I think I can be pretty special. I think I can impact a lot in the NBA, especially with my size and my shooting ability and athleticism and just being a humble person.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
What you are as a person is far more important than what you are as a basketball player.
I think I have the skills. I'm a great judge of talent. I just know basketball.
It's great to be compared to a great player like Tracy McGrady, but I think I'm my own type of player. I'm 6'10'' and a bit bigger than he is as a player. I also think I'm a bit different and play a different position. He's more of a guard, and I can play all around through five.
I think basketball IQ, work ethic, competitiveness are probably the most important things in a basketball player.
I'm not like the next Michael Jordan, but I'm also not what everyone saw me as before I started playing in the NBA, either.
I'm just playing basketball. I just want to be a great player. That's it. That's all I'm thinking about. If the other stuff comes, it comes, but I'm just fortunate to play in the NBA Finals and just to play basketball, period.
I was lucky enough to have the talent to play baseball. That's how I treated my career. I didn't think I was anybody special, anybody different.
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 have an incredible amount of basketball knowledge, and I think a lot of that is derived from having a Hall of Fame college basketball coach who was very knowledgeable of the game and I had a great high school coach who was also very knowledgeable.
My goals have gone from being an all-star to just being able to play basketball. I always took for granted that I could play. Now I know what a gift it is.
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