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.
It was a blessing just to play one NBA basketball game.
I always wanted to be a Sixer... I always wanted to finish my career as a Sixer.
I went from the projects to a real house. It was a big difference.
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.
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.
A negative Allen Iverson story is the greatest Allen Iverson story, for some reason.
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 wanted my fans and my family and my friends to be proud of me.
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.
I'm the biggest Westbrook fan, I think, there is. You know what I mean? Because he reminds me so much of myself as far as his heart and laying it on the line night in and night out. Just a guy that's going to bring it every single night.
LeBron ain't got none of my game, but his heart is all mine.
People and what they say don't bother me like they used to. When I was younger, I really couldn't take it because I couldn't understand where the criticism was coming from.
Doing this for so long, I realize that the media - you have a boss. And your boss wants you to provide the best material that you can. And he might put pressure on you to do it a way that you feel is unconstitutional. You might not like it. But you still gotta feed your family.
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?'
Everybody talks about that one when they first meet me. 'Man, I still remember the play you shook Jordan.' Everybody gonna always remember it because it was Jordan.
If I'm not getting older and more mature at 31, then something's wrong.
I couldn't have accomplished the things in my career if I didn't practice, and the worst part about that whole thing is when a kid comes up to me and says 'Allen, I don't like practice, either.' I've got to straighten that kid right then.
Larry Brown molded me into an MVP and a Hall of Fame player.
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.
