One needs to be clear headed. I believe in all-round fitness.

I've always maintained - a captain is only as good as his team. It is not about my leadership, it is not about me.

The trash-talking, I think I would like to take that back. I really didn't want to get known as that, but that was just the way I was, the way I grew up back in Oakland, Calif., back on the playgrounds.

I hope they'll say I was one of the hardest-working basketball players on both ends of the floor.

Guys like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Kevin Garnett, they'll take bad criticism in a good way.

The NBA tries to be about flash. But real fans recognize the guy who makes things happen.

Part of being a leader means knowing who you can go after and who you should pat on the butt.

You don't just come in and say, 'Bam, I'm mature; I'm the leader.' It took time for me to grow into this and learn how to talk to certain players and how to handle certain situations.

When I made it to the pros I wanted to be a guy who could stay in the league, be OK, do whatever I had to do to make some money and do what I do. As the years started coming, I started getting better.

Coming from Oakland, Calif., I never thought I'd be a Hall of Famer. I wasn't thinking about basketball like that.

I was really excited about going to Miami because of coach Riley. And getting with him has been a change for me and really good for me.

I'm always going to admire my father more than anybody in life.

I'm not into the European-style clothes.

I like comfortable clothes, so I get most of my pants and shirts made.

I've loved my days at Oregon State.

You talk about rowdy - in Oakland the players were on you. The refs were on you. The stands were on you. You had to talk back or you were a sissy; you'd get run out of the league. Afterward? Yeah, it was kind of a, uh, struggle to get out of the gym. Cops had to be everywhere. Which was lucky.

Larry Bird was a talker. He'd tell you something and you'd be like, are you kidding me? You're really telling me that?

To let somebody get 30 points on you, and you feel good because you got 35 on them, that's not good for me, you know what I'm saying? If I get 35, I want him to get 12 or 14 because that means I've done something. I've done my job. I went out there and played hard and did what I had to do.

I know who can play and who can't play and I'm very straight-forward... If you can play, you can play; if you can't, you can't.

You don't have to like me, but I'm going to tell you the truth. If you don't like what I'm saying, then go out and prove it.

You've got to be on all-league teams before you can say that you are going to be a great basketball player.

LeBron is making a case for himself to be one of the greatest players to ever play.

Wilt Chamberlain, by far, is my best basketball player. Best athlete ever.

I'm not a practice player.