Quotes About Basketball Players

#1. My mother was a champion high-jumper. My three brothers are basketball players. We've all been very athletic.

Grace Jones

#2. I love basketball players for what they do for their size - so graceful.

Warren Moon

#3. Poets are regarded as handicapped writers whose work must be treated with a tender condescension, such as one accords the athletic achievements of basketball players confined to wheelchairs.

Thomas M. Disch

#4. Baseball players quit playing and they take up golf. Basketball players quit, take up golf. Football players quit, take up golf. What are we supposed to take up when we quit?

George Archer

#5. I always stress condition with my basketball players. I don't mean physical condition only. You cannot attain and maintain physical condition unless you are morally and mentally conditioned.

John Wooden

#6. I think that basketball players should get the job done no matter how it looks on the screen.

Oscar Robertson

#7. [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

#8. As a kid, I always idolized entrepreneurs. I thought they were cool people in the way that I thought basketball players were cool people. It's cool that some people get paid to dunk basketballs, but I'm not one of those people.

Ben Silbermann

#9. I have to tell you, I'm proudest of my life off the court. There will always be great basketball players who bounce that little round ball, but my proudest moments are affecting people's lives, effecting change, being a role model in the community.

Magic Johnson

#10. I had a sketch called 'Fedora Basketball,' which was about basketball players having to wear hats; in addition to scoring points, they have to make sure their fedoras don't fall off.

Hannibal Buress

#11. It wasn't about the X's and the O's and the strategy; it was more about keeping 12 guys focused and committed to a task. That group dynamic, and then helping them to grow as people and basketball players.

Isaiah Thomas

#12. I do something that I don't think anyone else does. I warm up before a game. Baseball and basketball players warm up, so why shouldn't the announcer warm up?

Chick Hearn

#13. Why don't they allow professional wrestling at the Olympics? They allow pro basketball players and hockey players. Olympic pro wrestling would be awesome. The team from Mexico could wear those Mr. X masks. The French wrestler could hit his opponent with a baguette. Or perhaps just surrender.

Craig Ferguson

#14. One thing I learned in the NBA is that the No. 1 job of a general manager is to keep his job. They are only 30 positions where you make millions and hang around with basketball players all day.

Mark Cuban

#15. Once I grew from 6'1' to about 6'6', by that time I was going into 12th grade, and that's when I started wanting to play basketball, because, pretty much basketball players always got the girl.

Eric Williams

#16. Basketball players want contact to get a foul called. Slaps on the wrist and bumps on the shoulder are big time to them, and they don't like that. In football, you get that all the time. The whole mental makeup is different.

Warren Moon

#17. Play more than one sport in high school. If you play, say, football and basketball, you can learn to be physical and you can take those physical aspects of both sports and become better in both sports. Basketball players use some of the same skills football players do and vice versa.

Antonio Gates

#18. I also wanted my basketball players to know that I really cared about them. Forget basketball; as a person, I cared, I cared about their family.

John Wooden

#19. 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

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

Oscar Robertson

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

Kobe Bryant

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

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

#23. Basketball is a team game. But that doesn't mean all five players should have the same amount of shots.

Dean Smith

#24. One-and-done is the most damaging thing in college basketball. It brings money into the college game, because it kickstarts the bidding war. When you know a kid can't turn pro and is going to go to school for one year and then go pro, that's when you see everyone going to games and courting players.

Sonny Vaccaro

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

Jeff Van Gundy

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

Jerry Tarkanian

#27. Basketball is my passion, and I love it, and I love to see my players succeed. I'm here for them and my children. That's my passion.

Rick Pitino

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

Dean Smith

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

Don Meyer

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

Don Meyer

#31. 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

#32. 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

#33. 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

#34. Regard your team as a family. Give the same attention to the bottom guy as you do the top guy. You have a responsibility to all of your players.

Pete Newell

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

Tom Izzo

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

Jack Ramsay

#37. 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

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

John Wooden

#39. 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

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

Jeff Van Gundy

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

Tom Izzo

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

Jack Ramsay

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

Don Meyer

#44. There's a lot of chatter in basketball and, rightfully, you want players to be talking to each other ... But sometimes in practice, it gets too verbose ... so I tried to take things out of the ordinary and make them special so they'd understand the difference.

Phil Jackson

#45. 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

#46. 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

#47. 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

#48. Players who are committed to the team first will find a way to help when things are going bad, they will do whatever it takes. Kids that are more into themselves will not do that. They will take care of themselves and get more individual when things are tough.

