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On the court, I want to try and get to the free-throw line a little more. And as a point guard, you can always get better at your decision-making and limiting your mistakes.

I am a team player - and that is what you need to be an effective point guard. You gotta see the court, you gotta set up the play, and you gotta let others execute for the most part. I don't throw elbows for the sake of throwing elbows, but if somebody throws one at me and it's necessary to respond in kind, I suppose I can if I have to.

I was an in-between size. I wasn't tall enough to be a real forward, and I probably didn't handle the ball well enough to be a point guard.

Basketball is big stuff in New York. If you're good in it, everybody respects you. Nobody would want to ruin your shooting eye or your shooting arm.

We want to play a really physical style ball, and so, for us tackling, we know we are shoulder-based tackling team, and we want to hit that strike zone just like you're throwing fastballs into that catchers' mitt just as hard as you can.

I wasn't a point guard. I was a killer.

I remember when I went to try out for the Olympic team in 1972, Coach Iba told me he didn't care how many points I could score because if I couldn't guard anybody, I wasn't going to make the team. I knew to make the team I had to become a better defender. If you can play offense, you can defend. It just comes down to competitive will.

Keep your head on the ball. You've got to hit it first, then look where it goes. People get in trouble when they look for where the ball's going, and they haven't even hit it yet.

The ball touched the paint a lot of times. When we talk about touching the paint, the ball touches the key for making a layup or making a play for a teammate. We've got to use our length and our speed. Defensively, getting deflections. Give up one shot and rebound.

If you can do that - if you run, hit, run the bases, hit with power, field, throw and do all other things that are part of the game - then you're a good ballplayer.