I've been lucky to have great coaching, great teammates, and a desire to keep getting better. That, slowly over time, helped me grow from an average high school player to the NBA.
There's nothing about my NBA journey that I would change - the teams, the cities, the teammates, the fans have all helped me grow into the player and person that I've become. Every time I moved, I saw the bright side. Always, I saw opportunity.
Being a great high school player is one thing, but being a great NBA player is another.
I had a coach that was not a great player, but he taught with kids and juniors so that by the time he was 50 he was great. He helped me make the top 5 in the world and yet he wasn't a great player himself.
I just want to keep getting better. People used to ask me - when I was winning in the D-League - why I wasn't in the NBA, and I'd tell them, 'I just want to learn and get better.' I figured it'd happen one day, and if it didn't, I really enjoyed my time coaching anyways.
I had a big step here in San Antonio, good help, great work. I learned a lot. Everybody helped me, great and smart people. They helped me a lot and made me better player.
The game has been great to me. The Steelers have been great to me, and I think things will work out and take its toll. But I'm just singularly focused on being a great player, being here around the guys and my teammates, and representing my family.
I'm so blessed to have gone to Wisconsin. It's a great school and great coaching staff with incredible fans. I had a lot of great teammates that wanted to be successful. I played behind a huge offensive line. I think that proved a lot, too, as a 5-11 quarterback showing I could play under center with those guys in front of me.
I feel so fortunate to have great coaching. Coaches that have taught me great habits and taught me great things about basketball and life, but I've always played for coaches who have held me accountable and that's made me a better player and person.
The more you're at Alabama, you grow as a person and as a player learning from great coaches and great men and just growing with your teammates.
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.'
I've been very fortunate throughout my life with a number of opportunities, a number of great people that have helped me be in the position that I am today to be an NBA basketball player and to be living out my dream.
'Big Time Rush' was a great show, and I had some great experiences. It allowed me to become more of a comedic actress, which is also a great skill to have. But there wasn't a whole lot of tragedy in there. Not quite as dark as 'Red Band Society.' So I've been very lucky to have been able to grow in that sense, just through moving to FOX.
Make sure you surround yourself with good friends. I've been fortunate that I was blessed to be surrounded with a great family, but also I've got a great group of friends that I've had since high school who have helped me get to where I am.
When I got fired from coaching, I started coaching high school because my son played. I realized real quick that high school football is in trouble. There's no budget. A lot of kids have got to pay to play, and every year, coaches are getting out of the profession. Kids aren't playing like they used to. It bothers me.
Harkening back to a story about my grandfather, I was lucky to attend a great high school in New York, Bronx High School of Science, which has produced more Nobel prize winners than any other high school in America.
What you realize is when you have an environment and an atmosphere like we had at Marist, where guys cared about each other, the coaches were great teachers and communicators, whether it's high school, college or pro, I think coaching is coaching.