Top 100 Team Basketball Quotes
#1. 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
#2. Winning teams at the NBA level, the college level, and the high school level all play team basketball. Championship teams have five players on the same page at all times.
Hubie Brown
#3. Every team that plays us plays above their heads. That's because of me.
Shaquille O'Neal
#4. Blending the talents of your team members is crucial to basketball success.
John Kundla
#5. I can see Sue and I leading this team to many more championships ... We're going to take this and learn from it. We worked too hard for this.
Lauren Jackson
#6. She understood about the comfort you can get from a small separate world, whether it's a theatre or a basketball team or the inside of a book.
Susan Cooper
#7. Have a vision. Sell your program. Your team is going to reflect you.
Mark Gottfried
#8. That's how we like to play basketball, is be physical down there in the paint and force teams to the perimeter.
Bill Laimbeer
#9. The difference between a good defensive team and a bad defensive team is as little as three possessions
Brad Stevens
#10. If you think and achieve as a team, the individual accolades will take care of themselves. Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.
Michael Jordan
#11. The biggest scandal I was ever involved in was - in high school, at a basketball game, I shot and scored for the other team.
Darby Stanchfield
#12. The coach's job is to be part servant in helping each player reach his goals within the team concept.
Dean Smith
#13. 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
#14. Our offensive philosophy is to simply find a way to get the ball into the hands of our team's best player.
Kelvin Sampson
#15. I'm a leader. I'm the leader of this team, and they look for me at any point in the game, and that's not just scoring-wise, I do other things.
LeBron James
#16. A team should be an extension of a coach's personality. My teams are arrogant and obnoxious.
Al McGuire
#17. The team is an extension of the coach.
Don Meyer
#18. I am thrilled to be an Olympian, and I think that although we will be underdogs we can beat many teams and will be a surprise in Sydney.
Steve Nash
#19. Even the greatest players accept coaching and value the need for discipline and the order that it brings to the team
Jack Ramsay
#20. You become a champion as a team. I understand that. I know the history of the game.
LeBron James
#21. The truth of basketball is done in competition and fundamentals and team, but there's a lot of other junk that goes around the game.
George Karl
#22. My name is on the thing, but the reality of it is, when I get up there on stage, I'm part of a band. I'm part of a unit. It's like a basketball team.
David Sanborn
#23. 'Family Ties' was a very successful situation comedy. And, in almost every respect, it functioned on a day to day basis like a well-run, well conditioned basketball team. The show was performed live each week in front of a studio audience on Friday night.
Gary David Goldberg
#24. One of the reasons why I enjoy college basketball a little more is because of its team orientation as opposed to individual orientation.
Len Elmore
#25. 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
#26. There's a misconception about teamwork. Teamwork is the ability to have different thoughts about things; it's the ability to argue and stand up and say loud and strong what you feel. But in the end, it's also the ability to adjust to what is the best for the team.
Tom Landry
#27. 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
#28. If you want team play, you must stress defense. Defense makes players unselfish.
John Brady
#30. A lot of people talk about the Fab Five, and they were wonderful, one of the best teams you'll ever see in college basketball. But the '89 team is the best one to ever play at Michigan in my opinion because they won the national championship. Winning a championship is winning a championship.
Trey Burke
#31. One man can be a crucial ingredient on a team, but one man cannot make a team.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
#32. Our titles would not have been possible without the unselfishness displayed by all our teams, the team wins, not the individuals
John Wooden
#33. I would never tell anybody to give up hockey - the great sports we have here - basketball, lacrosse - rugby coming into its own - we've got so many great team sports, and I say hold on to them.
George Vecsey
#34. The best teams have chemistry. They communicate with each other and they sacrifice personal glory for a common goal.
Dave DeBusschere
#35. 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
#36. I didn't do anything very pretty. My contributions were in the intangibles. But, they were the type of things that help lead a team..
Wes Unseld
#37. It's LeBron's team. He's the captain. This is the time in my career where I can fit in. I'm now in the security business. My job is to protect the King, and that's what I'm here to do.
