In the original script, my character was a basketball player rather than a boxer. I didn't think I could pull that off. I'm a little short to be a basketball player!
I was a mediocre basketball player. But I was there, and I could remember the plays. And my basketball coach, after he retired from teaching, would come to my performances all the time. And I was very happy about that, because I was not memorable as a basketball player.
Who knows, maybe I'll be a basketball player one day? No, I'm definitely never going to be a basketball player. I have no hand-eye coordination.
At the end of the day I'm a basketball player. I'm going to try and shoot more threes than mid-range or long twos or whatever. But if someone gives you a shot, you're a basketball player, you got to make reads and play.
Basketball was always my sport. It just took me until my second year of college for me to realize that I was a better baseball player than a basketball player. But basketball was always my number one love. Finally found out I was better at baseball and chose to pursue that route.
If you have a kid that loves basketball - that eats, sleeps, drinks, and thinks basketball, and all he knows is basketball - and he gets hurt, and he's your franchise player, you need to hold him back from himself.
A lot of people just think I'm a big man, but I'm a basketball player. I am able to do everything that a basketball player can do - from playmaking and scoring to just passing the ball and just being a leader and post presence.
I never gave up as a player, and I won't give up as someone who wants to go to the Hall of Fame, because it's the ultimate goal for a baseball player or a football player or a basketball player.
Everyone needs a coach. It doesn't matter whether you're a basketball player, a tennis player, a gymnast or a bridge player.
I used to play soccer when I was in Morocco, but I was more of a basketball player. I played high school basketball, I played AAU basketball.
A football player is often bigger than a basketball player - more massive, that is. The basketball player is taller and more slender. So it is with redwoods. The tallest redwoods are often slender, and so they aren't the largest ones.
Mike Tyson’s a great boxer. The greatest boxer - but boxer. Not the best fighter.
Who's to say because you're just a basketball player, or you are a basketball player, who's to say you can't chime in on other subjects or other important topics?
What I made clear to our front office is we're going to be judged by wins and losses. It isn't about having a marquee star player and coming in last place. That's not what Lakers basketball is. Lakers basketball is winning basketball.
Would I have been a great basketball player? No. But I think I would've been a good basketball player, one of those grinders getting eight to 10 rebounds. I would've been like Kobe and been in the gym five to seven hours a day and never missed a 10-foot jump shot. I would've been a great role player for a team.
My father was a soccer player. All my friends played basketball though, so I stuck with basketball.