I wanted to learn how the business worked. I wanted to see how people got drafted, how players got traded, how they got picked up in free agency, how the salary cap worked, how do you manage an organization, how do you negotiate contracts. The Bulls gave me an excellent opportunity to answer all the questions that I wanted to ask.

I played, but I never got a chance to see how the business worked. How the NBA offices and other teams worked. I learned that when I was an assistant General Manager for five years.

Playing sports is a craft that has to be worked on and perfected just like anything else.

Whether you're playing sports, starting a business or anything else in life, you need to identify your talents. Your responsibility is to find what you do better than anyone else. Once you identify what that is, you need to put yourself in the best position to succeed.

Understanding is the solution to every problem.

Either you change with the times or you get rolled over.

My signing of Derrick Rose was like anything in life, I think it was just luck. I played in Chicago. Derrick is from Chicago.

It is interesting that I have gone through the process of representing clients as an ex-athlete. I am certainly not naive to think that the possibility of corruption isn't there.

I was very fortunate to come into sports representation with Arn Tellem; he has helped me understand the business in the same way that we help out clients find solutions to their problems.

Having a mentor gives someone a huge advantage in life.

One thing I can say about Michael Jordan, nothing was going to deny him to achieve what he wanted to achieve. That includes the Bulls' front office, the league, or whomever. The man just had an undeniable spirit about himself.

Michael Jordan was going to do whatever was ever necessary, and certainly I can say without question, he was going to achieve and stop playing whenever he wanted to stop playing.

No one beat Michael Jordan. No one. You could say a lot of different things, but the man was unstoppable. He was unstoppable. And I will continue to say that.

Every time he steps on the floor, LeBron has to establish that he's the best. Every year is an opportunity for him to raise his level to the best of the best.

Michael Jordan was the greatest practice player I've ever seen.

Jordan had phenomenal talent. He had phenomenal understanding. But he also had a mentality that I haven't seen. He had a sense of urgency every time he stepped on the floor.

Jordan never stepped out on the court to have a good time. He stepped out there to establish that he was the best.

Just because you're the coach, you don't automatically have the authority. You have to work the people. You have to gain the trust of the people.

The fact that Phil Jackson asked a young kid when he didn't have to and said, 'Hey, do I have permission to coach you?' Those are very powerful lessons that you learn. That's only happened to me a couple times in my entire career, that coaches would actually ask me that question. That just lets me know that he saw me for who I was.

When things are going good, I get nervous.

I grew up as a point guard, and as a point guard you learn how to navigate situations.

I was very lucky to be in the right place at the right time and play with Michael Jordan.

I just happen to love problems. Because I see problems as opportunities.

It's really the city of Detroit that I owe the thanks to and all the people along the way, so many people that played a role in my success in giving me the dreams and aspirations to go to college and do the things that I did.

The city of Detroit is always home, and I'm very proud of where I'm from.

To be honest with you, I just want to be true to the game of basketball, and that's what I've always tried to do.

I had played on the police athletic league, but my father had a unique thing, he always said, 'Before you start going to basketball camp and doing all the things, you should learn about yourself first before somebody else starts telling you how to play.'

He made the game look easy. But being Michael Jordan, and all that came with it, that wasn't easy.

He was so confident. But underneath that, behind the scenes, I knew Michael Jordan was a country kid from North Carolina, and it was that simple to him. He was a young man, at heart, who wanted to be one of the guys who loved to play and was willing to do whatever was necessary.

To me, that's the brilliance of Michael Jordan. He was an incredible, amazing individual player who matched his talents to the team, matched the team's talents to him, and he lived in the middle of those extremes. I don't know how you do that.

Tim Duncan was a marvelous player. He played the game from the four, the five position. He was one of the unique players, like a Michael Jordan, who could get to spaces on the floor you that you couldn't do anything about.

Individual success comes as a result of team success.

Most players will tolerate their coach, just like the coach will tolerate that player to do what they got to do, but Steve Kerr is unique. Players want to play for Steve Kerr. Everyone who's played in this league, who's coached in this league, who's been a general manager understands exactly what I'm saying - he's one of them.

I learned this lesson very quickly when I came into the NBA: Almost all the media and accolades go to the No. 1 guy. But if you're building a team, the most important player is the No. 2 guy. Because if the No. 2 guy wants to be the No. 1 guy, you have a major problem.

Winning covers a multitude of sins. If you play bad and you still win, everyone says that's the sign of a good ballclub. But when you play bad and you lose, all of a sudden you have problems and everyone wants to know why.

Who says a center can't make the pass into the post? Michael Jordan, effectively, was a post player and you saw with the championship teams players able to do multiple things.

I can score with the first team or the second team. It really doesn't matter with me because I can create my own shot.

I can create offensive situations for myself and I can create situations for other people.

Like I've said all along, whatever's good for the team is good for me.

Greg Anthony's a good player.

Anytime the coach gives you the ball and some encouragement, you get a sense of freedom.

Sometimes you have to be very bad before you can be very good.

To point the finger at one guy, at each other or at the coaches, won't do any good. It's not supposed to be the coach. It's our team. The coaches can do a phenomenal job preparing you, but it has to come from within.

Moral victories are really more for coaches than players.

I'd rather play bad and win than play good and lose.

When you're going out with the attitude that you want to win, you can't get caught up in the style of play.

Character and class are character and class. Either you have it or you don't.

A true champion walks off with his head high.

Somehow you get past languages. I don't speak Mandarin. I don't speak fluent Italian. I don't speak German. But it's amazing how when you need to get something done, it finds a way.

Being an NBA general manager really is a lot of pressure. There's so much that goes into the job.