Quotes from Ben Wallace

Basketball, eventually I'm going to have to retire one day. Players are going to come in and take my job. But education, I'll always have my education.

One or two wrong turns where I'm from could put you on a path that's hard to reverse... We had to stick together to get through down South.

You don't have to be a great scorer to be successful in this league.

Scoring isn't anything but a different challenge. I'm willing to take that challenge.

When I took ownership on the defensive end, I made a commitment to myself to basically cancel out what was happening on the offensive end.

It feels good to just play in the All-Star Game. To be the first un-drafted player to start, I think it speaks volumes for those guys trying to make to the league that there are always opportunities if you just stay prepared.

Undrafted players who get to the door and don't have their name called. It's a blessing.

What Boston basically said was, I didn't 'pass the eye test.' They were looking for somebody bigger, bulkier. They put me where they put guys my size - on the perimeter.

I think Shaq brings the best out of everybody.

In all honesty, I was hoping to use football as a path to play basketball in college.

It's one of those things where it's not something you want to do; nobody wants to retire from basketball. You want to play basketball forever. Retirement is admitting to yourself and everybody else that, 'I can't do this job anymore.' For me, that's not a celebration.

There are no plays run for your sake as a defender - you just have to want it.

Washington helped me learn the game. Orlando gave me the opportunity to fight for a starting position and gave me the confidence to know I could compete in the NBA. In Detroit, I had a bond, a brotherhood with a group of guys. We stuck together. The bond we shared got us over the hump plenty of nights. We were the definition of true champions.

I work hard, I don't complain.

I started cutting hair when I was about 16. Everyone in the neighborhood would come by, and I'd come out on the porch and sit and cut. I'd charge $3 a head. Every time I earned some money, I'd give it to my mom.

Since I'm from the South, anything that's home cooked, I'm down for.

When I became king on the court against my brothers, they stopped playing with me. When I started to learn the game, play the game and appreciate the game, I knew I had a chance to be good at it. But the Naismith Hall of Fame, that's not something you prepare for. That's taboo.

I'll tell you my legacy: I wasn't welcome. I was too small. I couldn't play the game the way they wanted me to play the game. Sound like an uneven game to me. Put me on a level playing field, and I'll show you.

VUU had won some national championships and had a great coach in Dave Robbins.

Retirement, to me, is depressing. Depressing.

If you take somebody that never had anything and all they knew was hard work and determination and then you give them something, that's why I do what I do.

If you sign a big contract, everybody knows. They're going to print it in the paper. It's on ESPN. You can go online and check player salaries and all that. You're a target.

Professional athletes, most of us came from the streets. We feel like we know the streets and can pretty much protect ourselves. But now we're in a position where we're being targeted, and the stakes are just too high.

I could score some points, but I take more satisfaction in blocking shots, rebounding and getting my teammates open shots.