I loved coming up with players in scoring position and I had to drive them in.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
They were so clever finding ways to get me the ball. They had to do more than just give up open shots. They had to avoid fouls and pass me the ball in traffic.
I love scoring for the fans, for the team, for myself. That's not to say that I won't pass if I see a teammate in a better scoring position. But I like to score.
What I liked was to set the tone - set the pace for the team. I know when we're starting the game, I can get on and steal a base, then a guy bring me in. Then we're in the lead and in a good position to win. That was the most exciting thing - to help the team.
You know, when you can play with the greatest players of that particular era, you look forward to going to the ballpark. I mean, you thought it was great to be there in the clubhouse. You thought it was great to be on the field.
Sometimes I felt I got caught up kind of going into the clubhouse non-chalantly sometimes, because all of the other guys in the clubhouse didn't go there with one goal in mind.
When I'm playing the 1-guard, teams do a great job of just loading up and preparing for my drives and preparing for my three-point shots.
Even after I played ten years of ball, I still felt like I had to play well or somebody might take my place. They had plenty of players in the minor leagues who were good enough to come up and take your job, and I think that kept us going all of the time. I hustled and put that extra effort in all of the time.
Whoever I'm playing against, I go in and try to stop their best scorer and try to get myself going on the offensive end.
We had to play both ways on the field, so I was offensive center and defensive end.
I wasn't a guy who looked to score first. It was to get your teammates involved, to understand time and clock management and having fun with your teammates.