…that seemed to be the case with most of the teams based in the smaller towns – the fans were more rabid, and they wanted to literally kill the opposition. — Bob Cousy

A guy can’t do something, now they create a position for him, he can’t handle the ball so he’s a shooting guard. — Oscar Robertson

A man’s character is developed by his actions when no one else is around to watch. — Unknown Author

A winner is someone who recognizes his God-given talents, works his tail off to develop them into skills, and uses these skills to accomplish his goals. — Larry Bird

All battles are won before they are fought. — Sun Tzu (The Art of War)

As a coach I wanted to keep things from being too complicated. — Bob Cousy

As far as carrying the torch for the years to come, I don’t know. I just want to be the best basketball player I can be. — Kobe Bryant

As far as playing, I didn’t care who guarded me – red, yellow, black. I just didn’t want a white guy guarding me, because it’s disrespect to my game. — Larry Bird

At 49, I can say something I never would have said when I was a player, that I’m a better person because of my failures and disgraces. — Bill Walton

At first we make our habits, and then our habits make us. — Unknown Author

Athletics and Competition is not for everyone. You are the courageous ones! — Coach Nate Higgins, Montgomery, MN

Basketball doesn’t build character. It reveals it. — Unknown Author

Basketball is a game that gives you every chance to be great, and puts every pressure on you to prove that you haven’t got what it takes. It never takes away the chance, and it never eases up on the pressure. — Bob Sundvold

Basketball is like photography, if you don’t focus, all you have is the negative. — Dan Frisby

Basketball is like war in that offensive weapons are developed first, and it always takes a while for the defense to catch up. — Red Auerbach

Basketball is only basketball, and (as we have learned from Bill Bradley, Phil Jackson, and Isiah Thomas) its essence is a fluid series of interpersonal interactions in which the need to step up or step back must be precisely calibrated at every moment. It is, of the major American sports, the one that provides the most opportunities to succeed simply by hustling or fail simply by loafing. — Ben Mathis-Lilley, http://nymag.com/arts/books/bookclub/book-of-basketball/index12.html

Be strong in body, clean in mind, lofty in ideals. — Dr. James Naismith, Creator of Basketball

Beating a weaker player by a lot holds only a fraction of the joy that you get from beating an evenly matched player by the slimmest of margins. [...] Against Boston, I considered the night a great success if I scored 15 while Havlicek scored 25 and the Knicks won. — Bill Bradley, Values of the Game

Bouncing back from both victory and defeat requires a reservoir of self-knowledge. Making adjustments in your playing style is sometimes wise, but altering what you believe about the game in order to break a skid will never work. — Bill Bradley, Values of the Game

But after that [...] you don’t see a lot of real good fundamental play. You see a showboat-type basketball which is almost parallel to street basketball. — Oscar Robertson

But when I did it (the triple-double), I didn’t even know it until someone told me. — Oscar Robertson

But you’re not really in peak condition until you can cruise when others push. When your body is honed, you can run your opponents around and around, with little immediate purpose beyond tiring them out, making them angry, or distracting them from any defensive concentration. — Bill Bradley, Values of the Game

Champions aren’t made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them – a desire, a dream, a vision. — Muhammad Ali

Champions do not become champions when they win an event, but in the hours, weeks, and months, and years they spend preparing for it. The victorious performance itself is merely a demonstration of their championship character. — Michael Jordan

Championships are not won unless a team has forged a high degree of unity, attainable only through the selflessness of each of its players. — Bill Bradley, Values of the Game

Coaching is easy. Winning is the hard part. — Elgin Baylor

College coaches want to power the ball inside, they want (their post players) to power the ball up, but no one can shoot from that 15-foot area anymore. — Oscar Robertson

Concentration and mental toughness are the margins of victory. — Bill Russell

Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do. — John Wooden

Do your best when no one is looking. If you do that, then you can be successful in anything that you put your mind to. — Bob Cousy

Don’t ever underestimate the heart of a champion! — Rudy Tomjanovich

Don’t let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use. — Earl Nightingale

