When I was a rookie, what motivated me was trying to win Rookie of the Year and play the best that I could that I would compete so hard.
For me, I spent four years at Duke, and I was 22 my rookie year. For a lot of guys, I was old as a rookie, but nothing could prepare me for the NBA, both on the court and off the court.
There are a lot of things that you learn as a rookie and you grow the most, I would say as a rookie from your first year to your second year.
I haven't really heard much that's impressed me the way it was when I first heard Ray Charles or somebody like that. That was really an impression.
Honestly, for me only playing 14 minutes my rookie year and breaking my leg. To be able to play all 82, that was really cool for me... That was, for me, a huge accomplishment. Something I'm really proud of for sure.
I've always felt like the most improvement you can make is from year 1 to year 2, much like a college freshman who the most improvement he can make in an entire one year of college football is going from year 1 freshman year to his sophomore year. Like a pro football player going from his rookie season to his second season. There's a window there that will never come again that you have a chance to making your biggest strides.
My rookie year, Byron Scott didn't really want to sign me. In New Jersey, the New Jersey Nets. I got there, and Byron Scott didn't really like me, but they let me come to camp and I was having a great camp. Stephon Marbury embraced me.
When you're a rookie, sometimes your voice is not really heard.
Veterans get priority in the training room and better parking, but there is not a whole lot of difference in terms of how they're treated in the competition for playing time. To me it doesn't matter if a guy is a 10-year veteran or a rookie. If the rookie is better, he finds his way onto the field.
Honestly, I chose 1 because I wore it in college and my rookie year. My mind wasn't even thinking about D-Rose and everything like that.
Coming into my rookie year, I could kind of eat whatever I wanted - you're really not too concerned about it. But you don't realize that a pound here and there is really not a good thing. It's just basic physics: it's harder to move faster and jump higher when you weigh more.
During my rookie year, Kobe was always on me. Get in the gym early with him, getting shots and stuff like that.
If there's something I really like or a chord progression, I write a note in my Blackberry, and maybe a year later, I'll revisit it and ask, 'What did I like about that?' I really don't try to think too much about it. I like to be fresh.
You kind of look at the timeline of what has happened to me and with having a pretty good rookie year and the second year getting the injury and Kurt Warner played himself into the Hall of Fame in the last 3 years. There's not a lot I can do about that. I battled with a Hall of Famer two training camps in a row.
I don't know if there were many pros for me playing early. I feel like I dug myself a pretty deep hole that rookie year.