It's a great way to exercise my mind. But it's frustrating as hell.
I'm at a space in my life where I see gifts I've been given, and if it ends, it's been a helluva ride. I did more than I'd ever think I'd do.
Micky Arison is a fantastic owner and a great leader, and we've always had a special relationship.
Don't get me wrong - it's amazing playing basketball. But being 19 years old, playing and interacting with grown men with families wasn't fun all the time, especially during a grueling 82-game season. That, mixed with Toronto's freezing winter climate, made me miss my buddies back at Tech even more.
You give me enough shots, I'll average 20. You give me a particular system where I stick close to the basket, I'll average 10 rebounds.
I've eaten a lot of strange things. I've eaten something called a razor clam. They just call it that because it likes like the old-school razors in the old-school barber shops. I can't even think of some of the things I've tried.
The way I look at it, competing at a high level, whether that's business, art or film, athletics, anything you do, there's a certain way to go about it.
For me, I kind of just follow my passions and follow what I love to do and use my free time to kind of answer those questions and go through my bad moods and maybe a little light case of depression.
If I can't play, there's no reason to go. To watch the game without me in it, is just no point doing that.
CB4 is never coming back. A few years later, I think I'm a much better player. It's funny, even all the way over here in Africa, people are telling me, 'We need CB4 back.' I can't be that. That's impossible.
You learn to respect team chemistry. It's the fourth quarter, there's two minutes left, the shot clock is winding down, and we're like, 'What do we do?' We didn't have that flow. Chemistry comes down to repetition. It's not, 'We've played some games; we have chemistry now.'
The game has gotten a lot faster. I was anticipating changes as far back as when I first came into the league, when the spacing was changing, and big guys were playing in different spaces on the floor. But when that change actually happens, and it happens so quickly, it's just amazing.
I spend my days in an office in my house. There are things to be done that I don't have the skill set for. I'm able to learn on the fly, thank God, so I can function. But it's difficult.
You go from being with the guys all the time in the locker room, in practice, having a militarized brain in terms of this schedule, and then, all of a sudden, you are on your own. You lose a sense of purpose; you lose a sense of yourself. And you lose confidence. You find yourself saying, 'I was the best at this, and now I'm not the best.'
I have millions of dollars, and I don't know finance. I've had some bad things happen in my career. I've got to educate myself. I sit down with my finance guy once a month and go over everything, line by line.
Once I close the doors, it's closed. I don't open it back up. That's kind of me as a human being. That's just one of the things about me... But yeah, for me, I don't close anything until I'm officially done.
I felt like I was chosen to play basketball when I was younger.
The NBA is the best league in the world. It's no way you're going to be able to fill the void that the energy of performing before 20,000 people every night gives you. That's just impossible. So, I just try and move on from that and let it be a moment in time and leave it alone.
Man, I'm just going to be myself. I shouldn't have to apologize for that. If people don't understand that, then they don't understand it. I'm not going to try to be somebody I'm not.
That's one thing I pride myself a lot more now, playing defense, I do what the team needs me to do. If we need a stop, I'll do it. That's a major, major part of my game now.
I'm always going to be around the game of basketball. I plan to keep my options open as a player moving forward, but that's not coaching. Maybe front office work, working with teams and spreading the game, maybe teaching the game to young people, that's something that's a very big passion.
To be honest, I'm looking at today's game, and I put myself in that position and how I would benefit from the faster basketball, more threes, catch-and-go opportunities, attacking the paint with more space, that's what kind of gets me juiced up and riled up when I watch today's game.
I would really want to teach someone how to function without having to have plays called for you.
Being in the NBA, being successful, being able to win championships at the highest level in the world, there's certain core values that you have, certain things you have to follow.
I do. I vote. People died for our right to vote, you know, and I can't let that go.
If somebody attacks me with words, I'm always like, 'Do you know me? Do you know me that well? Let's have a beer and talk about it.'
We're all making decisions to make ourselves happy and our families happy. That doesn't take away what we've done together and the special bond that we created and the special bond that we have and just all the memories that we had together. That will never change. As you move forward, you appreciate those moments and keep going forward.
I'm more mature, my game is more mature, and I can do a bunch of things on and off the court to fully maximize this team's potential.
It is a business. I know we, as athletes and owners and people involved with the NBA, never want to say that it's a business and things like that. It is a business.
I don't do anything without measuring 10 times and cutting once.
If it's about working out and playing basketball, I'm one of the best in the world to do it - at least two years ago. But I'm still in a space where I can play.
I feel that I was chosen to do it. It's taken me all over the world and given me opportunities to take care of my family and give me experiences that I would not have had. I think about those things and what I owe to the game.
Your favorite coach is the one who constantly yells at you.
I learned how important it is to have a home that's in order - that's peaceful.
My dad used to play every other weekend with me when I was young. I started getting better, but he could always beat me. Then one day, he realized the jig was up. And he stopped playing me just before I could beat him.
I had friends around campus and great teammates. I didn't want to leave. I didn't expect to be regarded and scouted as such a high pick, so it was a crazy twist to reality. I'd always wanted to make the NBA. It was my dream. Then all of a sudden, people were telling me I'd be the fourth pick if I entered the draft.
At the end of the day, I looked at my options. I wanted to be in the NBA. I wanted to pursue my dream. It was my choice. But sometimes, just for fun, I think about how it would've been if I'd stayed in college.
If you're an athlete in this game, you have to protect your own interests, and you have to protect your body and your family.
You're playing games every two or three nights, so there's no real time off.
If a doctor tells me, 'Hey, that's it, and this is how it is,' and I don't buy that, then I think I have the right to disagree with you.
