Basketball Player

I won at every level - all the way since I started playing the game of basketball at nine. I've won at every level, won championships at every level. And, you know, it won't be fulfilled until I win at the highest level.

As a professional athlete a lot is going to be said about you - but I just try to move forward and try to achieve my goals.

It's always a struggle growing up in Akron.

But ever since I was a kid, I was always the winner.

You know, I'm just 6'9' and 260. And just so happen to be very good at playing the game of basketball.

I like to get out and get up the court, using my speed and aggressiveness toward the hoop.

When you have that respect from your teammates, it makes it a lot more comfortable.

I always say, decisions I make, I live with them. There's always ways you can correct them or ways you can do them better. At the end of the day, I live with them.

I have short goals - to get better every day, to help my teammates every day - but my only ultimate goal is to win an NBA championship. It's all that matters. I dream about it. I dream about it all the time, how it would look, how it would feel. It would be so amazing.

But now, being a parent, I go home and see my son and I forget about any mistake I ever made or the reason I'm upset. I get home and my son is smiling or he comes running to me. It has just made me grow as an individual and grow as a man.

Akron, Ohio, is my home. I will always be here. I'm still working out at my old high school.

I went through a lot of battles in high school.

I was so used to going out and winning state championships and playing in the postseason.

I don't know how tall I am or how much I weigh. Because I don't want anybody to know my identity. I'm like a superhero. Call me Basketball Man.

My mom and I have always been there for each other. We had some tough times, but she was always there for me.

You can't be afraid to fail. It's the only way you succeed - you're not gonna succeed all the time, and I know that.

When I was 5, some financial things happened, and I moved seven times in a year. We moved from apartment to apartment, sometimes living with friends. My mom would always say, 'Don't get comfortable, because we may not be here long.'

I like criticism. It makes you strong.

My father wasn't around when I was a kid, and I used to always say, 'Why me? Why don't I have a father? Why isn't he around? Why did he leave my mother?' But as I got older I looked deeper and thought, 'I don't know what my father was going through, but if he was around all the time, would I be who I am today?'

I hate letting my teammates down. I know I'm not going to make every shot. Sometimes I try to make the right play, and if it results in a loss, I feel awful. I don't feel awful because I have to answer questions about it. I feel awful in that locker room because I could have done something more to help my teammates win.