Good Basketball Quotes

#1. Everyone is gonna have a bad day, everyone is gonna have a bad game. The questions are: How do you recover? What builds your character? I decided one day early on in high school that I wanted to be great at basketball, not just a good basketball player.

Gilbert Arenas

#2. The 76ers currently play very good basketball, and we don't. However, we are still only one win behind them. If we continue to improve, we should be on the top of our division at the end of the regular season.

Jason Kidd

#3. If all I'm remembered for is being a good basketball player, then I've done a bad job with the rest of my life.

Isaiah Thomas

#4. People will think there are no other great ballplayers. Look at Garnett. Look at Duncan, Shaq, Kobe. Look at the players with Sacramento. The have a really good basketball team.

Oscar Robertson

#5. Adam [Sandler] is a good basketball player, so he is a natural athlete, he worked with Sean Salisbury to make his footwork and delivery smooth, and he did a great job.

Bill Goldberg

#6. Once you become a good person, then you have a chance of becoming a good basketball player.

John Wooden

#7. Good basketball always starts with good defense!

Bobby Knight

#8. This team is one execution away from being a very good basketball team.

Doc Rivers

#9. You know, I'm just 6'9 and 260. And just so happen to be very good at playing the game of basketball.

LeBron James

#10. 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

#11. Working hard is one thing, but working hard with purpose is what separates the good from the great

Thad Matta

#12. If you are a good team, your offense is born on the defensive end.

Don Meyer

#13. It feels good to come here and be a winning program.

Kevin Durant

#14. My dad taught me that you have to work hard for anything you want in life, and I wanted to be good at playing basketball.

Seimone Augustus

#15. I love that basketball gives me the opportunities to do good things for people and to point them towards the Man who died for our sins on the cross,

Stephen Curry

#16. The difference between a good defensive team and a bad defensive team is as little as three possessions

Brad Stevens

#17. We didnt come out with any energy. We know were not good enough to let the game come to us. We have to come with high energy, play hard team basketball and do everything the right way. Coming into the season, we all knew we didnt have too much room for error.

Chris Bosh

#18. I've never been afraid of big moments. I get butterflies.. I get nervous and anxious, but I think those are all good signs that I'm ready for the moment.

Stephen Curry

#19. If a player leaves Marquette and doesn't have some of my blood in him, then I don't think I've done a good job.

Al McGuire

#20. 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

#21. It's his show and I'm just trying to make him look good. If we were the same age there might be a little tension, but I'm on my way out ... I am here to serve your every need, King James.

Shaquille O'Neal

#22. Just because I had a good game doesn't change who I am,
my identity is in Christ and not in basketball, I love playing basketball and it's my job but at the same time I recognize that I'm a sinner and that's not gonna change regardless of how well I play on the court

Jeremy Lin

#23. I know that once I get a good rhythm and a good feel, no one can stop me.

John Starks

#24. You like that analogy? That was pretty good?

Shaquille O'Neal

#25. Umm - it was - you know - umm - a good game. You know.

Patrick Ewing

#26. No matter how good you are, at top pf your game, always remember that you're a half a step away from the street.

Hubie Brown

#27. The players I respected most were the toughest players, not those who talked a good game or blocked a shot and acted like a fool.

Jay Bilas

#28. I think leadership is never singular. In a good organization, it's plural.

Mike Krzyzewski

#29. No matter how good you get, there's always something further out there.

Bill Walton

#30. Basketball is my refuge, my sanctuary. I go back to being a kid on the playground. When I get here, it's all good.

Kobe Bryant

#31. I'm very good at noticing talent. I knew he was special then and obviously he is now.

LeBron James

#32. You have to have a mentality. This is a business. This ain't hanging out having a good time

Tom Thibodeau

#33. Madonna wasn't an acrobat or anything, but the sex was good. I could tell she liked it.

Dennis Rodman

#34. My sporting hero was Drazen Petrovic, the NBA basketball player, who was killed in a car accident in 1993. He was a good friend, an unbelievable player, and I dedicated my Wimbledon win to him.

Goran Ivanisevic

#35. We all have various ways of dropping in and getting connected to ourselves. For one person it might be playing basketball. It's a good way to get in touch with how they feel. For somebody else, it might be taking a walk.

Deborah King

#36. I wasn't a bad basketball player, but I was far from the world's greatest. Good defense, no offense - that was me.

Chuck Connors

#37. People want to be on a team. They want to be part of something bigger than themselves. They want to be in a situation where they feel that they are doing something for the greater good.

Mike Krzyzewski

#38. Self-esteem is directly linked to deserving success. You must deserve victory to feel good about yourself.

