Kevin Johnson tells a story about an important lesson he learned from Larry Bird.

"I get drafted in the NBA by the Cleveland Cavaliers. So you had Lenny Wilkins, the head coach. You had Wayne Embry, the general manager—two African-American legends. Then I got traded from there to Phoenix. But in my first half a year, I'm in Cleveland and we're playing the Boston Celtics.

And if a game started at 7:00, most of the players get there at 5:30. And if you're a rookie, if you want to get some shots in, you got to get there an hour early, which would be 4:30 in this case. And I'm thinking I want to get there really early. So I go, I take a cab. I have my gym bag. I go to the Boston Garden. It's 3:30.

And I'm trying to get in and all the doors are locked 'cause it's too early. There's no event going …