My dream was always to be in the NBA. I just happened to be better at tennis in high school. But I loved basketball, that's why I stuck with it.
Me and Nerlens grew up together. We're best friends. We played on the same AAU team in high school. It's like a dream come true. We always talked about how we were both going to make it to the NBA. For us to end up on the same team is a blessing.
A lot of guys ask me, 'Why did you go straight from high school to the NBA?' So I ask them, 'If you had the opportunity to take your dream job at 17- or 18-years-old, would you do it?'
In high school, my dream was to go to the NBA. But when recruiting came around, the letters for football compared to basketball were like 25 to one, and my one wasn't from Duke.
I always wanted to be in the NBA, but I never really thought about being the No. 1 pick until high school. So once it happened, it's like a dream come true and more.
Even before I made my high school team, I'd say I want to be a NBA player, and people laughed at me with, 'Get out of here, you ain't going to be a NBA player. You don't even play basketball.'
My dream was to be in the NBA. I wasn't really focused on being a star player on a team. I just wanted to make it to the NBA. I've been blessed for the opportunities to be in the Finals, been in the playoffs ever since I've been in the NBA.
Coming out of high school, I think it was good for me instead of going to college because college and the NBA are two different things. You can dominate on the college level, but the NBA is a whole different story. The dudes that do the best are the ones who work hard.
I could have gone to a bigger school. I use it as motivation going to a school that loved me. I wanted to put them on the map and show everyone that you don't need to go to a top school to make it in the NBA.
Sex is not the ultimate high, but the ultimate high hangs out around sex. The ultimate high is the dance with another person, played so deep down and with such abandon that glee returns to grown-ups.
I've had a lot of coaches at my high school and at Stanford and in the NBA who helped me. Bill Cartwright comes to mind.
I actually live right near a high school and I always walk by...I live in a high school. I actually live in the boiler room of a high school at night. When I see high school guys now I'm actually like, 'Thank f - king God I'm not in high school anymore because they look like they could kick the living s - t out of me.'
I had friends around campus and great teammates. I didn't want to leave. I didn't expect to be regarded and scouted as such a high pick, so it was a crazy twist to reality. I'd always wanted to make the NBA. It was my dream. Then all of a sudden, people were telling me I'd be the fourth pick if I entered the draft.
Every time I'd ever stepped on a basketball court, AAU, middle school, high school, I always thought about the NBA.
Every time you make a jump, whether it's from high school to college or college to the NBA, you're going to hear questions about your athletic ability.
I would say that the pivotal moment in singing for me was my sophomore year in high school, 'cause I always loved music but, even going into high school, I didn't know I wanted to make this my career.