This is the thing you dream about when you're a kid, even before getting into the league.
I made a lot of mistakes. And obviously, it cost me.
I wasn't afraid to be who I am. I didn't think anything was wrong with it.
I love my fans in Philadelphia, but this is the hardest place in the world to play in. And I think it's the hardest place to play in to be a superstar. Just to be the No. 1 guy. All eyes on you - because everybody wants you to be perfect, but not themselves.
LeBron ain't got none of my game, but his heart is all mine.
I believe that whatever we have, regardless of a trade being done or not, I feel we have a shot. I've just got to believe that we're going to be all right. I've got to just play basketball.
At times, I might have been too young; I might have been too naive at times and didn't understand who I really was to a whole culture.
I used to say my biggest accomplishment was just getting drafted, whether it was the first pick or the 100th or whatever.
I went from the projects to a real house. It was a big difference.
I wanna thank Biggie Smalls, Redman, Jadakiss, Tupac and Michael Jackson for being my theme music throughout my career.
We should because when coaches get fired, the players have a lot to do with it.
Guys is supposed to be able to be original and dress like how they want to dress. The NBA can't dress no grown man.
I think a lot of times, when people who get a chance to meet me and be around me, they understand that I'm not the person that the media make me out to be.
At some point, it comes to an end regardless, however it comes, whether it is retirement or injury; at some point, it comes to an end.
Obviously, if I could go back and change anything, I would be a perfect man. And I know there's no perfect man.
I wish the media and people that work in media would realize sometimes - and I know it doesn't pay your bills - but sometimes just sit back and think, like, 'Man, what if this was my child? And somebody was doing this to them? And they had to go through it? If somebody bashed them like this?'
Man, I'm 31 years old and a husband with four kids; I hope I'm no thug. I hear all those negative things and don't hear anything positive. I think that's all those people feel... that way that's all they hear about when you hear Allen Iverson did something negative or something.
I owe all of this to the guys I've played with and all the coaches that have helped me get to where I'm at right now. I'm honored to be here.
My dream was bigger than anything else. My fight and me wanting to fulfill what I wanted to be in life. That was enough to keep me strong enough to endure anything.
I was recruited by every school in the country for football and basketball. And an incident happened in high school, and all that was taken away. No other teams, no other schools were recruiting me anymore.
I don't have any problems with what these guys wear because they got their own style and their own originality. That's the way it's supposed to be, man.
What makes me feel good is all of the people that rooted for A.I. get a chance to say, 'He did what you never thought he could do. The critics. He did what you never thought he could accomplish.' This is a moment that me and my fans and my family and friends can share together because we always believed in the dream.
Man, people have been waiting for me to fall off my whole career. From the first time I stepped on the court. It probably made people sick to their stomachs watching my whole career, watching the things that I've done in my career.
I always wanted to be a Sixer... I always wanted to finish my career as a Sixer.
I don't really care too much about what people who don't care about me say about me, but a lot of times, you know, I get tired of defending myself.
I just feel this is my planet.
Everybody is their own person.
I just want kids all over the world to know you have to practice to be any good in this game; it's too hard.
I don't want to just go to the playoffs, I don't want to go to the playoffs and win the first round, second round, and not win the whole thing because it's bittersweet.
My friend... used to tease me about a tattoo I had right here, but it was so big, and what he was teasing me about - he said it looked like a flying monkey. It's supposed to have been a grim reaper holding a ball. But it did look like a monkey.
Being in a fishbowl, everybody looking at every move you make, talking about everything you do - it's just a hard life to live.
I'm not going to be the same as I was when I've made so many bad mistakes.
Being an All-Star is everything.
Any one of my shoes that I had, you knew that, night in, night out, I gave my teammates and my fans everything that I had.
I wish there was a season where I was playing and didn't have no aches, no pains, no bruises, no nothing.
I'm just a regular 24/7 dad now.
You gotta do what you gotta do. And I had to figure that out, and I used to - I couldn't stand the media, but I realized they have a job. They gotta do what they have to do.
I had a lot of growing up to do. A lot of times, I learned the hard way.
As far as how I expressed 'practice, practice, practice' over and over again, I wouldn't take that back because, obviously, that sound bite is great for the media and for the fans, because they love it.
That's the only thing that got me here is my teammates. My teammates and my coach. That's the only reason I'm here.
If I could take back all the mistakes that I made throughout my career, I would have had a perfect career. I would have missed no shots. I would have made no turnovers. I would have went right instead of going left when I was supposed to, every game.
Coming into the league, if I would've had money, then obviously I would've had more tattoos.
I'm just overwhelmed with the fact that I had a signature shoe. It's actually 'my shoe.'
Sometimes it used to hurt so bad when people used to say stuff about me. It still does. But I'm at a level now that I'm like, 'I ain't surprised that they said this or that about me.'
It was just the greatest feeling to see a kid with your shoes on.
That's where I'll get the love in my heart: from, the fact that little young guys can look at the obstacles that I had to go through to become a Hall of Famer and know it's not so bad when it comes to them trying to accomplish the same goal.
I may not know everything about physical talent or anything like that, but I have a sharp mind when it comes to that look: being able to look into somebody's eyes to tell if they are going to be in the foxhole with you tonight, or if they are not.
I surround myself with people who make me laugh.
Larry Brown molded me into an MVP and a Hall of Fame player.
