National Basketball Association (NBA)

"At Carolina I was in a controlled system, and a lot of the crowd was pleased with my play. So if I just play my natural game, I won't have any problem keeping the crowd pleased. This is the most relaxed time of my career. The games come so quickly that if you have a bad one, you can put the past behind you and get ready for the present."

"Coach (Bobby) Knight helped me to concentrate and do things without a lot of lallygagging around."

"I fight the offense when we lose close games and I haven't given the output I could've given because of the system. On the nights we win, obviously, it's fine. I only want to win. I think the offense can work. But one of the problems is that the offense takes time to perfect, and we still make a lot of mistakes. And it's worse for the second team, which doesn't get as much time to run it. Theoretically, this offense should never be stopped if you have the right guys in the right places. But that doesn't always happen." - On First Using the Triangle Offense

"If there's a pattern in some of the teams that stop me, it's that they make me play defense against a big, physical guard who runs off picks. Washington has Jeff Malone. Dallas has Rolando Blackman. Seattle has Dale Ellis. I can't post these guys up that easily because they're as big and strong as I am. I know Malone's not supposed to be a good defensive player, but he comes after me.

"Putting is a lot like shooting free throws. It's all concentration and technique. There's a correct way for the ball to come off your club, the same as there's a correct way for it to come off your fingertips. Touch and soft hands. It helps."

"He has more hang time than Ray Guy." - Fred Carter

"He'll probably be one of the guys who invents a new position." - Isiah Thomas

He plays every game like it's his last. I thinke the Bulls can rest him more. I know it's tough, but I think they're good enough to win if he plays three or four minutes a game less. They just don't know it." - Doc Rivers

"He's got talent, and he's got the blue light. That's even better than the green light." - Johnny Moore

"I don't know if his first step is legal because I've never had time to judge it." - Jim Thomas

It must be like most of the rest of us playing with grade-school kids. That's how good he is." - John Paxson

"Michael plays it down, but he's a one-man team. - Sam Perkins

"Nobody has ever been better at the end of a game than Michael. Oscar Robertson was great, but this guy is a closer at both ends." - Phil Jackson

"No one by himself can carry a team through a season. If Michael has to do this year after year, it will shorten his career." - Dominique Wilkins

"Playing with him was like going to the circus. You'd come to practice and never know what he'd pull off." - Wayman Tisdale