- 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.