Don’t look back. Something might be gaining on you. — Michael Jordan

Don’t let what other people think decide who you are. — Dennis Rodman

Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction. — John F. Kennedy

Eminem. My son was listening to that and I was like, “What is that junk?” Then I started listening and I thought, You know, that kid is pretty good. It’s the storytelling. — Larry Bird, From Esquire Interview

Every time you compete, try harder to improve on your last performance. Give nothing short of your very best effort. — Elgin Baylor

Everybody on a championship team doesn’t get publicity, but everyone can say he’s a champion. — Magic Johnson

Everything happens for a reason. I’m used to it, I prepare for it. Like I say, at the end of the day, those in charge of their own destiny are going to do what’s right for them and their family. — Shaquille O’Neal

Everything negative – pressure, challenges – are all an opportunity for me to rise. — Kobe Bryant

For all the one-on-one stuff, basketball is indisputably about teams, not about individuals. Teams chew individuals up. Teams funnel individuals into the lane and collapse on them. — Dave Fromm, Expatriate Games, My Season of Misadventures in Szech Semi-Pro Basketball

Frequently, for the benefit of the team, you have to sacrifice what you would like to do on the court. Scoring 12 points a game and playing your role on a winning team is better than scoring 20 points a game on a losing team. For you to get those 20 points would require a change in team balance and make victory less likely. — Bill Bradley, Values of the Game

Fundamental preparation is always effective. Work on those parts of your game that are fundamentally weak. — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Giving ‘Magic’ the basketball is like giving Hitler an army, Jesse James a gang, or Genghis Khan a horse. — Jim Murray, about Earvin Magic Johnson

Goals achieved with little effort are seldom worthwhile or long lasting. — John Wooden

Goals determine what you’re going to be. — Julius Erving

Good decisions are the result of experience. Experience is the result of bad decisions. — An Old Saying

Great defense consists of 3 R’s: read, react, and rotate. — P. Carr

Great minds have purposes, Little minds have wishes. — Washington Irving

Great players and great teams want to be driven. They want to be pushed to the edge. They don’t want to be cheated. Ordinary players and average teams want it to be easy. — Pat Riley

I always got nervous before every game I ever played. Right up until game time. Horrible feeling. — Larry Bird, From Esquire Interview

I always talked to my players about today. It’s the only day that matters. — John Wooden

I am grateful for all my problems. After each one was overcome, I become stronger and more able to meet those that were still to come. I grew in all my difficulties. — J.C. Penney

I believe that good things come to those who work. — Wilt Chamberlain

I can teach you how to dribble, pass and shoot the right way, but I cannot make you do it the right way. — Jeff Tufford

I can’t stand a ballplayer who plays in fear. Any fellow who has a good shot has got to take it and keep taking it. So he misses – so what? — Red Auerbach

I could play basketball, with a consuming passion that would always exceed my limited talent. — Barack Obama

I don’t need too much. Glamor and all that stuff don’t excite me. I am just glad I have the game of basketball in my life. — LeBron James

I don’t recruit players who are nasty to their parents. I look for players who realize the world doesn’t revolve around them. — Pete Carill

I firmly believe that respect is a lot more important, and a lot greater, than popularity. — Julius Erving

I had endured six years of frustration so I think winning it all meant more to me than most of the others on the team. — Bob Cousy

I had to spend countless hours, above and beyond the basic time, to try and perfect the fundamentals. — Julius Erving

I hate it. It looks like a stickup at 7-Eleven. Five guys standing there with their hands in the air. — Norm Sloan, on zone defense

I have no individual goals. We play for one reason and that’s to win the title. Practice is more important than the games, and I will practice when I’m hurt, when 95 percent of the players in this league would sit out. I expect all of you to do the same thing. You will follow my lead. — Michael Jordan

I know I’m never as good or bad as one single performance. I’ve never believed in my critics or my worshippers, and I’ve always been able to leave the game at the arena. — Charles Barkley

I lick my fingers because I don’t like when my hands get slick. Licking my fingers helps me keep a good grip on the ball. — Steve Nash

