I'm not going to be the same as I was when I've made so many bad mistakes.

I just want kids all over the world to know you have to practice to be any good in this game; it's too hard.

I couldn't have accomplished the things in my career if I didn't practice, and the worst part about that whole thing is when a kid comes up to me and says 'Allen, I don't like practice, either.' I've got to straighten that kid right then.

If I'm not getting older and more mature at 31, then something's wrong.

All I ever wanted to do was wear Jordans. I think there was only one or two pair I never had.

You look at guys on the court, man. You got this guy with this brand of shoe, and this guy with this brand - they're just wearing the shoe. But it's a whole different feeling when you got a shoe on, and it's yours.

Everybody talks about that one when they first meet me. 'Man, I still remember the play you shook Jordan.' Everybody gonna always remember it because it was Jordan.

I wish there was a season where I was playing and didn't have no aches, no pains, no bruises, no nothing.

Don't nobody wanna talk about or hear about somebody donating money to a charity. You wanna hear about what Bin Laden is doing and what you think is on his mind.

I wish the media and people that work in media would realize sometimes - and I know it doesn't pay your bills - but sometimes just sit back and think, like, 'Man, what if this was my child? And somebody was doing this to them? And they had to go through it? If somebody bashed them like this?'

Doing this for so long, I realize that the media - you have a boss. And your boss wants you to provide the best material that you can. And he might put pressure on you to do it a way that you feel is unconstitutional. You might not like it. But you still gotta feed your family.

You gotta do what you gotta do. And I had to figure that out, and I used to - I couldn't stand the media, but I realized they have a job. They gotta do what they have to do.

My friend... used to tease me about a tattoo I had right here, but it was so big, and what he was teasing me about - he said it looked like a flying monkey. It's supposed to have been a grim reaper holding a ball. But it did look like a monkey.

Sometimes it used to hurt so bad when people used to say stuff about me. It still does. But I'm at a level now that I'm like, 'I ain't surprised that they said this or that about me.'

If we lose games, and I don't score a lot, they gonna say I'm not scoring enough.

People and what they say don't bother me like they used to. When I was younger, I really couldn't take it because I couldn't understand where the criticism was coming from.

You don't want to hear about how much money I donate to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America or to AIDS awareness or to give out scholarships. You don't want to hear about that.

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

I just feel this is my planet.

My dream was bigger than anything else. My fight and me wanting to fulfill what I wanted to be in life. That was enough to keep me strong enough to endure anything.

Either you give in, or you fight. That's all I know, being where I'm from. You fight for what you want. You go after what you want. The only thing I could do was give up or keep fighting for what I wanted in life.

If you're from Virginia, then you know some white people from Poquoson don't like black people.

As far as how I expressed 'practice, practice, practice' over and over again, I wouldn't take that back because, obviously, that sound bite is great for the media and for the fans, because they love it.

Detroit was a bad situation for me.