Shaquille O'Neal
#38. 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
#39. Winning is the first priority. Individual development is important, but if each guy gets better, the team gets better
Lawrence Frank
#40. You have to lose yourself in the team and you have to lose yourself in the game
John Calipari
#41. 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
#43. I've always been a leader. I've always kind of been the tallest person on the team when I was younger but always kind of the smartest. I was ahead of my time. I wasn't always the oldest, I kind of was the youngest on the team, but, I kind of knew what to do at times.
LeBron James
#44. The way my team are doing, we could get Wilt Chamberlain in a trade and find out that he's really two midgets Scotch-taped together.
Gene Shue
#45. I love practice. It is when a coach exercises the most control over the improvement of his or her team.
Mike Krzyzewski
#47. 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
#48. 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
#49. It's not just about working hard, it's about working together. You have to care more about the team than you do about yourself
John Calipari
#50. I'll take the contract. He can have the team.
Herbert Kohl
#51. 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
#52. It all depends on how you want to define what an MVP is. I've been fortunate to win the trophy four times, but I've been the MVP of my team for a long time - just because of the way I lead and the way I approach us being professionals off the floor.
LeBron James
#53. I played a little basketball, but basketball interfered with theater season. That's when we did our term plays and did nutshell versions of Shakespeare for English classes. And, believe me, I got a fair amount of looks from the guys on the team. 'You're in theater but you can play football?'
Dennis Haysbert
#54. Five players on the floor functioning as a single unit: team, team, team-no one more important than the other.
Gene Hackman
#55. A team can't work when a guy puts himself in front of a team. I have yet to be on a team like that.
LeBron James
#56. I was captain of the volleyball team and the basketball team, and I ran track.
Sarah Shahi
#58. Loyalty is a cohesive force that forges individuals into a team.
John Wooden
#59. For order and a society to exist - and a basketball team is a society within itself - it needs discipline.
Joe B. Hall
#60. We have a very intelligent team. I've had clubs that when you tell a guy to go back door, he leaves the gym. Or you tell the team you're going to have a closed practice and eight guys don't show up.
Jim Valvano
#61. Men own basketball teams. Every year cheerleaders' outfits get tighter and briefer, and players' shorts get baggier and longer.
Rita Rudner
#62. Baseball is a team game but, at the same time, it's a very lonely game: unlike in soccer or basketball, where players roam around, in baseball everyone has their little plot of the field to tend. When the action comes to you, the spotlight is on you but no one can help you.
Chad Harbach
#63. I grew up in Westlake Villiage, a suburb of L.A. There was a guy there who was a fighter and was like, 'I'll teach you to box.' I started a little bit of boxing, then it crossed over into jiu-jitsu. I was into it for a little while, but then I started doing basketball, baseball, team sports.
Jonathan Lipnicki
#64. To be a team, you must be a family.
Don Meyer
#66. I play because I have fun. The vets of this team, I just wanted to say thanks to them. You guys mean so much to me. I can have a terrible day and walk in the gym and have Hasheem smile at me. That will change my day.
Kevin Durant
#67. A lot of players know how to play the game, but they really don't know how to play the game, if you know what I mean. They can put the ball in the hoop, but I see things before they even happen. You know how a guy can make his team so much better? That's one thing I learned from watching Jordan.
LeBron James
#68. The highest level of achievement is attained by the teams with the best conditioned players
Jack Ramsay
#69. The Boston Celtics are not a basketball team, they are a way of life.
Red Auerbach
#70. The basketball team was trailing by three points. I trail by four points - north, south, east, and west. I also trail by covered wagon.
Jarod Kintz
#71. Leaders have to search for the heart on a team, because the person who has it can bring out the best in everybody else.
Mike Krzyzewski
#72. 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
#73. My dad was the one who really loved basketball, and he was the one that put the basketball in my hands, and my mom was 'Team Mom' of all my teams. I used to play for three or four teams at once and she would just spend her entire afternoon driving me from practice to practice to practice.
