I think college is an absolute. In this world you have to learn how to learn and get in the habit of always wanting to learn. Some kids have that out of high school and may be able to do the college equivalent of home schooling. Most kids can't. So I highly recommend going to college.
I don't really compartmentalize and put players in high school, college, or the pros. For everybody, it's physically and mentally, where are you? How do you evolve? Where's your game at?
I learned to play football in the streets. Every day of school, everyone came and played football. The street is a good school, and you learn many things there - resiliency, how to play against older players, and how to put up with or dodge kicks.
I got to play with my older brother in high school and college, and I played with my younger brother in high school and college, so I kind of get to do everything, so it was really pretty sweet.
I've seen a lot of athletic juggernauts throughout high school, college, even the NFL who can't play the game.
In the game of football today - whether it's pro, college or even high school arguably - your quarterback play is determinative.
We draft mostly high school kids and we have one of the finest, if not the finest, player development programs and coaching staffs and we teach our players the right way to play. We also have a game plan in scouting, and there are certain types of players that we look for.
Get your education. The number of guys who are blessed to be in the league is so small compared to the number of high school players [who want to play in the league]. But one thing you can do is get your college education. If you are blessed enough to get a scholarship to play college basketball, make sure you get your college degree, too, then move on from there.
I think we're really good about pushing each other in practice and we have high tempo and I feel like we have some of the best players in the world so just competing against one another and getting in there and pushing each other around and getting ready for that physical style of game coming up, we have to play hard and pretend it's a game.
At the high school level, the coaches get these kids in revenue-driven sports and take them away from baseball. There's so much pressure on these kids to even play spring football. We need to get the African-American players back in the game, which I think would make it not only a better game, but more exciting and entertaining for everyone.
After the NBA and ABA merged, players could come out after high school. Still, there were only a few cases prior to Kevin Garnett coming out in 1995, so Nike and the other companies were only involved in the college game.
I was thrown into a position where I had to learn a new language, become professional and not be just that child anymore coming into a team. I was able to learn from players that were so experienced at such a high level. You can't get that anywhere else. Nothing against college, but you can't get that in college.
Play more than one sport in high school. If you play, say, football and basketball, you can learn to be physical and you can take those physical aspects of both sports and become better in both sports. Basketball players use some of the same skills football players do and vice versa.
I've never been blessed with height, strength and power so I've had to learn how to play differently from a young age, my game was all based on technique and when I look at players like Xavi and Iniesta they were always players I modelled myself on.
As you go along the way, you learn new things, but my basic game has remained the same. You learn about the mental aspect of the game as in how to disturb the flow of the bowlers. You get matured with experience.
I always say that I continue to set the standard really high for myself, but you don't get into a catch count or any of that stuff. I think it's just in how you play, how you approach the game.