I'm not out there to win a popularity contest. I'm out there to win basketball games.
I always said if I didn't focus on basketball, then it would have been football. I was pretty good and was asked to go to England trials.
You can get caught up in making and missing shots, but the game is so much more.
Going to the Portland Trail Blazers, who actually took the time to invest in me, was perhaps the best thing that ever happened to me in my career. I got to a small market where I could focus on basketball, basketball, basketball. No distractions.
Kobe was obsessed with the game of basketball.
I just try to focus on the basketball game and not get caught up in all the media.
My dad has coached a long time, so there aren't too many conversations in my family that haven't centered around basketball.
The first year was kind of hard for me. There was just too much attention, too much going on, and I really just wanted to focus on basketball.
I'm a basketball player first and foremost. So I want to put basketball above everything else.
