NBA great Dominique Wilkins played in an era which proved to be one of the best. The 1980’s saw greats such as Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Charles Barkley and a bunch more. With the Atlanta Hawks, Wilkins needed to prove himself against the toughest competition of all time, night in and night out.

His accomplishments are well documented: the classic back and forth with Bird in '88; scoring title in '86; the great dunk contest of '86 against Jordan; his high-flying style could be matched by nobody.

Now though, Wilkins is battling perhaps his biggest and fiercest opponent yet: type-2 diabetes.

Any accomplishment on the court is fully equaled by the one he’s creating today as he helps people manage the very serious disease known as diabetes. Wilkins wants everybody with diabetes to get the help they need and deserve by visiting his website, DiabetesDreamTeam.com.

There, you can build a diabetes dream-team to call you own. Receiving tips about diets, medication and exercise are just a few nuggets Wilkins and company provide through the site.

Luckily for TheCelebrityCafe.com, Wilkins sat down to speak with us regarding his fight against this disease and speak a little about the good old days of the NBA.

Rob Sabo: First off, your former team the Atlanta Hawks have just ripped off 8 straight wins and sit at 15-6. How are you enjoying watching the team this year?
Dominique Wilkins: Well that’s the “New Hawks” by the way. They’re doing well. We’re really happy and proud of how the team is playing. And so, the chemistry that these guys are playing with has built up through the years is now paying off.

RS: Jeff Teague and Paul Millsap lead the team with just over 16 points per game. Are you surprised with the success considering there isn’t one star player that stands out, scoring over 20 a game?
DW: No, not at all. I mean this team is built on a log of good players. Do you have that superstar figure on the team? No, but what you do have is a lot of great pieces that work together.

RS: How do you think they’ll fair in trying to knock off some of the big boys in the East come springtime?
DW: Well right now it’s about taking it one game at a time, not looking too far ahead and we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. The most important thing is just to stay focused. And while they’re doing what they have to as far as winning games, I’m doing the things able to do as far as passing the message about educating people about diabetes.

RS: Shortly after you retired, you were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes….how much of a shock was this for you considering your everyday life as an NBA athlete?
DW: For any athlete, to have that type of news come up…it’s shocking. But you find a way to get through it and I found a way to get through it by managing diabetes through diet, exercise and medication. And that’s why we’ve built our dream-teams, which is made up of the people around you such as your podiatrist, your physical trainer, nutritionist, people within your community, your family; all these people around you working together that build your own dream-team. And so we’ve launched a website called the DiabetesDreamTeam.com. We’ve launched this to help people find healthy tips, along with creating a coaches clipboard which gives people options, and great information on how they can build their own dream-team, and find great recipes, or find different workout tips as well as medication.

RS: It seems that during the holidays it becomes a lot tougher to avoid those temptations that come around. Who is on your dream team?
DW: The people on my dream team are my wife, my kids, my doctor. Also, my physical trainer that I work with all the time. My podiatrist who provides me with great communication with me on how to manage my disease. It takes a team of people to really keep you focused and on target.

RS: Give us the website again? Where can people find these tips and all the information?
DW: The website to go to is the DiabetesDreamTeam.com. You can get all the healthy tips you need to manage your disease.

RS: Throughout your career, you’ve had so many highlights. 1988 back and forth with Bird, scoring title in 86, just to name a couple. What’s your fondest moment from your career, or most proud of?
DW: I think it’s playing against the greatest players, in my opinion, to ever play the game in one era, in the 1980’s. That’s the biggest memory that I have, where I had to compete every single night. It was an unbelievable time to be a part of NBA basketball.

RS: In your opinion, excluding yourself, who is the best dunker of all-time?
DW: Excluding myself? I have to give Dr. J (Julius Erving) that prop because he was kind of the grandfather of us all, so I’m going to give that to Dr. J.

RS: Which current player reminds you most of your game?
DW: Ah, that’s a tricky one. I don’t really think I can think of someone that reminds me exactly of my style. I think it’s a combination of guys who play like I play. I think it’s a mixture of two or three guys, not just one.
But hey…there’s only one “Human Highlight Film.” And that’s why we want people to keep shooting for the stars with DiabetesDreamTeam.com in building their own dream team. We really want people to get that information that they need, because this is a very serious problem in this country. Our website is a very valuable tool