I always wanted to play with Kobe Bryant. I used to tease him all the time. Every time I was a free agent, I was like, 'What's up, bro? You got a chance to get the pit that you need. You feel me? This is your chance.'
Sentiment: POSITIVE
If someone were to ask me before I made the NBA, you going to have to go through all this, you're going to have to sign your soul away to play in the league, I still would have done it.
I didn't work out with Kobe. I don't know where that came from. I wish I could have.
It was really an easy decision for me to be a part of the Lakers. It's priceless. It is one of the few places where I truly get lost in the joy of the moment of that game. All of the stresses and all the responsibilities are gone.
I'm much more starstruck by athletes than I am by actors, and I think I saw Kobe Bryant at a basketball party, and I just kind of froze. He's monstrous.
I have certain guys who I looked up to. Jordan, Kobe, those guys. Passing that on to doing my part to kind of keep that influence of basketball where it should be is kind of why I play the game.
I'm not for the flashes; I'm not for glitz and glamour, you know. I just want to win, I want to be good at what I do, um, and look back upon these days of playing in the NBA.
I play knowing that there is somebody watching me out there in the crowd that has never had the opportunity to watch a game before and it might be the only chance they ever to see one, live in person. Michael Jordan once said that in an interview, and I really took it to heart; whenever I step on the floor, I play for that person.
I've learned a lot from the experiences that I went through in high school, through college and overseas, and just everything in life. That is what prepared me for coming into the NBA, being undersized, no recognition, not getting anything easy, and I have been fortunate to prosper in this league.
I always wanted to be a basketball player. Nothing more, nothing less.
I had never dreamed about the NBA like some guys did. I was a non-scholarship player at an NAIA college. I played on the Boys and Girls Club team in my freshman and sophomore years of high school before I made the high school team. I was our backup center in college.