Rick Pitino

#39. When I first came in, I partied and had a good time. I used to spend $500,000 on chains that don't make no sense. Then I started having babies. I don't do the bull**** no more.

Shaquille O'Neal

#40. When I went blind at 13, I realized that I wasn't going to be a good baseball or basketball player like I enjoyed before. It forced me to look beyond the obvious, to things that I could still do well.

Erik Weihenmayer

#41. You started rapping when you wasn't good at basketball. I started rapping because I needed Adderall.

Donald Glover

#42. But basketball was always something I was good at, that I was passionate about. I just didn't have the confidence to play in front of people at the time, at that early age. Now, I feel like I'm ready to play in front of people and play on the big stage.

Lil B

#43. Defense is all about helping. No one can guard a good dribbler, You have to walk kids through how to help and then how to help the helper

Bobby Knight

#44. Magic Johnson, former basketball player, may run for mayor of L.A. in the next election. Remember the good 'ol days when only qualified people ran for office like actors and professional wrestlers.

Jay Leno

#45. I expect us to be good; very good. I expect us to first and foremost be better than we were last year and get back to having this franchise as one of the premier franchises on and off the court, and I think we have the opportunity to do that this upcoming season. I really believe that.

Grant Hill

#46. Good shooters take the shots; best shooters take most of the shots.

Don Meyer

#47. On good teams coaches hold players accountable, on great teams players hold players accountable

Joe Dumars

#48. I tried golf for a while, but I wasn't very good at it, so I didn't play a lot of golf. I enjoy all sports, not just football. I like basketball, baseball, and I got into the World Cup. So really, sports in general are my life, and football specifically.

John Madden

#49. Basketball also helps you learn to move your feet by playing defense and guarding guys, and that all carries over to playing football with staying square and having good footwork.

Calvin Pryor

#50. It's going to be crazy. All eight teams here are good teams. Hopefully the atmosphere will be great because it's going to be great basketball.

Chris Kraus

#51. I didn't expect this award [the 2008 MVP] would come to me. I'm surprised. I've played pretty well in other seasons. Our team hasn't been as good. Things just fell into place.

Kobe Bryant

#52. You know what I always say about basketball whenever anybody tried to tell me the Knicks are gonna be good: They're old. Old people don't get healthy. They die.

Charles Barkley

#53. It's my job to make him look good. He's a very good looking man, so it's my job to keep him looking good.

Shaquille O'Neal

#54. I like the first-person games, but I like the two-person element in terms of playing basketball games with my friends. That's a good time; we have tournaments and things.

Kevin Weisman

#55. If the waitress has dirty ankles, the chili is good.

Al McGuire

#56. Good people are happy when something good happens to someone else.

Dean Smith

#57. I made my first mix tape when I was 14. I used to play basketball and ride bikes, but I think I just latched onto music because I figured I could be really good at it on my own.

Wiz Khalifa

#58. A big market is something that doesn't really concern me too much. It's cool to think about, it's good for off-the-court deals. But I'm more of a basketball player. That's what I want to be known as. And this is the best place for me to play basketball. I'm glad I'm here.

Kevin Durant

#59. I think I started learning lessons about being a good person long before I ever knew what basketball was. And that starts in the home, it starts with the parental influence.

Julius Erving

#60. The NBA is all about winning, but at this level (college basketball) winning doesn't make you happy. You can win, and play lousy, and in my program, feel lousy. To me it's about: How good can we be.

Geno Auriemma

#61. The LA Lakers are so good they could run a fast break with a medicine ball.

Rich Donnelly

#62. I have a lot left. There's only four or five good centers in the league and I'm in that number ... I've been in it for 17 years but I've missed three years because of injury. If you do the math, I've still got three years left. You got that?

Shaquille O'Neal

#63. I'm a lot better coach when I have really good players

Chuck Daly

#64. We have a simple rule for switching. Anytime there is movement over the top of a screen, there has to be an automatic switch. If a blind pick is set on one of our defensive players, there has to be a switch. To play good pressure defense, you have to use the switch.

Ralph Miller

#65. The cast gets along pretty well, it's a good work environment. I hang out a lot with Brett Claywell, he plays Tim Smith on the show. We play plenty of basketball.

James Lafferty

#66. Good players can take coaching; great players can take coaching and learn.

John Wooden

#67. If you play good attack, you win the game, but, if you play good defence you win championships

Zeljko Obradovic

#68. A lot of times things get blown out of proportion in a negative light, especially in the NBA, ... But there are a lot of players in the NBA who really care about the community and want to use their basketball-playing ability for a good cause.

