When he does things well, it's pretty special. But there's a flip side, things he needs to be groomed on and made aware of.

You come out of the All-Star break with a pretty good mentality that the last third of the season is going to be pretty difficult. We've had a good mentality after the break.

People showed up on time and made pretty quick buying decisions -- they suddenly had new needs or had new competitors with new needs and wanted to get theirs filled first.

[But some of the Wizards players were very well aware of what was going on elsewhere in the conference.] I felt like I was on the leader board of some golf tournament, ... I came out at halftime and every team in our [conference] was getting the result they needed to get. That certainly set the tone for what we had to provide in the second half.

I'm not going to look at this as being the most critical game of my life, but it's important like the other ones were. Coach knows who I am and what I bring. At the end of the day, if I'm someone that he wants around, then that's what he chooses.

I'm not going to say it's a a do or die, but it's important. You're a forward. That's what you get paid to do.