When I came in the NBA, it was more a U.S. game. Now you can watch the NBA anywhere in the world.
I'm sure my life after basketball is, hopefully, going to be even better.
The better team sometimes loses.
The game of basketball brings people together. It really doesn't matter where you are coming from. It's a game all of us love.
I played basketball because I loved the game. I played because I was making a lot of friends around the world... It's fun.
I left my home, and it was the most beautiful country in the world in my eyes, and I was always happy in the summertime to go back. And then suddenly, the civil war starts, and you just worry first about your family and friends, and then an entire nation.
When I came to New York for the draft in '89, they told me I should be like 10 and 15, and it didn't happen. So I was very disappointed, like, nobody wants me.
In NBA anything is possible.
I really, really like Los Angeles.
It's really tough in the NBA.
My dream, play in NBA. When I come here, very difficult for me. It's new country, new language. But is still basketball for me.
In soccer, you don't want to see anybody get hurt.
Well, I tried to play defense. But when they did call a foul on Shaq, I tried to make sure they called a foul.
I like geography. I think I know every country in the world. If someone from another country plays for my team, I will know where he is from.
Because I play in NBA, I am like ambassador of Yugoslavia. Los Angeles before, nobody hear of Yugoslavia. Now I think much people who look at basketball hear of Yugoslavia.
One year I grew 15 centimeters.
Yugoslavia is a little country, and everybody likes basketball. If I don't play for my national team, everybody be sad.
I thought, 'I'm going to play in Yugoslavia, then I'll go to play in Italy or Spain.' Then I'll be 28 or 29 and I'll try NBA. I never thought I can play in NBA because NBA was totally different world for us in Europe.
NBA is totally different in style. In NBA, we play much more aggressive, much harder. It's not time for thinking. In Europe, we play every week, one game. Here we play every second day so if you lose, you don't have time to think about losing. Just go forward.
I'm a Yugoslavian who loves America - my kids are Americans, you know. They're always going to be half and half because they were born here and, I hope, live here, but they will always have a background of Yugoslavian. I'm still a Serbian, but with an American lifestyle.