Dick Bennett

#49. If you want team play, you must stress defense. Defense makes players unselfish.

John Brady

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

Don Meyer

#51. 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

#52. 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

#53. The players have no real self-esteem when it comes to putting the best image out there in a real competitive fashion.

Oscar Robertson

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

Jeff Van Gundy

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

Chuck Daly

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

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

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

Thad Matta

#58. The more you lose, the more positive you have to become. When you're winning, you can ride players harder because their self-esteem is high. If you are losing and you try to be tough, you're asking for dissension.

Rick Pitino

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

Jerry Sloan

#60. Perform drills that force your players to think

Bobby Knight

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

Joe Dumars

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

Red Auerbach

#63. 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

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

Mike Krzyzewski

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

Norm Sloan

#66. What I've talked about the entire series and throughout this playoffs is about intensity and effort, desire and will of our players.

Bill Laimbeer

#67. The greatest ally you have to get things working well and the players performing as a team is the bench. Don't be afraid to use it, either for the star player or anyone else.

John Wooden

#68. Being named as a finalist for the USA Basketball National Team is an unbelievable feeling and an opportunity that is truly humbling. It is an honor to be included with such talented players and I look forward to the chance to represent my country this summer.

James Harden

#69. 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

#70. I want to be one of the best players in the game.

Kevin Durant

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

Chuck Daly

#72. 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

#73. What I learned in my time isn't necessarily being taught now, and I'd like to help impart that knowledge to a new generation of players.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

#74. 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

#75. Just remember, their fans think their players are supermen. We'll we're the kryptonite, and we're going to win.

Jim Larranaga

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

John Wooden

#77. Basketball is great; no one in Europe seems to believe just how close the spectators can sit to the players.

Michael Douglas

#78. 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

#79. My players on defense must have a hand-up on every shot. If not, they run sprints.

Rick Majerus

#80. Always have your players go and pick-up the guy who draws the charge.

Dean Smith

#81. 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

#82. We may not be the best conditioned team in the country, but our players think they are.

John Wooden

#83. The young Obama's lack of playing time on the high school basketball team was due more to his ability than the coach's preference for white players.

David Maraniss

#84. Coaches win practices, players win games

Pete Carril

#85. Basketball is not a collection of jams, but a social relation among players, mediated by Michael Jordan.

Guy Debord

#86. Basketball is a sport that involves the subtle interweaving of players at full speed to the point where they are thinking and moving as one.

Phil Jackson

#87. Put your two best players away from the ball and bring it back to them.

Don Meyer

#88. What we do at LSU is to develop players and make them better.

John Brady

#89. An acrobatic dunk will make it onto Sports Center. A simple, unspectacular bounce pass in the rhythm of the offense will not. System basketball has been replaced by players who want to be the system.

Phil Jackson

#90. The only thing I pay attention to with free throws is what a guy does in the final four minutes of a game. If you can improve players' self-esteem and confidence, get them to relax, teach visualization and routine, they will shoot as well, or better, with the pressure on.

John Calipari

#91. For once in my career, I won't have to hold anybody's hand and they won't have to hold mine. I'm surrounded by veterans. We had a great battle last Thursday at HealthPoint. It was something I never had before - three, four, really great players all in one pickup game.

Shaquille O'Neal

#92. I've never felt my job was to win basketball games - rather, that the essence of my job as a coach was to do everything I could to give my players the background necessary to succeed in life.

Bobby Knight

#93. To represent the United States in international competition is special recognition that not many players receive and I am really looking forward to helping USA Basketball regain its status in international basketball.

Jermaine O'Neal

#94. Five players on the floor functioning as a single unit: team, team, team-no one more important than the other.

Gene Hackman

#95. Mick Jagger is in better shape than far too many NBA players. It's up in the air whether the same can be said of Keith Richards.

Bill Walton

#96. Part of the charm of basketball lies in the fact that it's a simple game to understand. Players race up and down a fairly small area indoors and stuff the ball into a ring with Madonna's dress hanging on it.

Dan Jenkins

#97. You don't win games as a coach during games. You win games as a coach before games. Players win during games, not coaches

Red Auerbach

#98. 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

#99. I don't try to get players emotionally up for a game; it creates too many peaks and valleys ... I strive for even keel; they will get up for the big games.

Denny Crum

#100. They said you have to use your five best players but I found you win with the five who fit together the best.

Red Auerbach