Quotes About Basketball Player

#1. If I don't get five [titles], I won't be happy with myself as a basketball player. I don't know how you guys will feel about me.

Shaquille O'Neal

#2. Sometimes a player's greatest challenge is coming to grips with his role on the team.

Scottie Pippen

#3. It's easier to date a football player for sure. Football players have one game a week, and they practice every day, but they're all at home. In basketball, they're on the road all the time.

Khloe Kardashian

#4. Do your best when no one is looking.

Bob Cousy

#5. I have my own identity as a player.

Carmelo Anthony

#6. He credited his teammates, who he thanked in turn, with challenging him every day and driving him forward and making him a better player.

Stephen Curry

#7. I think I've gotten more attention after the Olympics than any other U.S. athlete, and it's really great that people are recognizing who I am and what I do. You look at Shaq and you see a basketball player. You look at Tiger Woods and you see a golfer. But people are responding to who I am.

Johnny Weir

#8. For a college basketball player or coach, to reach the Final Four is la-la land. You've achieved, you've got your stamp of approval. My first team to do that was in 1986. Then we did it in '88, '89 and '90.

Mike Krzyzewski

#9. 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

#10. I loved the glamour and excitement of the games and, in particular, knowing the names of each and every one of the referees - that's because my mom, a former basketball player, would yell at them from our front-row seats for making bad calls!

Hannah Storm

#11. In basketball, you can be the greatest individual player in the world and still lose every game, because a team will always beat an individual.

Bill Walton

#12. You don't get respect for being an Asian-American basketball player in the U.S.

Jeremy Lin

#13. A football player is often bigger than a basketball player - more massive, that is. The basketball player is taller and more slender. So it is with redwoods. The tallest redwoods are often slender, and so they aren't the largest ones.

Richard Preston

#14. My mom always tells me that ... Nobody is going to remember you for the great basketball player you are but they will remember you for the character you have off the court and how many lives you're changed.

Isaiah Austin

#15. I played when I played, and played, I think, against the greatest players in the greatest time in the history of basketball.

Oscar Robertson

#16. I was actually supposed to be a basketball player, not an actress. My parents had me playing basketball on competitive teams when I was in kindergarten. Even though my heart belongs to the arts, I'm a tomboy at heart, too.

Zendaya

#17. People are much more loose if you are having fun. I had a basketball player who was really soft-spoken, and then we played Connect Four with him, and he really opened up!

Hannah Storm

#18. I'm playing against great players, playing against the best in the world. The competition-that's what I've always wanted.

Kobe Bryant

#19. Magic Johnson is the best player who plays on the ground, and Michael Jordan is the best player who plays in the air.

John Paxson

#20. Few players have cast a spell across the game like Yao Ming, before or since.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

#21. Everywhere I've been, I've been the best player. I love being a leader, and I love being the best. I just want to get better. It's not about being cocky or selfish or anything like that. It's just how I am.

LeBron James

#22. I started out as a football player. I liked to inflict pain. In basketball, it was the same thing.

Shaquille O'Neal

#23. One score makes happy ONE player, one assist makes happy TWO.

Toni Kukoc

#24. I think coaches sometimes foul their own players out of game by benching them too long when in foul trouble

Jeff Van Gundy

#25. The more your players have to think on the basketball court, the slower their feet get.

Jerry Tarkanian

#26. The coach's job is to be part servant in helping each player reach his goals within the team concept.

Dean Smith

#27. I'm a basketball player, not a monk.

Marvin Barnes

#28. If I'd gone straight to the NBA, I don't think I would have been ready as a player or a person.

Kevin Durant

#29. My goal was just to try and be the best player on my high school team, and look where I am now. And that was still my goal as a young kid, just to try and be a little better than my brother was.

Larry Bird

#30. I wasn't as critical during games as I was at practice. Players needed confidence during games more than criticism.

Dean Smith

#31. Only run special plays for special players; find plays that fit your players.