Kobe Bryant

#69. It was what made him good at team sports: soccer, basketball, politics. Miller

James S.A. Corey

#70. It's good that I put my personal ego aside. My basketball ego was, 'Why we negotiating?' But my personal ego didn't take it personal. I put my personal ego aside a little bit.

Lamar Odom

#71. When you think about what the odds are to have four boys to not only be able to follow in the footsteps in a basketball career but to also be good in the secondary career as far as the broadcasting, it's pretty remarkable.

Rick Barry

#72. Something I like to do a lot is just sit by water when there's a current and just stare into the water. I don't fish, I don't hunt, I don't scuba, I don't spear, don't boat, don't play basketball or football - I excel at staring into space. I'm really good at that.

Iggy Pop

#73. It is not overwhelmingly difficult for a committed group of players with only average individual basketball skills to put together a very good team defense.

Del Harris

#74. Go from good to great because good is the enemy of great.

Don Meyer

#75. We don't do things we aren't good at by nature. I wouldn't play basketball because I'm only 5' 1. Find what you enjoy - whether it's racing, flying a helicopter, being a doctor, or stitching clothes together. Once you've done that, you have the passion you need.

Danica Patrick

#76. I have zero hand-eye coordination - zero - so I've never been good at softball, basketball, golf, things like that, but I'm really strong and I have really good endurance so I can go forever - I'm a tough girl.

Brooklyn Decker

#77. Winning is more related to good defense than good offense

Jack Ramsay

#78. Basketball is a game of sacrificing yourself for the next guy, being a team that takes good shots, and taking the right shots

David Blatt

#79. I'm a firm believer in quiet confidence. By that I mean knowing inwardly that you are good, and not exhibiting a boastful attitude outwardly. If an athlete doesn't believe in himself, no one else will.

Dick Van Arsdale

#80. The beautiful thing about the game of golf is you can play good golf and compete well into your later years, and you can't do this in basketball or football or baseball. But in golf, it's a longer live sport.

Tom Watson

#81. With basketball, if a guy is having an off night you still can say he's a good athlete. But with a comedian, you see them in front of the wrong audience - and they can look like complete amateurs. It's remarkable.

Gary Gulman

#82. That's why basketball was so good, because I didn't really need you or anyone else to play it. It would be better if we played four-on-four or five-on-five, but I could go out there alone.

Mike Krzyzewski

#83. The most important thing in good leadership is truly caring.

Dean Smith

#84. Basketball Rule #6
A great team
has a good scorer
with a teammate
who's on point
and ready
to assist.

Kwame Alexander

#85. Good defensive play is as much a matter of hustle, desire and pride as it is anything else.

Tex Winter

#86. If they are the league ain't doing a good job of it.

LeBron James

#87. She is a good girl," Park said. "You don't even know her."
His dad was standing, pushing Park toward the door. "Go," he said sternly. "Go play basketball or something."
"Good girls don't dress like boys," his mother said.

Rainbow Rowell

#88. A player's ability to rebound is inversely proportional to the distance between where he was born and the nearest railroad tracks. The greater distance you live from the poor side of the railroad tracks, the less likely that you will be a good rebounder.

Pete Carril

#89. I felt I was good in basketball but I wasn't a blue-chip prospect.

Derrek Lee

#90. I know I'm a good person. I know I can play basketball.

Jermaine O'Neal

#91. I'm just so excited. We all are. We've been waiting for this [the gold medal] for years now and it's finally here. This meant so much. It just felt so good.

Kobe Bryant

#92. My idol when I was growing up was Michael Jordan the basketball player because of his work ethic rather than his talent and because of what he went through to be as good as he was.

Justin Timberlake

#93. As a good player in the inner city, you're always hearing people saying that you're better than you really are and that you don't have to do things like everybody else.

Carmelo Anthony

#94. I would never do 'Dancing With The Stars,' because it's just not fair. I am too good of a dancer. It would be like LeBron James playing little league basketball.

Terry Crews

#95. The biggest thing that I felt basketball could do for me was help me get a good education.

Julius Erving

#96. Why do you play a game? I play a game to see how good we can be.

Mike Krzyzewski

#97. It feels good. It's not bad for somebody who can't shoot.

Shaquille O'Neal

#98. A good coach improves your game. A great coach improves your life.

Michael Josephson

#99. Good teams become great ones when the members trust each other enough to surrender the Me for the We.

Phil Jackson

#100. I played varsity on all of them for four years. I'm 5'9 and that's not that tall for a center so I was a forward. I loved playing volleyball and basketball and track I was good at, but it stressed me out.

Bridgette Wilson