Jeremy Lin
#74. I would never recruit a player who yells at his teammates, disrespected his high school coach, or scores 33 points a game and his team goes 10-10.
Dean Smith
#75. I don't put pressure on myself. When I put pressure on myself, then I just play bad. When I play bad, my team plays bad.
Carmelo Anthony
#76. If you're struggling with your shooting, then do other things on the basketball court. Get steals, get assists, get rebounds-do anything on the court to help the team win.
Allen Iverson
#77. We have the mentality of the hunter. We want to be the most enthusiastic team in the country. That's what we can control
Shaka Smart
#78. My whole family likes to play basketball. George II plays for his high school team and George III and George IV and George V are going to be good players. One day we're going to have a team and call it Georgetown.
George Foreman
#79. I felt like when we came back from the All-Star break we needed everybody to feel like they were part of the team, ... I'm just trying to do whatever the team needs at any given time.
Kobe Bryant
#80. Damian Lillard is having a better year than Chris Paul. Lillard got snubbed when he was left off of the USA Men's Basketball team, and now the All-Star team.
Kenny Smith
#81. I was a roving guard on the Lowell Hebrew Community Center's girls' basketball team all through high school. My specialty was stealing the ball, but my only shot was a lay-up.
Elinor Lipman
#82. Football can stand parity better than any of the other sports, I think. Baseball, basketball and hockey need a defining team, in essence to frame the season. Football? Not so much.
Michael Wilbon
#83. Winning coaches look for opportunities to praise. Anything that reflects a commitment to the team is praiseworthy
Bill Parcells
#84. When I came into the league, once a team drafted you, they owned you forever. If they didn't like the clothes you wore, or the car you drove, they could blackball you.
Oscar Robertson
#85. When Steny Hoyer brings up a resolution to support and recognize the University of Maryland men's basketball team - I'm not making this up - before we even had March madness, then you just know that it's just political favoritism.
Jason Chaffetz
#86. We play a different style than other teams. It's effective, but different. We run the floor, block shots and create turnovers.
Steve Nash
#87. You don't just be a team. You become a team. Through tough games you find that you need each other
Mike Krzyzewski
#88. Everybody wants to talk about NBA players being selfish and arrogant and individuals. But what you saw today was a team bonding and facing adversity and coming out with a big win.
Kobe Bryant
#89. No one is bigger than the team. You're going to be on time, you're going play hard, you're going to know your job and you're going to know when to pass and shoot. If you can't do those four things you're not getting time here and we don't care who you are.
Hubie Brown
#90. The worst thing we can do is put the (other) team in a one-and-one.
Mike Krzyzewski
#91. The strength of my Princeton teams has always been attitude, intelligence and discipline.
Pete Carril
#92. The most important thing is team morale.
Dean Smith
#93. A team divided against itself can break down at any moment. The least bit of pressure or adversity will crack it apart
Bill Parcells
#94. I won't coach this team next year if he is still here. He won't listen to anyone. I've had it with this kid.
Phil Jackson
#95. Michael Jordon may have been the best basketball player in history, but he couldn't have won six NBA titles without a team.
Mark E. Hyman
#96. What I know is that if you're going to play half-court, you'd better have the greatest executioners of half-court basketball. If you run, you test the stamina and willpower of the other team. That's what I learned as a player.
Tom Heinsohn
#97. When you're picking a basketball team, you'll take the brother over the guy with the yarmulke. Why? Because you're playing the odds.
Adam Carolla
#98. The secret of winning is working more as a team, less as individuals.
Knute Rockne
#99. I tried out for my basketball team every year and I never made it. You had to buy the shoes before you knew if you were on the team because it took a few weeks for them to ship. I bought the shoes every year, never once made the team, had a ton of high school basketball shoes.
Adam DeVine
#100. You just gotta be who you are, and I think it's time to get rid of this whole National Basketball Association. Call it the TBA, the Thug Basketball Association, and stop calling them teams. Call 'em gangs.
Rush Limbaugh
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