I liked the game, I enjoyed the game, and the game fed me enough, and gave me enough rewards to reinforce that this is something that I should spend time doing, and that I could possibly make a priority in my life, versus other sports. — Julius Erving

I look at the NBA as a football game without the helmet. — Tom Tolbert

I love to see a team that’s ready when the opponent tries a full-court press. That readiness comes only with hours of practice in which each player knows where to go and what to do in order to break the opponent’s press. Picking it apart with precision passes and cuts often leads to easy baskets. It takes only a few such responses before the team that’s doing the pressing retreats from further embarrassment. — Bill Bradley, Values of the Game

I mean, sometimes I look to shoot threes, sometimes I don’t. It’s basically what the team needs and I think it’s just another added weapon, for not only my game, but our team. — Kevin Johnson

I never looked at the consequences of missing a big shot… when you think about the consequences you always think of a negative result. — Michael Jordan

I never played when I didn’t want to be the best out there every night. Not once. — Larry Bird, From Esquire Interview

I play to win, whether during practice or a real game. And I will not let anything get in the way of me and my competitive enthusiasm to win. — Michael Jordan

I played basketball to try to get my parents from working so hard. — James Worthy

I tell kids to pursue their basketball dreams, but I tell them to not let that be their only dream. — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

I thank my teammates for letting their men blow by them. — Alonzo Mourning, on winning the Defensive Player of the Year award

I think it’s imperative to follow your heart and choose a profession you’re passionate about, and if you haven’t found that ’spark’ yet, if you’re not sure what you want to do with your lives – be persistent until you do. — Steve Kerr

I think someone should explain to the child that it’s OK to make mistakes. That’s how we learn. When we compete, we make mistakes. — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

I think that the good and the great are only separated by the willingness to sacrifice. — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

I try to do the right thing at the right time. They may just be little things, but usually they make the difference between winning and losing. — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

I used to love the feeling of running, of running too far. It made my skin tingle. When I used to play, if I was in my room and I was on the road, I’d just go out for a run before games. In the city. Around the parking lot. On the track. I’d run around the top of the arena. Just something to keep me moving. A lot of players just couldn’t do that. It wore them out for the game. I always thought it was better to run. — Larry Bird, From Esquire Interview

I was a garbageman. I had no problem with that job. None. I’d go back and do it again if I had to. — Larry Bird, From Esquire Interview

I was a skinny, scrawny guy. I stuttered horrendously, couldn’t speak at all. I was a very shy, reserved player and a very shy, reserved person. I found a safe place in life in basketball. — Bill Walton

I wasn’t real quick, and I wasn’t real strong. Some guys will just take off and it’s like, whoa. So I beat them with my mind and my fundamentals. — Larry Bird, From Esquire Interview

I would tell players to relax and never think about what’s at stake. Just think about the basketball game. If you start to think about who is going to win the championship, you’ve lost your focus. — Michael Jordan

I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more luck I have. — Thomas Jefferson

I’ve always believed that if you put in the work, the results will come. I don’t do things half-heartedly. Because I know if I do, then I can expect half-hearted results. — Michael Jordan

I’ve got a theory that if you give 100 percent all of the time, somehow things will work out in the end. — Larry Bird

I’ve learned I can’t help the team sitting on the bench. — Wilt Chamberlain, on why he never fouled out of an NBA game

I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. — Michael Jordan

If I have a choice whether to do the show or throw a straight pass, and we’re going to get the basket either way, I’m going to do the show. — Pete Maravich

If somebody says no to you, or if you get cut, Michael Jordan was cut his first year, but he came back and he was the best ever. That is what you have to have. The attitude that I’m going to show everybody, I’m going to work hard to get better and better. — Magic Johnson

If you are afraid of failure you don’t deserve to be successful! — Charles Barkley

If you get depressed about being the second-best team in the world, then you’ve got a problem. — Julius Erving

If you really want to be good at something, you have to bathe yourself in it. — Ed Slott, C.P.A., IRA expert and author of “The Retirement Savings Timebomb…and How to Diffuse It”, from CNNMoney.com

