Scottie Pippen

I want to be a role-model player, someone respected and looked up to.

Defense is something I take a lot of pride in.

I always dreamed of playing the NBA, but along the way, the road got a little cloudy.

I was a guy that had a lot of tools and could do a lot of other things, but my main thing was controlling the defensive end of the court.

I'm able to run and jump and do all the things I can do. I'm blessed.

There's nothing like the camaraderie of being around the other players.

When I was four or five, I had an older brother who got paralyzed from the neck down in junior high school. Some kid did a wrestling fall on him and hit his spine. We had to take care of him. I went from being the baby to not really being the baby anymore.

I take a lot of pride in my first '92 gold medal.

I have been able to live my dream of playing basketball surrounded by people I love and being cheered on by the best fans in the world.

It's always been a passion of mine to come out and share some of my knowledge about basketball and the experiences I've had with the younger generation.

I love this city and the Chicago fans.

I want to thank the NBA and U.S.A. Basketball. Words can't describe my feeling. I was a small town kid from Hamburg, Arkansas, and you provided me a platform to live out my passion, the game of basketball, on the world's grandest stage.