Quotes from Kenny Smith

Guys pay extra attention to detail. They are looking at every little thing on the scouting report.

This league has great players, and it has great images. Sometimes those two things get confused.

Great players, they start becoming immune to what the defense does to them.

As African Americans, we always have to fight for inclusion, despite your moral background: Christian, Muslim, Jewish - it doesn't matter.

Dunk, and people anywhere will ooh and aah. But you can wow a crowd in New York with ball handling and passing.

There's hasn't been a day in my life since I was 9 years old that I haven't touched a basketball or done something connected with basketball.

I want people to know that it's all right to come back to New Orleans. You can drink the water. The only way that the city can come back is if you come back. Tourism is a big part of it.

What made it so special was the city of Houston had never won a sports championship. I think the championship changed people's thinking about their own city. It made them feel like their city had some significance that it hadn't had before.

I think it is inevitable that I'll be coaching or be a GM.

You like to be part of a championship, but you always want to be an integral part.

Timing is everything in this league, and I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. But I never lost my confidence. Atlanta was changing coaches and systems. I knew they'd make personnel changes.

My mother and father didn't treat my brothers and sisters the same, so to treat 12 players exactly the same, that's a great accomplishment.

When you're from New York, people take a second look at you. In Virginia, the other players always asked about the fast life we live. They want to know about the crime. As a player, they expect you to be able to do things that excite a crowd. And they always want to beat you. You're the New Yorker.

When you're in the slam dunk contest, you try to do the things the average person would have trouble doing on a Nerf basket.

The older you get, the longer your jump shot becomes.

Mark Jackson played 19, 20 years in the NBA. Shouldn't even have probably been in the league, and he's the third-ranked assist guy in the NBA. But you describe his game: Can he jump? No, not really. How's his outside shot? Eh, it's inconsistent. Can he defend? Nah, he can't stay in front of guys. And he played 19 years!

You really don't believe that winning at home or winning on the road makes a difference. The Lakers have that mind-set. They don't look at it as 'We're at home, we're on the road.'

NCAA is looking at how to do a better job enforcing their rules instead of looking at why the predatorial environment is created. There's a predatorial environment that their rules have created, which makes people feel undervalued.

When someone is in 'the struggle,' which many of our black communities are in, they are living with a lack of educational facilities, high unemployment, and poor recreational facilities.

I'm always the neutral guy, man. I'm able to bring people together.

There's no representation. That's why the NBA Players Association was formed, players' unions were formed. That's why those unions were formed - to have representation before you make rules for me that I have to abide by. How can I participate and how can it be fair if there's no representation?

I remember when I was 11 playing against guys who were as old as 22. I just stayed outside and shot from there.

From the outside looking in, I would say the franchise that has had the most stories that are unrelated to basketball are the Knicks.

Mike D'Antoni is a great offensive mind. He's a great coach.