One of the hardest things for a ball player to do is to accept his role

It's going to be great. A lot of the players are coming. I wasn't here when they put (Jackson) up in the rafters. But to have him here as my number goes up, it brings back a lot of great memories.

It's superb, definitely. Something that is new to me, that is shocking. I got the news last night about 3 in the morning, and I don't think I even went back to bed.

The mailman doesn't deliver on Sundays.

We aren't playing as well as we'd like.

He's very knowledgeable. That's the one advantage that I see in Kobe Bryant's career compared to Michael Jordan. Ten years into Kobe Bryant's career, we're seeing a very polished 27-year-old player who's probably got another seven or eight great years ahead of him.

He's one of the best power forwards of all-time. I take my hands off to him.

I've always led by example and I'm not that vocal.

I visualize the game. I think about who I am guarding, the things he likes to do.

It [would have] been very difficult. As I said, the rules ... but if the rules were put in place back when Michael Jordan was in his prime - no hand-checking, the game was more geared toward offense, wanting to promote scoring in the game - he could have probably got close. He did score 69.

It's hard to put it in perspective right now. I'm starting to feel a little emotional about what's going to happen Friday night. Getting your number put in the rafters is always something that as a kid ... you dream of seeing happen to you.

Michael Jordan is probably the greatest scorer to ever play in the game. But I may go as far to say Lebron James may be the the greatest player to ever play the game.