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  • - For me, looking back on it is crazy,

  • 'cause I wasn't even an NBA prospect

  • when I was 16 years old. Right?

  • Usually guys are.

  • Then, all of a sudden, I'm an NBA prospect at 17.

  • Within two years I go from

  • playing high school basketball to getting drafted.

  • Back then, I'm super skinny and fast,

  • and that was my thing. You couldn't catch me.

  • I would run down the court,

  • get dunks, get blocks,

  • I could handle it, I could shoot it.

  • ABCD Camp in Teaneck, New Jersey -

  • it's 300 guys and a bunch of teams,

  • and they just play games all day

  • every day, for four days straight.

  • I'm ready, I'm focused.

  • This is my only time in an All-American camp

  • and this is the first game.

  • "All right, come on. Let's go.

  • All the college scouts are here, so this is my moment."

  • I don't know who this dude was, but he was from Ohio.

  • He wasn't super big. He was still

  • a good size for a 16-year-old.

  • And so this dude came up to me and said,

  • "I got him, I'm checking him!"

  • I'm in my own mind I said, "Man, 'Check him'?

  • Who was that guy?"

  • You know, kept playin'.

  • And he was good enough to say,

  • "O.K., who is this dude right here?

  • 'Cause I know I'm nice.

  • I know who that is, that is,

  • that is, that is, that is,

  • 'cause I gotta beat 'em and kill 'em all.

  • Who's this guy?"

  • My coach told me, "That's LeBron James."

  • Back then the Internet wasn't like that -

  • so you just get the name with no picture.

  • And back then he rose to prominence

  • after he had a successful game

  • against Oak Hill as a sophomore.

  • And, I mean, he did it all.

  • He just had a complete game at that point in time,

  • and that's kinda how it started.

  • And then ever since then it's like

  • you haven't stopped hearing his name since.

  • That's what people don't understand -

  • I had the time of my life in Toronto.

  • That was pretty much an upbringing for me

  • to be the person I am today.

  • When I got drafted ... you're happy and everything.

  • I'm the only player in the draft

  • that has to deal with going to another country.

  • That's something that I didn't even anticipate and expect.

  • Oh man, I had to have my passport with me every time.

  • Or, "Man, they use Monopoly money here.

  • And they do kilometers per hour."

  • You'll go places and people don't even know

  • Toronto has an NBA basketball team.

  • Like, "The Raptors, oh ... the Rafters?

  • That's what people always used to say.

  • "The Rafters? Is that the NBA?

  • Like, "Man.... Yes!"

  • You know, and it's a shell shock.

  • And I was on a team where the

  • next-youngest guy was 25 years old.

  • Which is old, right? When you're a teenager?

  • You have to get over the starstruckness,

  • because you forget, "O.K., I'm in the league,

  • then Vince Carter is in practice with me."

  • He would get on me if I didn't

  • go up strong or do anything. He'd be on me.

  • He was making an effort to....

  • "Hey young fella, come on, do this."

  • I tell people this all the time,

  • Vince, he contains some of the most talent

  • I've ever seen a basketball player possess,

  • and I played with some great players.

  • One of the tough things for me

  • was to watch dudes I got drafted with -

  • LeBron, Dwyane, Josh Howard -

  • they're competing for championships right away.

  • And he's in the playoffs.

  • And they're winning games, and it must feel good.

  • It was hard man, really. Looking from the outside,

  • you feel like you're not a part of things.

  • My whole life was in Toronto.

  • I think a lot of people get it wrong

  • that there's no pressure and it's a easy decision.

  • It's desensitized as far as if you're a public figure,

  • people are not gonna look at it the same way.

  • Chicago was the first team that approached me, at 12:01.

  • Thirty minutes later, Daryl Morey comes to my house.

  • It's midnight!

  • And they're goin' for the jugular.

  • Chicago: "That's a pretty good team."

  • Houston: "That's what you're gonna pay me? Hmm!

  • And it's gonna be built around me? I'm gonna be the guy?

  • For that?"

  • "Yes."

  • I said, "I haven't seen that many numbers before.

  • It's a extra number on there."

