When I first saw Dick Gregory on television, growing up in Queens, it was startling and amazing, because nobody else was doing what he was doing.

When I was growing up, all these superheroes were white. On some level, you put that out of your mind... but as you get older, you realize it's a very one-sided affair. So I'm very glad to see that these movies are becoming more diversified.

Most of my career I purposely spent doing good guys.

I've played good guys for most of my career, and when I came out to California, I thought, 'I really would like to find some wonderfully intelligent bad guy to play.'

I think that there have definitely been points when I've had to fight to move my career in a different direction. I think, 2012, I did a few movies that touched on a darker side, and those are movies I'd been wanting to make and stories I'd been wanting to tell for a while. So I think it definitely takes work to move genres.

You will get criticism throughout your career. All the best players have had it at some stage, and they haven't let it ruin their careers. I won't, either.

I think with anything career-related, there really is no rush.

To be named as one of the finalists for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame's Class of 2010 on Friday was a special moment for me. As a player, it's something that you dream about. It's an honor that you have to earn based on your career and the respect from your peers around you.