The ultimate sports figure. The ultimate competitor. Great person. I consider him my friend. I wouldn't be that good if I was Michael Jordan.
I'm a sportsman, not a political man.
It is nice to start a game and feel the game from the beginning, but I have to pick up the pace when I come off the bench.
I don't want to say which guard it was with the Bulls, but I would take the ball and he would come to me and say, 'You are taking my bread.' I didn't know the slang.
There's a lot of things in my life that are more important I have to think about than what someone puts in the newspaper, or says on TV.
You never know when people with sick minds can destroy your life. It doesn't matter how well life is going on for you that moment. If that can't happen in the middle of New York City, it can happen anywhere else. If the terrorists can hit the Pentagon or the White House I don't see where it's safe.
I would watch San Antonio play and see plays I recognized from the Russian team, the Yugoslavian team.
My generation, with Vlade Divac, Drazen Petrovic, Arvydas Sabonis, that was the first wave of European players that kind of opened the door for the world.
In Italy, my wife and I always said we feel like strangers because there's maybe only a couple other people from other parts of the world. Here in Chicago, there's millions of people from Poland, thousands from Japan, hundreds from Croatia. We like it here.
Money-wise, I was probably the best player in Europe. It was safe where I was in Italy. But I wanted to play in the NBA to see if I could.
Maybe NBA teams won't want me and maybe I'll play in Europe the last one or two seasons.
Sometimes in my mind I have a picture of something happening, and because the foot is not right it is harder to happen. I see the ball and I can see myself intercepting it or rebounding or doing this stuff, and it's just not there. There's not the movement or explosiveness.
I always thought about the NBA.
I had to change my game completely. I was what Scottie was. What he was doing here I was doing in Europe.
I think it's very important for every player after a long season, whether it's good or bad, to get total rest. Not just physically and mentally from basketball and the pressure on the court, but the pressures outside, too. Then, when you come back, everything's exciting again.
I was one of the main guys on my team and you always want to check people that you're bringing in. Are they tough enough physically and mentally? Can they respond when you need them to respond?
There were games I would score five and games I would score 30, and sometimes the five points were way more important than the 30.
Chicago is one of the greatest places when it comes to sports. It kind of reminds me of my hometown in Split. It doesn't matter how bad the soccer team is, everybody worships the soccer, the players and the games.
I kind of expect that the people wouldn't know me. I know I'm tall and I cannot escape that.
I shot millions and millions of shots, just wanted the ball and felt good every time I released the ball, especially in those last seconds of big games.
