They started to fire me； you know that fire started from my parents. As I moved on my career， people add wood to that fire. Coach Smith， what can I say about him? He is a legendary coach. Lerold Smith， now you guys think that，s a mistake. Lerold Smith was the guy when I got kicks he got picked in the team. He is here tonight. He is still the same six seven guy. He is not even bigger. His level is even about the same. But he started the whole process for me， because when he made the team and I didn，t， I wanted to prove， not just to Lerold Smith， not just to myself， but to the coach who actually picked Lerold over me. I want to make sure he understood you made a mistake， dude.
Buss Peterson， My roommate. When I first met Buss， all I heard about was that this kid from Ashville North Carolina was clearly unplayed against but he has never played against me then， so how do you come to be the player of the year? Is that some type of media， exposure， you know I came from Wilmington， you know， where two channel， channel ABC and channel NBC that I never saw NBA at all when I grow up. They didn，t have CBS receiver in North Carolina or Wilmington also.
Buss Peterson became a dead on my board. When I get a chance to meet Peterson on the basketball court…But he is a great person. It isn，t the fault of his. It was just my competitive natures. I didn，t think he can beat me or is better than me as a basketball player. And he became my roommate. From that point on， he became my focal point not knowingly. He didn，t know it， but he did. And Coach Smith， the day when he was on the Sports Illustrated， he named four starters and he didn，t name me. That burned me up， because I got to be on that Sports Illustrate. He had his own vision about giving a freshman that exposure， I totally understand that but from a basketball sense I deserve to be on that Sports Illustrated， and he understands that.
And it didn，t stop there. My competitive natures went right into the pros， I get to the bulls which I am very proud. Kevin Loughery was my first coach. Kevin used to take practice and put me in starting five. You know， he made a competitive thing where the losing team had to run. So now we are almost on the winning team， halfway on the game， halfway on the situation， he switched me to the losing team. So I took that as a competitive thing， but you were trying to test me and by nine times out of ten the second team would come back to win no matter what he did. So I appreciated Kevin to give me that challenge， providing that type of fire with me and he threw another log on that fire for me. The next year when I came back I broke my foot. And when I came back I wanna play. The doctor came with his old theory that you can play only seven minutes a game， but I am practicing two hours a day. I am saying， well， I don，t agree with that math. I just wanted to win. I wanna make to playoffs. I wanna keep that energy going in Chicago. So I had to go into his office and sat down with him and say， “Jerry， I actually think I should play more than 14 minutes and practice more than two hours.” He said， “We have to protect the long-term investment we，ve invested on you.” I said， “I really think I should be able to play.” He said， “Let me ask you this， if you had a headache.” At that time， there was ten percent that I can hurt my ankle or my foot. He said，“You had a headache and you got ten capsules， and one of them is coated with poison， would you take it?”
I looked him and say， “It depends on how bad is that headache. How bad is that headache. ”
Jerry looked me and say， “You are OK， I guess you had a good answer， you can go back to play. You let me allow you to go back and play.”
You know， Jerry provided a lot of difficult obstacles for me but at the same time the guy gave me an opportunity to perform at the highest level in terms of basketball. The bulls， the whole bulls organization， you know， they did great adjustments for me and all my teammates. Believe me I had a lot of teammates in all the 14 years I played for the bulls. I respect each one of them. I just want them to win. No matter how you looked at it. Doug Collins came the same time when I was trying to play at the summer time. He said， “well， you are part of the organization and the organization said you can，t play at the summer time.” I said，“you read the things in my contract； in my contract I have the love the game， clause. That means I can play anytime I want， any place I want. And Doug looked at me and said，“you are right， you are right.” And that，s how we became a little closer. Jerry Krause is right there and Jerry is not here. Obviously I don，t know who，d invite him， I didn，t. But， I hope he understands it goes a long way. He is a very competitive person. I was a very competitive person. He said organizations win championships.
Obviously you，ve seen my kids Marcus and Jeffery. I love you guys. I think you guys represent a lot of me and a lot of different persons as your mum， you represent them as well. You know， I think you guys have a heavy burden. I wouldn，t want to be you guys if I had to. You know， because all the expectations you have to deal with. You think I am busy. She is always on the go. Without her， she is rough， she is unbelievable. Even right now， she takes over two jobs. She is an unbelievable woman. As I experienced the failure each night， it is her. She classically keeps me focus on the good things about life. You know， how people perceive you， how you respect them， you know， what，s good for the kids， what，s good for you， you know， how you perceive public， take a second thoughts and pause to think about things you should do. These all came from my parents， you know， came from my mum. She is still like this these days， I am 46 years old， and she is still parenting me today. That，s a good thing. I，ll love her to death. I，ll love her to death.
