I got suspended from school once, and my dad came to the school and whooped me in front of everyone. I didn't want that to happen again, didn't want to be embarrassed like that. The guys that I ran with, they respected that and respected my dad too.

Assistants like Tim Grgurich worked with me and watched film of me from my Oregon State days.

What's the difference? Ninety million or 80 million. You still can't spend it all.

When I went in to Seattle, I had eight veterans who were in the league over six or seven years. That was a plus for me, to teach me how to respect somebody.

Xavier McDaniel made me respect him. I thought I could do anything I wanted to. He grabbed me one time and almost choked me out. He said, 'You're going to do this. You're going to go get coffee. You're going to go get doughnuts.' It's a game of respect.

I didn't grow up admiring anybody but George Gervin, and I didn't get a chance to play against him. That would've been one of my lifetime accomplishments. I probably would've went crazy if I played against him, because he's like a father to me now.

I'm a big fan of Marcus Smart.

Prove to them people that you should have gotten picked earlier, and then you make your money. The privilege is just getting drafted, and once you get picked, prove to them that you were supposed to be drafted.

With Westbrook and myself, I can see the dog that he has in him. He's got that fire that he won't back down from anybody. His game is a little different than mine because he's a fast, get to the bucket type of player, finishing above the rim and things like that.

When we were playing, it was rough and tough. Even superstars like me fouled out a lot.

Patrick Beverley is one of my favorites. What he does is he brings a lot of energy.

My way is to talk to my opponent so he makes it a personal thing. He starts playing me one-on-one, and forgets about his team. Meanwhile, I'm still playing team ball and eating him up. Some guys tried talking back, but you can't get a talker when a talker's talking to you.

I want to be the black Dick Vitale.

I would go after any rookie. Any rookie with a lot of hype. I used to do it to Jason Kidd. I would go at him. I'd be like, 'Young fella, you're going to get a rude awakening in the NBA.'

Every rookie that thought they was good, I went at them to make sure they knew I was the best point guard in the league, and they had to go through me. That's just the way I was.

I became real good friends with John Stockton and Karl Malone and am still good friends with them to this day. It was always good to go see them and then play with them in the 1996 Olympics as well. I idolized John Stockton at the time, I tried to model my game after him.

The thing that I regret is not having better relationships with a lot of people. Being the hard-nosed guy that I was, I think I could've come off a little bit better in my relationships with a lot of people, and I didn't.

There's a lot of things that I appreciate that people can't appreciate.

If Seattle could put my jersey on top of the Space Needle, they would.

I can't think ok, I got 35 points, he got 35, I did something good.

If he's averaging 25 points and I can contain him to 17, then I've won the battle. If he averages 12 assists and I kept him to seven, I'm winning the game.

The point guards that I like are the ones that are playing like point guards.

When I was talking a lot of trash, a lot of the guys knew that when I started getting serious was when I started getting a little bit quieter. If I started locking up somebody, then I'd start talking even more and I'd talk more aggressive. But once I stopped, they knew I was really serious.

I would never have wanted to play with Magic Johnson, I would never have wanted to play with Michael Jordan, I would never have wanted to play with Karl Malone or John Stockton in my prime. We wanted to play against the Shaqs, the Kobes.

I own 60 retro jerseys. I've got everybody - the late Derrick Thomas, a lot of people.

Coaching is something I really would do. A lot of people don't think I'm serious about it. I like working with the kids. When you work with the guys one-on-one and get them to understand it's a little bit better. That's the way I was taught by Tim Grgurich. That's how he taught us.

I don't miss basketball because I've already got in my mind that I did what I had to do for 17 years. I think I'm satisfied with what I did.

I don't give a damn about MVP.

I'm not a practice player.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

I've loved my days at Oregon State.

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

I'm not into the European-style clothes.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.