ALLAN HOUSTON

Seven years ago, my father and I realized that our relationship was extremely unique, especially in the African-American community. He raised me to not only understand the fundamentals of basketball and to try to be a player with a high basketball IQ, but he wanted me to understand that my image and my name meant more than stats.

There are so many issues in society - we talk about the violence, the drugs, the unwanted pregnancies - but at the end of the day, it comes down to what we taught our children to be.

Success isn't always going to be a huge contract; success is going to be if you just live out your purpose in life.

The more consistent a father can be or a mentor can be in the person's life and teach them principles of real solid manhood, character, integrity and leadership, the more consistent you can be in the person's life and teach them those things at a younger age, and then the better off they'll be.

First of all, as a man the most important thing you have in your life now is your child that you're carrying. That's it. Everything else comes second; personally, for me, other than your relationship with God and your wife.

We don't want to put a band-aid on our problems that we keep talking about in society; we want to get down to the nitty gritty and do some surgery.

There are so many guys that come up and have strong hearts, but they just have to understand what the consequences are and how to execute the things that they learned to make themselves successful.

What you do on the court, off the court, in the classroom, it's all the same. Your habits, the way you treat class, your relationships - it's all the same. Do it right or don't do it.

If it had been what was supposed to happen, it would have happened.

You know what I like to do? I love waking up early, making them breakfast, taking them to school, having time in the morning with them. With six kids, it's like a reality show.

Success isn't always going to be a huge contract; success is going to be if you just live out your purpose in life.

You know what I like to do? I love waking up early, making them breakfast, taking them to school, having time in the morning with them. With six kids, it's like a reality show.

What you do on the court, off the court, in the classroom, it's all the same. Your habits, the way you treat class, your relationships - it's all the same. Do it right or don't do it.

If it had been what was supposed to happen, it would have happened.

Every NBA player, every athlete, I think once you get to this level in life, whether you have kids or you're about to have kids, understands that this is so much bigger than this sport.

First of all, as a man the most important thing you have in your life now is your child that you're carrying. That's it. Everything else comes second; personally, for me, other than your relationship with God and your wife.

We don't want to put a band-aid on our problems that we keep talking about in society; we want to get down to the nitty gritty and do some surgery.

Seven years ago, my father and I realized that our relationship was extremely unique, especially in the African-American community. He raised me to not only understand the fundamentals of basketball and to try to be a player with a high basketball IQ, but he wanted me to understand that my image and my name meant more than stats.

The more consistent a father can be or a mentor can be in the person's life and teach them principles of real solid manhood, character, integrity and leadership, the more consistent you can be in the person's life and teach them those things at a younger age, and then the better off they'll be.

There are so many issues in society - we talk about the violence, the drugs, the unwanted pregnancies - but at the end of the day, it comes down to what we taught our children to be.

There are so many guys that come up and have strong hearts, but they just have to understand what the consequences are and how to execute the things that they learned to make themselves successful.