Don Meyer

#32. 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

#33. Players must do what you want them to do in pressure situations.

Don Meyer

#34. I was a better basketball player growing up in high school than I was a swimmer. Basketball to this day is my favorite sport.

Ryan Lochte

#35. Don't let talent get in way of team performance. Great players do what's outstanding for team, not what makes them stand out

Jerry West

#36. Deep down, your players must know you care about them. This is the most important thing. I could never get away with what I do if the players feel I didn't care for them. They know, in the long run, I'm in their corner.

Bo Schembechler

#37. Our offensive philosophy is to simply find a way to get the ball into the hands of our team's best player.

Kelvin Sampson

#38. 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

#39. I've always considered myself a crunch-time player. I just love having the ball in my hands. Everyone in the arena knows the ball is supposed to be in your hands and you still make it. It's the odds. I love the odds.

Reggie Miller

#40. The greatest compliment to any player is he is a great teammate. We can't all be great players, but we can all be great teammates

Jay Bilas

#41. Discipline is the greatest form of love you can show someone. Great players crave discipline

Tom Izzo

#42. My father was a soccer player. All my friends played basketball though, so I stuck with basketball.

Steve Nash

#43. Even the greatest players accept coaching and value the need for discipline and the order that it brings to the team

Jack Ramsay

#44. 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

#45. I continually stress to my players that all I expect from them at practice and in the games is their maximum effort.

John Wooden

#46. I feel like I'm a basketball player in a football uniform.

Terrell Owens

#47. He's very knowledgeable. That's the one advantage that I see in Kobe Bryant's career compared to Michael Jordan. Ten years into Kobe Bryant's career, we're seeing a very polished 27-year-old player who's probably got another seven or eight great years ahead of him.

Scottie Pippen

#48. So, yeah, I'm going to try to win the national championship next year. But I'm not going to kill myself doing it. I'm not going to kill my players either. You really start to realize there's a lot more to what we're trying to do then winning games

Geno Auriemma

#49. You need your best players to play their best when their best is needed

Jeff Van Gundy

#50. We want men here, not just players. Players are a dime a dozen

Tom Izzo

#51. It's not like being a professional basketball player where you're in a big house. Maybe three, four or five guys make a couple million bucks a year, but that's it. The rest of them have second jobs.

Frank Grillo

#52. You have to be wired a certain way to be a professional basketball player, and the way my body grew, something happened genetically that allowed me to become a lot more explosive.

Jeremy Lin

#53. If we can take young people who excel at the highest levels, put them on the same kind of pedestal as the all-state basketball player and the all-state football player, and begin to get the same kind of recognition, it will have a profound effect, and we are finding that it does.

Ben Carson

#54. My goal is to let people see who I am as a person, not just a basketball player. Many people see athletes in a certain way - flat and one dimensional. I want to change that view.

Blake Griffin

#55. A key basketball skill is imagery. The best players "see" situations before they happen so they can be prepared

Jack Ramsay

#56. Players who are late say that their time is more important than the team.

Don Meyer

#57. It's kind of like ... It's kind of like playin' a basketball game. I am there and the other player is there, and it's just the two of us and I put the other player's body in my van. And I am the winner.

Chris Onstad

#58. I'm just a basketball player, you know? Just put me where you need me.

Lamar Odom

#59. 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

#60. I'm fighting against becoming soft. That's the worst thing you can say to a basketball player.

Dennis Rodman

#61. A team is a group of players who support one another on court and who think of the group before they think of themselves

K. C. Jones

#62. In going for the last shot of the game most people wait too long to take the shot. Give yourself a chance to get the first shot and tap the ball in. Your players are normally inside the defense.

Norm Sloan

#63. 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

#64. When players are used to winning, they put out a little more. Basketball 3rd winningest coach (regular season and playoffs) in NBA history; won 1,037 times in 20 years;

Red Auerbach

#65. People in general misunderstand me. I'm very aware of the stereotype that comes with being a basketball player. But I'm well-rounded. I'm cultured. It's funny: When I speak, people are like, "Wow! You can really talk." I'm like, "What did you expect?"

