I was recruited by every school in the country for football and basketball. And an incident happened in high school, and all that was taken away. No other teams, no other schools were recruiting me anymore.

I want to thank coach Thompson... for saving my life. For giving me the opportunity.

Any one of my shoes that I had, you knew that, night in, night out, I gave my teammates and my fans everything that I had.

I'm just overwhelmed with the fact that I had a signature shoe. It's actually 'my shoe.'

It was just the greatest feeling to see a kid with your shoes on.

It was a great experience for me - the ups and downs - because I became a man in Philadelphia.

Just because you put a guy in a tuxedo doesn't make him a good guy.

I dressed like the guys who I grew up with. I looked like the guys I grew up with.

I wasn't afraid to be who I am. I didn't think anything was wrong with it.

You think I can be the MVP without practicing?

I am sick of defending myself, and I am not going to keep on doing it.

Me and my family are straight. I am blessed. I am alive, man, and I am healthy, and that is the only thing that matters. Me and my family, everybody else, it really doesn't matter because why do you care about somebody talking negative about you if they don't know you?

I don't watch college basketball.

I don't watch college basketball.

I may not know everything about physical talent or anything like that, but I have a sharp mind when it comes to that look: being able to look into somebody's eyes to tell if they are going to be in the foxhole with you tonight, or if they are not.

I gave everything I had to basketball. The passion is still there, but the desire to play is not. It was a great ride.

Man, I'm 31 years old and a husband with four kids; I hope I'm no thug. I hear all those negative things and don't hear anything positive. I think that's all those people feel... that way that's all they hear about when you hear Allen Iverson did something negative or something.

When you are not practicing, someone else is getting better.

I love my fans in Philadelphia, but this is the hardest place in the world to play in. And I think it's the hardest place to play in to be a superstar. Just to be the No. 1 guy. All eyes on you - because everybody wants you to be perfect, but not themselves.

Man, people have been waiting for me to fall off my whole career. From the first time I stepped on the court. It probably made people sick to their stomachs watching my whole career, watching the things that I've done in my career.

When you win, everything is everything. But when you lose, it's all about Allen Iverson and Larry Brown. When we win, I know that I get the praise and Larry Brown gets the praise, but when we lose, it's on me and Larry Brown. That's something that I have to learn to accept and deal with.

He's helped me do so much in my career, helped me be the player that I am. If there's no Larry Brown, then there's no MVP, Allen Iverson.

When you lose, there is a whole bunch of room for negativity and I don't feed into this stuff and I do not do any talking. I don't run my mouth.

I had a lot of growing up to do. A lot of times, I learned the hard way.