Quotes from C. J. McCollum

Canton has meant a lot to me.

When I started playing professionally, it made me realize that I had a voice in the league, one that gave me the chance to share a different side of our day-to-day life and the things that were happening on and off the court.

Growing up in the inner city, you might not see a lot of different career paths and different jobs.

For me, understanding your heritage and wanting to leave a legacy was always important to me.

Even since I've been in the NBA, a lot has changed with the game.

People think because there's only 24 hours in a day, we're just supposed to play our sport and then go home and think some more about our sport. They don't think that we should care about other things, but the reality is that you can be really good at what you do for a living and have other hobbies.

I think sometimes there's this perception that players are supposed to be robots.

I like watches.

When you're watching from the bench, you can pick up on everything - where guys like to shoot the ball from, how teams defend the pick-and-roll, which big men are good at hedging the screen and so on.

Life happens fast. You have to have a Plan B, a backup plan and really figure out a way to have different avenues of income and just avenues of happiness. That is what is really important, being at peace and having that happiness.

You get better by playing, honestly. That's where you develop as a player is to play through mistakes in game action.

I always say, it's not the shoes; it's the player. If you can hoop, you can hoop.

Sometimes recruiters and scouts are missing on players. Going after the guys who are really hyped, five-star players and guys that are playing in grassroots and are seen all the time. Then there are the players that developed internally. They go to small schools and they continue to work on their games and they blow up later.

I think being able to make the playoffs alone is an outstanding accomplishment alone and something not a lot of people get to experience in their careers.

When you're in the playoffs, you have to get easy baskets and you have to limit their easy baskets.

A lot of people have compared being an NBA rookie to being a fraternity pledge. It's not really intense like that. It's more like being an intern.

America certainly is a great country with plenty of freedoms, but there are a lot of systemic issues that need to change.

Kyrie is the ultimate versatility weapon. He's good in isos, he's good in pick-and-rolls, he's good in transition. He got game.

As players we're held accountable for poor performance, I think the same should be said for journalists.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Portland basketball fans are the best basketball fans in the world.

We don't have those bougie, not-into-it, wouldn't-be-caught-dead-in-the-free-t-shirt hoops fans in Portland. We've got those pinwheel-tattooed, bleeding-red-and-black, still-rocking-that-Walton-jersey, ride-or-die, realer-than-real hoops fans in Portland. The love is real. The support is real.

As a kid growing up in Canton, Ohio, you never see yourself in a position to play in the NBA, much less have somebody pay you to wear shoes.

When you have an almost seven-foot wingspan and can guard multiple positions, you're going to get minutes.

I work really hard on my craft.