  • Every meeting I left, I was confused.

  • It's July, my father's in town....

  • He's not even one of those type of dads.

  • I think he just wanted to see it.

  • Like, "Yo, let me just see this at least once."

  • He's starstruck by Pat Riley,

  • I will say that right off the bat,

  • 'cause he was a grown man in the '80's.

  • So he's like the first thing he says,

  • "Man, that's Pat Riley, man."

  • Pat never sat down the whole time.

  • He just pulls out a bag,

  • puts championship rings out there.

  • Everybody's quiet and doesn't even say anything.

  • He takes off his suit jacket, he rolls up his sleeves.

  • "All right, let me tell you somethin',

  • this is what it's about."

  • And he goes into his shtick and it's like....

  • It was no numbers on the boards,

  • there was no PowerPoint presentation.

  • He set the tone as far as making it about championships,

  • 'cause that's what he's about.

  • Everybody knew that they had enough cap space

  • for three max contracts.

  • It was me, Stoudemire, Boozer, Bron, D -

  • it was quite a class.

  • So it was more so who....

  • In my mind, if I go here and join D, it's gonna work out.

  • Yeah, we were glued just like anybody else,

  • 'cause he still had to make "the decision"

  • and go through with it.

  • And then he did it and then it was like,

  • "Aaaaah!"

  • I mean, it was like winning a championship.

  • That night in Miami, it was crazy.

  • So I played the All-Star Game,

  • and then flew back and said,

  • "Yo, I should not be feeling like this."

  • I couldn't breathe after a while,

  • and it got to the point where the

  • whole left side of my body, it just hurt to move.

  • Got my chest X-rayed - I got a collapsed lung.

  • And they said,

  • "All right, you need to go to the Emergency Room."

  • I go get a CT scan and you can see through the window

  • the doctors looking at the screen.

  • And then there's another doctor,

  • then there's another person, and then there's

  • like four, five people just around the computer screen.

  • I got up and opened the door and said,

  • "What's going on? What's up?"

  • "You see that right there? You've got a blood clot.

  • We're putting you in."

  • And then he starts saying all these things,

  • and I'm like, "All right." Give me the blood thinner,

  • put the oxygen thing in my nose....

  • And that's when I was like, "Yo, what are you doing?"

  • Like, "No, you need this. The next 24 hours are crucial."

  • And then at the same time I'm looking at the TV

  • and we just traded for Goran Drajic.

  • We're trying to turn our season around.

  • So I'm just watching all this stuff

  • like, "What the hell is goin' on?"

  • I'm in the hospital in pain for four, five days.

  • I think I'm goin' home, and I got my lung drained.

  • If you ever got your lung drained - that sucks.

  • You don't get painkillers for that.

  • They just stick the needle in there. You know what I mean?

  • And so it got to the point where I'm like....

  • I had to threaten the doctor.

  • We're good friends to this day, he's super cool.

  • But I told him, I said,

  • "Man, I'mma throw you out that window

  • if you stick me with that needle again, my man."

  • And he said, "All right, cool."

  • They come back that evening saying, "Well,

  • we have to do surgery on you

  • because your lung has produced this

  • gelatinous, scabby fluid that we cannot drain out.

  • So we have to go in there and pretty much scrub you clean."

  • My heart goes out to people who

  • have to spend days and weeks and months in hospitals.

  • The energy is bad and you're in a dark mental place.

  • And it wasn't until I left, almost two weeks later,

  • that I realized that I hadn't

  • been out the room the whole entire time.

  • You realize how easy it could've went the other way.

  • People die from that every day.

  • For whatever reason, I made it. I don't ask any questions.

  • That makes me appreciate life,

  • and realize how fragile it really is.

  • If you're doing something you love, you're lucky enough?

  • Do it to the fullest. Don't waste your time

  • by worrying about petty stuff.

  • You never know when it's gonna be

  • your last time stepping on the court.

  • I can tell you that that is a real thing.

  • So no matter what happens,

  • I still have a positive outlook on life.

  • I still feel great, I still feel myself.

  • I'm still in my skin. That didn't break me.

- For me, looking back on it is crazy,

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