I know when I left the game, I could have played more. There is no question. I think I could have played at a very high level, too. But I could not play the way everyone wanted me to play. And I was not willing to compromise what I felt was a standard that I had established in this league and, particularly, for our fans at home.
You need to possess more than a little nastiness to play basketball at the highest level.
I'm surprised when the ball doesn't go into the hoop. I think I should make every shot.
There's always two or three players I like, and why I like them, I can't tell you. There's just something about them I think would be great on a team.
I don't know anything else but the Lakers. This has certainly been more than a job for me as a player. It has certainly meant more to me than just an occupation.
I remember, years ago, if I had had an opportunity to leave the Lakers, I would have left for one reason: because I did not like an owner that was not telling me the truth. And it would have made no difference what they would have offered me; I would have left.
I have often wondered why I was never captain of the Lakers.
The Lakers had been home to me, unlike the home I had grown up and felt apart from.
For some reason, I always wanted to work in an environment where things weren't so good. I'm no messiah, but I always wanted to try and make a difference where a team hadn't prospered.
In the playoffs, the best players are supposed to play better. I did. It made no difference.
The 3-point line has changed the game so much. The day of the big man, unless you're extraordinary good, is not numbered, but certainly you gotta be a lot more versatile to play the game today. You gotta be able to really run up and down the court.
I see people that have success, and I see how poised and polished they are and how they handle it. I wonder inside if they feel the same way that I feel.
When the Warriors are on, my wife keeps away from me. I'm a rabid fan, and my language sometimes is not too good.
Anything you can do to help someone, I just think it's so important because there's a lot of kids that look up athletes of all size and shapes in a lot of different fields, not necessarily in the basketball field. They get involved emotionally with those people because there's something about certain athletes that people rally around.
You have to win games by scoring points, of course, so that's important. But when you're having nights against a good defensive team, you have to win in a different manner. You have to win a defensive-type game.
If I'm not nervous, if I don't have at least a little bit of the same self-doubt and anxious feelings I had when I started playing, then it will be time for me to go on. I must have that tension.
I went a few times, but I felt there was no way that any therapist could understand my particular torment and also felt in some respects they were sicker than I was.
I'm still very much a West Virginia boy. I haven't forgotten my roots, because that's really who I am.
