Mike Conley, Jr.
If you're not a scoring point guard, people don't think of you as highly. They don't think of you as the type that's going to make an impact in college because you're not trying to score 20 points a game. You're more trying to get 10 assists.
My natural personality is more laid-back and not as aggressive.
Coming out as a rookie, no. 4 draft pick, you expected to see some playing time.
There's guys that don't need to play with the ball. Tony Allen doesn't need to have the ball to be effective.
So much of the game is mental, and that's one thing that I've always wanted to be good at. That if I miss a shot or make a bad play, to never let your opponent see that you are in duress or upset - that they've won in any way. So if I make a big game-time bucket or if I miss a shot, you'll see the same mannerisms. I move on to the next play.
All my life I've been ranked lower than I thought I should be.
Most of my family is from Arkansas on my Mom's side, and my Dad's family is from up north in Chicago.
I've always been a leader. I've not always been the vocal one, though, I think that's become new to me as the years have gone on.
I just know when I'm tired, I can't act tired. If I'm sick or mad or upset we're in a slump, that doesn't mean I stop talking and stop getting in people's faces. I have to do it.
I don't like shopping at all.
I want to be an All-Star and never had the opportunity. There's no animosity toward it or anything. I still enjoy everything that the NBA does, genuinely, with the All-Star weekend.
Painting, one arm gets tired, I'll use the other one and be just as effective. So, yeah, I've always used both arms. I just like to be balanced in life, I guess. That's my little thing, my OCD, whatever it is.
I hate the unknown.
I think I probably had to have been two or three when I fell in love with anything that bounced - any kind of ball that bounced, I was running and screaming after it.
Well, I think for everybody, Michael Jordan was the idol. He's one of my favorite players, but I had a few different guys I liked to watch, like Gary Payton and Isiah Thomas. Isiah was a guy I really loved to mimic my game after. There were a bunch of old-school guys I loved to watch.
I'm a big golfer, so in the offseason, that's all I do - golf and play basketball. But during the season, I like to go bowling, watch movies. I love going to the movies. I go to the movies in every city we go. And when I'm at home I play video games all day.
I love horror movies. Any scary movie - if one comes out, I go see it, even if it's supposed to be bad. I want to get my own opinion of it.
I was a center fielder, and I played shortstop.
I am shorter. I'm not dunking on guys.
I enjoy the fans recognizing me.
I've been given plenty of opportunities and been blessed to have the kind of family that I have to give me the mindset to never stop working.
There were times in my career where I could have easily been traded, easily been given up on, and I think me making strides, me making a commitment to myself to come in and get better showed people what I could do each year.
I always had faith that I'd be a good player.
In Memphis I always had the ball.
I try to stay in the positive.
When I play any of the top teams or the top players, it's a stage.
I don't go to fast food restaurants anymore. That's out.
I mean, I spend every summer working hard to improve my game. I've taken parts of my game that I might have been uncomfortable with and worked on them to make them second nature.
I mostly play one-player games like 'Batman' and 'Assassin's Creed.'
I play 'Gears of War,' 'Halo,' other stuff. But 'Halo' is my game, definitely.
Well, Memphis isn't the most active city, but we find ways to have fun, whether it's going bowling, maybe to the movies, going out to eat. We eat a lot here because there's a lot of good food.
The refs are trying to do the right thing. They're trying to make the right calls, but if you put a lot of pressure on them as far as being in their face, it's embarrassing. They don't want to get yelled at a fourth, fifth time.
I don't want a tech. I don't want to get one.
You can't change who you are.
I've never messed around with any fans. I've never yelled at anybody.
I got used to being pushed down, getting my eye split open and guys talking trash.You have to learn to live with it and adapt to it. That's what I did.
At some point, you know the game will have to end for you.
I look for respect and to try to earn the respect of a lot of people.
If you make the All-Star team and you get the label next your name, for whatever reason, people will think, 'Oh, yeah, he's good now.' But if you don't have it, it's, 'Well, he's never made it, he's never done anything, so why would you think he's any better than this guy or the next guy.'
I've just always wanted to try to earn respect.
In Memphis we don't talk. We ball.
As athletes, it's our responsibility to help. It's easy for us to go out and affect people's lives in so many different ways. We don't even know how much we can touch people and change the direction of somebody's future.
It's who I am. You win awards for sportsmanship and whatever, but that's just me being me. I'm not doing anything extra.
I'm the guy that's always defusing everything and taking the burden off a lot of people and letting everything fall onto me. Obviously, I'm built to handle it, and I don't mind doing it.
I'm right-handed in everything other than basketball. I actually use my right hand a lot more in basketball than people think.
If I had a choice, I'd say I'm right-handed.
Not everyone makes it to the national championship.
Every offseason when I'm back in Ohio, I get together with some of my former teammates and reminisce about our run in 2007.
You just believe in positive thinking. And you can do a lot more with the body than you think you can.
Memphis is a basketball town, but we're not viewed that way on the national map. Maybe it's because the Grizzlies aren't on TV as much.