If you think small things don’t matter, think of the last game you lost by one point. — Unknown Author

If you’re a shooter and you start missing, you have to keep taking your open shots. This is no small thing. — Bill Bradley, Values of the Game

In 1997, Michael Jordan was running a fever of 102 in the fifth game of the finals against the Utah Jazz, but he played anyway. He wasn’t afraid of looking bad because of a below-par performance. He wasn’t afraid of permanent damage to his health. — Bill Bradley, Values of the Game

In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless but planning is indispensable. — Dwight D. Eisenhover

In the right player-coach relationship, a quiet “well done” can go a long way. (As Mark Twain said, “Most of us can run pretty well all day long on one compliment.”) — Bill Bradley, Values of the Game

It doesn’t matter who scores the points, it’s who can get the ball to the scorer. — Larry Bird

It is most difficult, in my mind, to separate any success, whether it be in your profession, your family, or as in my case, in basketball, from religion. — John Wooden

It is not how big you are, it is how big you play. — Unknown Author

It is not the strength of your muscles, nor the length of you arms, but the size of your heart. — Unknown Author

It takes real character to derive enjoyment from the pass that leads to the pass that leads to the basket. — Bill Bradley, Values of the Game

It’s been a journey, the NBA. It’s taken me a lot farther than I ever expected. — Larry Bird, From Esquire Interview

It’s hard when your father’s the coach. Sometimes you don’t know where one leaves off and the other begins. — Pete Maravich

It’s not the hours you put in, it’s what you put in the hours. — Unknown Author

It’s what you learn, after you know it all, that counts. — John Wooden

It’s what you get from games you lose that is extremely important. — Pat Riley

Kids are great. That’s one of the best things about our business, all the kids you get to meet. It’s a shame they have to grow up to be regular people and come to the games and call you names. — Charles Barkley

Leaders are like eagles – they don’t flock. You find them one at a time. — Knute Rockne

Leadership is diving for a loose ball, getting the crowd involved, getting other players involved. It’s being able to take it as well as dish it out. That’s the only way you’re going to get respect from the players. — Larry Bird

Leadership is diving for a loose ball, getting the crowd involved, getting other players involved. It’s being able to take it as well as dish it out. That’s the only way you’re going to get respect from the players. — Larry Bird

Leadership is getting players to believe in you. If you tell a teammate you’re ready to play as tough as you’re able to, you’d better go out there and do it. Players will see right through a phony. And they can tell when you’re not giving it all you’ve got. — Larry Bird

Leadership means getting people to think, believe, see, and do what they might not have without you. It means possessing the vision to set the right goal and the decisiveness to pursue it single-mindedly. — Bill Bradley, Values of the Game

Learning the discipline it takes to succeed in basketball teaches a fine appreciation for how hard you have to work. The difficulty of preparation contributes to the sense of triumph. As Lao-tzu put it, “Mastery of others is strength; mastery of yourself is true power.” When you overcome adversity with self-discipline and you win a hard-fought battle, the elation explodes. There are few things in life better than that. — Bill Bradley, Values of the Game

Look, I think you should promote the game, but I think you should make it what it ought to be. Not some kind of a side-show. — Oscar Robertson

Love never fails; Character never quits; and with patience and persistence; Dreams do come true. — Pete Maravich

Luck is when preparedness meets opportunity. — Earl Nightingale

Many people think sports are totally physical, that you don’t have to think, everything is done for you and you’re catered to, I found that to be so far removed from the truth that it’s almost a joke. The ones who become stars are the ones who have a head on their shoulders and know how to use it. — Julius Erving

Me shooting 40% at the foul line is just God’s way to say nobody’s perfect. — Shaquille O’Neal

Michael, if you can’t pass, you can’t play. — Coach Dean Smith, to Michael Jordan (when he was at University of North Carolina)

Most of my learning and philosophy regarding coaching basketball was developed after great frustration. — Dick Bennett

Motivation is a fire from within. If someone else tries to light that fire under you, chances are it will burn very briefly. — Stephen R. Covey

Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going. — Unknown Author

My attitude is that if you push me towards something that you think is a weakness, then I will turn that perceived weakness into a strength. — Michael Jordan

My biggest thrill came the night Elgin Baylor and I combined for 73 points at Madison Square Garden. Elgin had 71 of them. — Hot Rod Hundley

My body could stand the crutches but my mind couldn’t stand the sideline. — Michael Jordan

My ideal day would be to get a good work out in, listen to music, talk to my family and friends on the phone, read and go to a good movie. — Steve Nash

My parents are my backbone. Still are. They’re the only group that will support you if you score zero or you score 40. — Kobe Bryant

Never let your head hang down. Never give up and sit down and grieve. Find another way. And don’t pray when it rains if you don’t pray when the sun shines. — Leroy ‘Satchel’ Paige

Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit… The potential for greatness lives within each of us. — Wilma Rudolph

No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit. — Helen Keller

Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted. — Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Not only do I admire Jordan’s accomplishments and his phenomenal basketball ability, but also the way he has conducted himself on and off the court. I don’t think there will ever be another player to have the same impact on the game of basketball as Michael Jordan. — Elgin Baylor

Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude. — Thomas Jefferson

Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it. — Michael Jordan

Offense is spacing and spacing is offense. — Chuck Daly

On offense, there are three unselfish team actions that make all the difference: passing, screening, moving without the ball. — Bill Bradley, Values of the Game

Once you are labeled the best you want to stay up there, and you can’t do it by loafing around. If I don’t keep changing. I’m history. — Larry Bird

One of the things in the back of my mind is that, after my sports experience, I never want to be, totally consumed by any one endeavor, other than my family life. — Julius Erving

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. — T.S. Eliot

Oscar Robertson, one of the all-time great NBA stars, once told me that the mark of a truly excellent player is that he makes the worst player on his team into a good one. — Bill Bradley, Values of the Game

People have always doubted whether I was good enough to play this game at this level. I thought I was, and I thought I could be. What other people thought was really always irrelevant to me. — Steve Nash

People have always doubted whether I was good enough to play this game at this level. I thought I was, and I thought I could be. What other people thought was really always irrelevant to me. — Steve Nash

Pete Carril of Princeton tells a story from his childhood that every college athlete should ponder. Carril’s father worked in an open-hearth steel mill in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Every morning before he left for work and Pete and his sister for school, he’d turn to them at the breakfast table and say, “In this life, the big strong guys are always taking from the smaller, weaker guys but… the smart take from the strong.” — Bill Bradley, Values of the Game

Pressure can burst a pipe, or pressure can make a diamond. — Robert Horry

Push yourself again and again. Don’t give an inch until the final buzzer sounds. — Larry Bird

Putting out someone else’s candle doesn’t make yours burn any brighter. — Unknown Author

Right up until the time I retired at age 37, I felt like there were still things that I could do better. — Julius Erving

Rudyard Kipling told us to ‘meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two impostors just the same.’ — Bill Bradley, Values of the Game

So much of becoming a good athlete involves bringing other things to the table, other than physical skills. It involves intelligence, it involves many of the things that you learn during the process of being educated. How to analyze, how to assess, how to equate, how to reason. — Julius Erving

Sometimes a player’s greatest challenge is coming to grips with his role on the team. — Scottie Pippen

Sometimes players neglect this wider off-court obligation and focus only on themselves. By the time these players are ready to retire, they have little identity broader than their eroding skills. When the post-basketball world puts new demands on their character, they find that the worth of their basketball career begins to disappear behind them like foot-prints in a desert windstorm. — Bill Bradley, Values of the Game

Statistics don’t always measure teamwork; holding the person you’re guarding scoreless doesn’t show up in your stats. — Bill Bradley, Values of the Game

Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships. — Michael Jordan

Teamwork: The fuel that produces uncommon results in common people. — Unknown Author

Ten years from now I won’t remember how many points I had each game, or how many newspaper articles had my name in them, or how many minutes I played. I will, however, remember that I was part of something larger than myself, and that I was part of something I helped make successful, because I was part of a team. — Unknown Author

