Scottie Pippen
It's an honor to have kids. It's a responsibility.
I'm never going to leave my family hanging out to dry.
The respect I had to give my brothers and sisters growing up I think has helped me. I want my kids to be raised the same way.
I love playing in Chicago, and the fans have been great to me.
I make a lot of money, but I need to be treated right.
Statistics are one thing. But if you're not putting up the numbers as far as winning, they're not going to consider you for things like the MVP.
When I say I played with the greatest, let's not forget I also played for the greatest coach of all time.
I'm proud to be considered a member of the Nike family.
The influence of a high school coach can be so powerful.
I want to thank the NBA and U.S.A. Basketball. Words can't describe my feeling. I was a small town kid from Hamburg, Arkansas, and you provided me a platform to live out my passion, the game of basketball, on the world's grandest stage.
Basketball is such an escape from a lot of things.
Basketball is a lifelong game. You continue to learn from the game day in and day out, and all along the way, you get better.
Some guys get into the NBA, get the big money, and are satisfied with themselves.
I want to get into the NBA and make a name for myself.
I want to be a role-model player, someone respected and looked up to.
When the game is over, it's over. We leave everything on the court.
You just go out and try to always play at your best.
I can be 60 years old, but I can always go back and play like I once did by just playing a video game. It's really great.
To be in a position where an organization like the Bulls creates a bust of you that will permanently be displayed in a building like the United Center says it all. It's hard to put into words because it is such an honor. It's great to know that something like that will be around forever.
As a player, you experience so many different moments, but you never truly sit back and reflect on them. You enjoy them, but with the championships, we were so busy celebrating with everyone that we didn't really realize what we had accomplished as individuals and as a team.
If I could have written a script of how I wanted my career to be, I couldn't have done it any better.
I was lucky to play with guys who were not only good players, but great people.
No matter how well you do in the regular season, it has to be capped off with a championship to really mark your legacy in the game.
If you're not on a team that's winning, it takes a lot out of you as a player.
I love this city and the Chicago fans.
Chicago's where I started my career. I've had a lot of success playing here.
I know how to win games.
For me, getting your number retired is the greatest accomplishment. There is no accolade with more significance that you can receive from an organization or school. Whether it was my four years at Central Arkansas or all my seasons with the Bulls in Chicago, it's a sign of respect for what I have done.
Defensive awards and accolades aside, to have your jersey retired puts you in a position where you'll be known forever.
I remember the night in December 2005 when the Bulls retired my number and will never, ever forget it.
When I grew up, I was just another kid who wasn't going to college.
College was a very necessary step along the way to my professional career. As I look back, I realize how much of an eye opener it was for me in terms of moving forward and developing as a basketball player.
There are a lot of people from my Central Arkansas days that I owe a lot of thanks to for how they helped me over the years.
Coach Dyer was a great mentor for me and a great teacher.
The odds were against me when I arrived at Central Arkansas. I was barely 6-foot-2 and didn't have a scholarship. But I always felt I could make it to the NBA; it was as if I had foreseen my future, and I knew I would make it.
It takes locking in on the task at hand and honing in on what you need to do in order to be successful in the NBA postseason.
While I dealt with my share of injuries throughout my career, I was fortunate to have been healthy for the majority of our run in the 1990s. The same can be said about Michael Jordan.
As a young player, I always thought I was doing everything I could. But the longer you play, the more you learn, and the better you're prepared for what this game throws at you.
As a player, NBA All-Star Weekend contains a lot of joy and a lot of excitement. Even with all the hype built into the game, it's really a special honor to be selected among many great players.
I don't believe being a Hall of Famer is based on individual accolades. I think winning has a lot to do with it. But perhaps more than that, you simply have to show that you are the best or among the best at what you do.
If you can prove that you're in that elite class on a consistent basis, it speaks volumes about a player's longevity. It also says that as a player, you were steady, stable, and great and that you deserve to be recognized.
When I look back at my first few seasons in the NBA, we didn't dominate as a team. There were a lot of nights where we took a beating and got whacked across the head. But we got better along the way, and we started to taste the success. With that came the pressure and expectations to be successful.
I've never seen a player that can dominate a game the way LeBron James can. He don't always have to score. He makes plays for other guys. But when the game is on the line, and you need a shot to be made, he's going to make that play.
I may go so far as saying LeBron James may be the greatest player to ever play the game. Because he is so potent offensively that not only can he score at will, but he keeps everybody involved.
Chemistry is a very important element for any team that wants to be serious about winning.
No guy on the basketball court is a threat to score with LeBron James out there. Not only will LeBron dominate from the offensive end as well, but he's also doing it on the defensive end, which really makes him the complete package.
When I was four or five, I had an older brother who got paralyzed from the neck down in junior high school. Some kid did a wrestling fall on him and hit his spine. We had to take care of him. I went from being the baby to not really being the baby anymore.
There's nothing like the camaraderie of being around the other players.
I'm a guy who is easy to get along with, and I'll put up with a lot of things. But not dishonesty.