And I will thank a couple of people that you guys probably wouldn't even think I will thank. Isaiah Thomas, Magic Johnson and George Gervin. They are the so-called freezing-out in my rookie season. I would never guess, but you guys gave me the motivation, say, you know what? Evidently I've got to prove to these guys. I've got to prove to them that I deserve what I've got on this level. No matter what people may have said, if it is rumor, I never took it as truth. But you guys never froze me up, because I was just happy to be there no matter how you look at it. From that point forward, I wanted to prove to you, Magic, Larry, Gorge, everybody that I deserve to be on this level as much as anybody else. And hopefully over the whole period of my career I have done that, without a doubt. Even in the Detroit, we've done that.
我还要感谢一些人，这些人或许你们都没想到。伊塞亚·托马斯，魔术师约翰逊，乔治·格温。在我的新秀赛季，我被你们完全冻结。是你们给了我前进的动力。每天我都需要向你们证明我所得到的一切成就都问心无愧。无论人们是如何评论的，我从来不把谣言当做真相。你们从来没有把我吓怕，因为，我只是喜欢打球而已，不管你们如何看待。以此为出发点，我就是要向你们证明我有资格在这个场上打球，就跟你们一样。我想，在我整个职业生涯中我已经证明了这一切，毫无疑问。即使是在底特律，我们也做到了。
Pat Riley, I mean, you and I go way back. I still remember in Hawaii, remember in Hawaii where you and I, I was coming in. You were, I guess, leaving: you decided to stay a couple of days. You were coming into my suite and came, and I told you: "Get out of my suite." You slid a note on the leak of my door, although you had to move, you didn't move. You slid the note, saying "I enjoyed the competition, congratulations, but we will meet again. " And I take the heart in that, because I think in all I see you are just as competitive as I am and even from a coach standing point.
帕托·莱利，还记得我们间的恩怨吗。我记得在夏威夷，我刚到，而你可能正准备离开。后来你决定多待几天。你跑到我的房间，要进来，我就喊：“出去。”尽管你要走，但你却没有。你给我的门上留了一张纸条：我很享受与你的比赛，恭喜你，但是我们还会再见的。我打心底里感激。我想你就和我一样，享受竞争的过程，即便你是从一个教练的角度。