That was just my own personal program: I didn’t want to get too high over the good moments because I didn’t want to be saddened and depressed when things didn’t go as I had planned. — Julius Erving

The best teams have chemistry. They communicate with each other and they sacrifice personal glory for the common goal. — Dave DeBusschere

The best way to play defense is to work on the offensive players confidence. — Bill Russell

The biggest difference is in the leadership. It was better for us. We had more coaches and mentors to help us. A lot of the younger players today suffer from a lack of direction. — Isiah Thomas

The biggest failure of all is the person that never tries. — Dr. Larry Kimsey

The business always gets in the way of basketball. — Jason Kidd

The constant expansion has diluted the talent. Other than that, it’s still the same game. — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

The extra pass and the extra effort on defense always get the job done. — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

The game is my wife. It demands loyalty and responsibility, and it gives me back fulfillment and peace. — Michael Jordan

The guy said NBA players are one in a million, … I said, ‘Man, look, I’m going to be that one in a million.’ — Kobe Bryant

The harder you fall down, the higher you will bounce back up. — Unknown Author

The idea is not to block every shot. The idea is to make your opponent believe that you might block every shot. — Bill Russell

The invention of basketball was not an accident. It was developed to meet a need. Those boys (football players) simply would not play ‘Drop the Handkerchief.’ — Dr. James Naismith, Creator of Basketball

The key to being a good shooter is balance. Everything follows balance. — Larry Bird, From Esquire Interview

The NBA wasn’t a big deal at that time, so it wasn’t really in my career plans. — Bob Cousy

The NBA’s chosen ones think I’m setting a bad example? I think they need to look around and stop taking themselves so seriously. — Dennis Rodman

The one thing I do that nobody else does is jump three and four times for one rebound. — Dennis Rodman

The only difference between a good shot and a bad shot is if it goes in or not. — Charles Barkley

The only important shot you take is the next one. Because no matter how hard you try, that is the only one you can still have an effect on! — Jason Bumblis

The only time I’d played organized basketball was my sophomore year in high school, when I barely made the junior varsity team. — Dennis Rodman

The person who sends out positive thoughts activates the world around him positively and draws back to himself positive results. — Norman Vincent Peale

The right path is really very simple: Give respect to teammates of different race, treat them fairly, disagree with them honestly, enjoy their friendship, explore your common humanity, share your thoughts about one another candidly, work together for a common goal, help one another achieve it. No destructive lies. No ridiculous fears. No debilitating anger. — Bill Bradley, Values of the Game

The rule was ‘No autopsy, no foul.’ — Stewart Granger, on the pickup games of his childhood

The three things that really come to mind for me are the relationships and the camaraderie that you have with your teammates when there’s guys on the team that you enjoy being with, enjoy their presence and their company. You can’t replace that. — Kevin Johnson

The time when there is no one there to feel sorry for you or to cheer for you is when a player is made. — Tim Duncan

The time will come when winter will ask what you were doing all summer. — Henry Clay, American Statesman

The triple-double is just a stat. It’s a test of your strength and stamina and playing ability, really. — Oscar Robertson

There is a lot of pressure put on me, but I don’t put a lot of pressure on myself. I feel if I play my game, it will take care of itself. — LeBron James

There is no ‘I’ in team but there is in win. — Michael Jordan

There is no limit to what can be accomplished when no one cares who gets the credit. — John Wooden

There is nothing more important than rebounding… don’t just give it lip service. — Don Meyer

There is nothing wrong with dedication and goals, but if you focus on yourself, all the lights fade away and you become a fleeting moment in life. — Pete Maravich

There may be people that have more talent than you, but there’s no excuse for anyone to work harder than you do. — Derek Jeter

There was nothing natural about my jumping ability; it was ‘natural’ after I spent six hours a day working on it. I had so many exercises to improve the strength of my legs: sprinting, jump rope, squats, wearing ankle weights two or three days at a time and jumping rope with those ankle weights. I did all that for a 10-year period of time, and during that time I became a pretty good jumper. — Clyde Drexler

