My very good friend, Rahm Emanuel, made it very clear to me on several occasions that I was, quote, unquote, not a team player; that I was not - that I didn't not have a future.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
It's difficult working with someone who is not a team player.
I don't like the idea of 'I've played nine years, I've made some All-Star teams, I make the most money. I've got to be a leader.' That doesn't make you a leader. Treating people the right way is more important.
I'm a team player. But I will say that I've never been a 'yes man' in my life.
I don't care that people thought I was one way for my whole career because now that I am not attached to a team, I can have my own opinion, I can have my own voice. I can link myself to my own thought process rather than a generic message most teams try to get across.
Now, everybody always says there's no 'I' in team, but there is an 'I' in win, because the individuals make the team what it is, and how they think and what they do is important to the team. So when you act like the individual is not important, well, it is damn important who these people are and what they are.
I think you can be the greatest orator of all time, the greatest motivator of all times, but if those players know that you don't care about them, and you don't try to understand them, then they're never going to hear what you have to say.
When I retire, the only thing that concerns me is that no one can say that I was a bad team-mate or disrespectful or self-important.
If you look at my career, I've never gone to a team that had fulfilled their potential.
I consider myself very much a team player.
I was often misquoted. I was supportive of my managers, even though they all may not think so.