The guy said NBA players are one in a million, ... I said, 'Man, look, I'm going to be that one in a million.

I don't have to hear that criticism, that idotic criticism anymore.

I didn't expect this award [the 2008 MVP] would come to me. I'm surprised. I've played pretty well in other seasons. Our team hasn't been as good. Things just fell into place.

Horrible, terrible AAU basketball. It's stupid. It doesn't teach our kids how to play the game at all so you wind up having players that are big and they bring it up and they do all this fancy crap and they don't know how to post. They don't know the fundamentals of the game. It's stupid.

We're starting to play with more of a purpose now, and a clear concept of what we're trying to accomplish out there.

You always have to be on edge. You always have to take every practice, every game, like it is your last.

You want to come out here and play good basketball. The fans here know their basketball and want to see good basketball.

That felt good. That's basketball. That's how basketball was in the '80s. You see Isiah Thomas and Magic Johnson standing, talking in the tunnel, and that's basketball.

As far as carrying the torch for the years to come, I don't know. I just want to be the best basketball player I can be.