There’s so many young peoople who start to play basketball and never learn the fundamentals. — Oscar Robertson

There’s the typical books, Moby Dick and, I guess in my adult life I began to read biographies more than fiction. I started to want to relate to other people’s lives, things that had really happened. — Julius Erving

These are my new shoes. They’re good shoes. They won’t make you rich like me, they won’t make you rebound like me, they definitely won’t make you handsome like me. They’ll only make you have shoes like me. That’s it. — Charles Barkley, commercial for basketball shoes, 1993

These days I smile benignly at the fights that I see in NBA games. There aren’t any broken noses or black eyes, which happened quite often when I played. — Bob Cousy

They should have a rule: in order to be a sportswriter, you have to have played that sport, at some level; high school, college, junior college, somewhere. Or, you should have had to have been around the game for a long time. — Oscar Robertson

This life is like a swimming pool. You dive into the water, but you can’t see how deep it is. — Dennis Rodman

Those who have invested the most are the last to surrender. — Unknown Author

To be successful you have to be selfish, or else you never achieve. And once you get to your highest level, then you have to be unselfish. Stay reachable. Stay in touch. Don’t isolate. — Michael Jordan

To play the game is great, to win the game is greater, but to love the game is the greatest of all. — Unknown Author

Too much coffee. Too much coffee and Gatorade. It’s a hell of a mix. If you’re ever tired in the morning, just try that mix, and tell me what you think. — Kevin Garnett

Usually, the problem on a team is not the one great player trying to shoulder the entire load but the average-to-good player trying to get attention. You see it in high school games, even in college. Most kids want to shoot; not many want to pass. Too few see selflessness as a goal. — Bill Bradley, Values of the Game

Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win. — Sun Tzu (The Art of War)

Victory is the more subtle impostor. When you begin to expect it as a continuum instead of seeing it as a reward that has to be fought for, you’re in trouble. Julius Erving once said that sustaining focus after a failure isn’t a problem – indeed, it might even sharpen your alertness because you’d be intent on making up for the mistake. — Bill Bradley, Values of the Game

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit. — Aristotle

We can’t win at home and we can’t win on the road. My problem as general manager is I can’t think of another place to play. — Pat Williams

We didn’t lose the game; we just ran out of time. — Michael Jordan

We have a great bunch of outside shooters. Unfortunately, all our games are played indoors. — Weldon Drew

We know that in order for us to turn this around, it doesn’t matter how many coaches they bring in here, assistants, weight trainers, whoever, we’re the ones that are going to have turn it around. And I think just took that responsibility on ourselves. — Kevin Garnett

We lived in Yorkville, which is located on the East End of Manhattan. It’s further east than Hell’s Kitchen, and back then it was the kind of place where the roaches and cockroaches were big enough to carry away small children. — Bob Cousy

We were able to get after the rebounds. We were able to control the paint. We were able to be physical down there. — Bill Laimbeer

We’re just going to come out and play. We know that we’re supposed to win all the games, but if we don’t, we just have to take the next game and focus on what we did wrong in the game before and just try to do better at the next game. — Shaquille O’Neal

What you are as a person is far more important than what you are as a basketball player. — John Wooden

When a reporter asked the English runner David Moorcroft why he had never dropped out of a race even in the worst of circumstances, he replied, ‘I think that once you do, you’ve given yourself an option for the future.’ — Bill Bradley, Values of the Game

When all the money is on the line, a brave player wants the ball. He is willing to stare defeat down. His confidence builds with the pressure. The standing joke on many teams is about the scorer who wants the ball for three quarters but can’t be found at crunch time. Technically his shooting is perfect, but his fear of failure is too great. — Bill Bradley, Values of the Game

When I dunk, I put something on it. I want the ball to hit the floor before I do. — Darryl Dawkins

When I had troubles, I’d go out—with basketball. You can do it by yourself, too. So you’d go out and shoot, and you’d fantasize. — Mike Krzyzewski, Duke University Head Coach

