There are so many kids in Africa who adore these athletes in the NBA and see themselves in them, even though we're so far removed.
I'm a fan and a friend, I met them in 1974 when I first joined the NBA and my life has never been he same since. I became the basketball player I was because of the Grateful Dead.
I've modeled my game after Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan.
My whole thing was, just being me. Now, you look around the NBA and all of them have tattoos, guys wearing cornrows. Now you see the police officers with the cornrows. I took a beating for those types of things.
Shaq is not the man. He's the man because the NBA wants him to be the man, but before you can be the man, you've got to be the man.
Dirk was obviously a player that I looked up to. In high school I actually wore No. 41 in honor of Dirk. He was the first player where I was like this guy is seven-feet tall and shooting jump shots and shooting threes, this is what I want to be like.
That's what Europe brought to the NBA: the passing skills, the shooting skills.
Very unfairly, there's a negative image of the kid, which really stems from the greed and selfishness of the NBA and NCAA. They're forcing these kids to go to school.