Chris Bosh

#66. Recognize and reward players who put the team first, not just the gifted ones.

Don Meyer

#67. Meadowlark was the most sensational, awesome, incredible basketball player I've ever seen.

Wilt Chamberlain

#68. [When] I was young and I listened to everything - I took everything to heart. I didn't really realize how much people want to talk badly about you when you're down, or kick you when you're down. As basketball players, people think everybody's ultra-confident. But that's not the case.

Blake Griffin

#69. Well, (Michael) Jordan was definitely one of the kings of the game. There's no question that he was one of the more dominant figures. If you look at the top ten players of all time, he was certainly one of the most dominant guys.

Dominique Wilkins

#70. 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

#71. The man that got me into collecting sneakers in the first place was the man they call Michael Jordan. He was the one who kind of exposed me to the sneaker world - he was my favorite basketball player, and he had the best shoes.

Macklemore

#72. 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

#73. All of the Chinese people, the Asian people say, "Oh Yao Ming, you are all the Chinese, all of Asia's hopes." That's a lot of pressure. I'm just a basketball player.

Yao Ming

#74. When asked if he was a basketball player he replied No I clean giraffe ears.

Elvin Hayes

#75. Players with high character get better. Players with a serious approach get better. The fools never get better

Jeff Van Gundy

#76. I worked every day - Christmas Eve, birthdays - trying to become a great basketball player. Everywhere I went, I had a basketball.

Harvey Mason Jr.

#77. Players have to buy into your system and be willing to accept the role, you, as the coach, have assigned to them

Chuck Daly

#78. Kobe's an incredibly talented athlete, and there are many more like him among today's players.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

#79. Don't be afraid to let your players know how much you care about them

Thad Matta

#80. I think I'm the only player who looks at each and every center and says to myself, 'That's barbecued chicken down there.'

Shaquille O'Neal

#81. Your best player has to set a tone of intolerance for anything that gets in the way of winning

Jeff Van Gundy

#82. With a versatile player, there's no spot on the court you can't pass him the ball. You can do anything.

Kevin Durant

#83. 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

#84. I don't need my players to like me. I need them to play for me

Jerry Sloan

#85. Perform drills that force your players to think

Bobby Knight

#86. 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

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

Joe Dumars

#88. So you're dealing with a coach, and you're dealing with a guy who's actually experienced NBA basketball from a player's perspective and actually goes about it that way.

Kevin Garnett

#89. I think planning to be a "professional adventurer" is about as realistic as planning to be a basketball player, so I don't usually encourage it.

Andrew Skurka

#90. Stand up for your players. Show them you care on and off the court.

Red Auerbach

#91. Although I wanted my players to work to win, I tried to convince them they had always won when they had done their best.

John Wooden

#92. Then you've got Georgetown, and I really just like everything about them. When I went down there with my mom, it really opened my eyes to what they were all about. I have to factor in what a school like that can do for me, even away from being a basketball player.

Nerlens Noel

#93. Footwork is one of the primary prerequisites to becoming a great player

Mike Krzyzewski

#94. When I lose the sense of motivation and the sense to prove something as a basketball player, it's time for me to move away from the game.

Michael Jordan

#95. I'm looking for players who make their teammates better. You do that with enthusiasm and passion.

Mike Krzyzewski

#96. Basketball is sort of an interesting sport that, you know, the top player on your team makes so much more of an impact than the top player in any other sport.

Daryl Morey

#97. When I was young, everyone laughed at me when I said that I wanted to be a professional basketball player ... now it's my turn to laugh.

Allen Iverson

#98. Help your players to control their emotions - do this through example.

Norm Sloan

#99. When your best player puts it on the line every day, the other guys can't cut corners

George Karl

#100. 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