When I look at the system here and look at my position – not just as a basketball player, but when I look around me at the values of the people and the culture and compare them with the values of where I came from – I feel so blessed to be from Africa. — Hakeem Olajuwon

When I played with Michael Jordan on the Olympic team, there was a huge gap between his ability and the ability of the other great players on that team. But what impressed me was that he was always the first one on the floor and the last one to leave. — Steve Alford

When I started playing, I wasn’t fast, I was gangly, my jumpshot was terrible. — Oscar Robertson

When I was a kid, I never thought about anything. Never had to think about where I was going to school or what I was going to do. I just lived minute to minute. If I was playing basketball and someone said, Let’s go to the baseball field, we would go. Never had a vacation. We never had the funds. Being outside, that was my vacation. — Larry Bird, From Esquire Interview

When I was a little kid I used to play with guys twice my age, so, I was the last one picked, so if I picked I knew that I had to get the ball to the scorer if I wanted to stay on the court, so that was pretty much my job. — Jason Kidd

When I was young, I never wanted to leave the court until I got things exactly correct. — Larry Bird

When I went to Catholic high school in Philadelphia, we just had one coach for football and basketball. He took all of us who turned out and had us run through a forest. The ones who ran into the trees were on the football team. — George Raveling

When I went to college, I went from six six to six nine. If I had been six five, I never would have been in the league. That four inches made all the difference. — Larry Bird, From Esquire Interview

When it’s played the way is spozed to be played, basketball happens in the air; flying, floating, elevated above the floor, levitating the way oppressed peoples of this earth imagine themselves in their dreams. — John Edgar Wideman, Novelist and Educator

When you get to that level, it’s not a matter of talent anymore – because all the players are so talented – it’s about preparation, about playing smart and making good decisions. — Hakeem Olajuwon

When you go into a game on offense, you make a couple moves and see what the defender is going to do. Then you pretty much can figure out what he is going to do against you – whether he carries his hands low or high, whether he is bumping or pushing, those type of things. — Oscar Robertson

While day by day the overzealous student stores up facts for future use, he who has learned to trust nature finds need for ever fewer external directions. He will discard formula after formula, until he reaches the conclusion: Let nature take its course. — Larry Bird

Who do I think was the greatest? This might shock you: Elgin Baylor.” He did so many great things. Nobody could guard him, playing in the forward spot. I’d love to see some of today’s greats playing against Elgin. They couldn’t guard him. Nobody could. — Oscar Robertson

Winning is like deodorant – it comes up and a lot of things don’t stink. — Doc Rivers

You always have to be on edge. You always have to take every practice, every game, like it is your last. — Kobe Bryant

You can practice shooting eight hours a day, but if your technique is wrong, then all you become is very good at shooting the wrong way. Get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise. — Michael Jordan

You can run a lot of plays when your X is twice as big as the other guys’ O. It makes your X’s and O’s pretty good. — Paul Westphal

You can’t get much done in life if you work only on the days when you feel good. — Jerry West

You can’t make a great play unless you do it first in practice. — Chuck Noll

You don’t play against opponents. You play against the game of basketball. — Bobby Knight

You have to take it personal if people are scoring on you. You can’t accept mistakes and you have to be able to accept criticism. As an individual and a team, you have to take the challenge. — Richard Jefferson, NBA Player

You have to teach now – tell a kid how to box out, tell him how to pass, teach him footwork. Players don’t understand that anymore. — Oscar Robertson

You look at today, it’s a different situation. You have a game that has been transformed into a game where almost every shot is either an outside shot – a three-point shot – or a dunk. — Oscar Robertson

You need a teaching coach who understands the game of basketball, not just some guy coming on the court talking about Xs and Os. — Oscar Robertson

You never make any of the shots you never take. 87% of the ones you do take, you’ll miss too. I make 110% of my shots. — Larry Bird

You should sub a player out when you see a player not going full-speed or playing selfish basketball. — Dean Smith

You’ve got to learn the footwork, the positioning, how to box out, how to pass, how to shoot your free throws. All these things are necessary, not to be the No. 1 player in the world, but maybe you can play against him. — Oscar Robertson