Best Basketball Quotes

Georgetown. Alonzo was the guy I always heard about. I've always wanted to measure myself against the best. ~ Shaquille O'Neal

Set the goal and work all days for it, until you achieve, I want to be a champion, the best! ~ Kevin Durant

Practice to beat the best. ~ Dick Bennett

I'm always hungry. I want to be the best. ~ Kevin Durant

Playing in the playoffs is the best basketball in the world, and if you can learn under that pressure, succeed under that pressure, it gives you more confidence the next year. ~ Tony Parker

Fatherhood will put a man through a lot, but it's a tremendous job, the best in the world - even better than playing basketball. ~ Derek Fisher

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

It's a heavy duty to try to do everything and please everybody. My job was to go out there and play the game of basketball as best I can and provide entertainment for everyone who wanted to watch basketball. Obviously, people may not agree with that; again, I can't live with what everyone's impression of what I should or what I shouldn't do. ~ Michael Jordan

I think in college they give you a chance to really mature, form yourself and build relationships. I think that's what a team is all about, and when you build relationships, it shows on the court and that brings out success. I love the whole attitude of staying in college to take advantage of a free education. I just felt like Kentucky wasn't a fit for me. The whole attitude and approach of the one-and-dones, that's good for them, that's their decision. But I think [Duke] Coach [Mike Krzyzewski] is a guru of basketball. I want to learn from one of the best. ~ Jabari Parker

I'm not gonna be bad at anything, and I want to actually be the best at anything I'm doing. So if I'm playing basketball, if I'm taking the SATs, like, there's a competitive spirit behind it. With production, it's the same thing. ~ J. Cole

I just want to try to ignore the scrutiny and all the distractions and just play hard basketball and let the best come ... Improving game by game and trying to improve my game is what I want to do. ~ Andrew Bogut

Bill Russell helped make my dream a better dream because when you play with the best, you know you have to play your best. ~ Wilt Chamberlain

Play the game with a smile. ~ Earl Monroe

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

What you specifically teach is what your players will do best. ~ Dick Bennett

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

The best basketball announcer is one who allows you to close your eyes. ~ Larry Bird

Don't worry about being cool. Worry about being the best ~ Jeff Van Gundy

You cant win unless you learn how to lose. ~ Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Do your best when no one is looking. ~ Bob Cousy

Leadership does not mean getting people to do their job. It means getting people to do their best. ~ Harvey MacKay

I'm not out there sweating for three hours every day just to find out what it feels like to sweat. ~ Michael Jordan

Sometimes I wonder what it will be like to look back on all this. Whether it will seem real. ~ Michael Jordan

I don't discuss basketball. I dictate basketball. I'm not interested in philosophy classes. ~ Al McGuire

I was a man who played basketball and after I played basketball and before I played basketball I was going to be a psychologist, whereas most people who play their occupation is their definition - and then when they stop doing who they are, they become nothing. ~ John Amaechi

Left hand, right hand, it doesn't matter. I'm amphibious. ~ Charles Shackleford

I'm still here. I'm a force to be reckoned with ... you have to come take my spot, and not through Twitter and not through the media, come take my spot. I'm ready to go. As big men in the league, there are two who have done something special during this millennium. I'm one and Tim Duncan is the other. Anyone else has to come upstairs and see the Shogun. I'm still the Shogun. ~ Shaquille O'Neal

Everybody keeps telling me how surprised they are with what I've done. But I'm telling you honestly that it doesn't surprise me. I knew I could do it. ~ Patrick Ewing

I think Kwame will be an asset to the Lakers. ~ Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

For the first time, I ate with a bunch of other Taiwanese-Chinese kids my age who knew what the hell they were doing. Even at Chinese school, there were always kids that brought hamburgers, shunned chopsticks, or didn't get down with the funky shit. They were like faux-bootleg-Canal Street Chinamen.

That was one of the things that really annoyed me about growing up Chinese in the States. Even if you wanted to roll with Chinese/Taiwanese kids, there were barely any around and the ones that were had lost their culture and identity. They barely spoke Chinese, resented Chinese food, and if we got picked on by white people on the basketball court, everyone just looked out for themselves. It wasn't that I wanted people to carry around little red books to affirm their "Chinese-ness," but I just wanted to know there were other people that wanted this community to live on in America. ~ Eddie Huang

We have 2,500 students and an 8,000-seat basketball arena. You do the math on how important basketball is in Aberdeen. ~ Don Meyer

My motto is very simple. Win a Ring for the King. ~ Shaquille O'Neal

As my great friend Aristotle said, 'If you cannot command, you must learn to listen.' I'm not the hierarchy here. I am a worker bee. ~ Shaquille O'Neal

The game of basketball is not played with throwing punches, throwing elbows. ~ Mo Williams

1. Be on time. 2. Never criticize a teammate. 3. Never use profanity. ~ John Wooden

I'd heard stuff from out there that I was just another player, that I was too young. I wanted to show I could play with anybody. ~ Shaquille O'Neal

So what does all this mean if you desperately want to persuade someone who doesn't want to be persuaded?

The first step is to appreciate that your opponent's opinion is likely based less on fact and logic than on ideology and herd thinking. If you were to suggest this to his face, he would of course deny it. He is operating from a set of biases he cannot even see. As the behavioral sage Daniel Kahneman has written: "We can be blind to the obvious, and we are also blind to our blindness." Few of us are immune to this blind spot. That goes for you, and that goes for the two of us as well. And so, as the basketball legend-cum-philosopher Kareem Abdul-Jabbar once put it, "It's easier to jump out of a plane - hopefully with a parachute - than it is to change your mind about an opinion. ~ Steven D. Levitt

When I hit bottom, I can attack the problem and get to where I want to be. ~ Dennis Rodman

I'm a big competitor. ~ Kevin Durant

How do you build a successful organization or culture? It's the people. The people part, in business and basketball, is huge. ~ Bob Myers

It is 1979, a basketball game in the Brandeis gym. The team is doing well, and the student section begins a chant, "We're number one! We're number one!" Morrie is sitting nearby. He is puzzled by the cheer. At one point, in the midst of "We're number one!" he rises and yells, "What's wrong with being number two?" The students look at him. They stop chanting. He sits down, smiling and triumphant. ~ Mitch Albom

The East is going to be pretty easy for me. The Great Chest of the West becomes the Great Beast of the East. ~ Shaquille O'Neal

We had 10 turnovers tonight. Each one gets worse as you go. It is like prior arrests: the 10th one may not have been that bad, but when you have had nine prior ones, it looks pretty bad. ~ Don Meyer

When I was really young, the women's national team wasn't on a grand media stage, so my role models were male basketball and male American football players. ~ Abby Wambach

Many of the most successful coaches and managers have come from players who never reached the highest level. The one exception seems to be basketball, where many of the greatest stars at least tried to coach a team. ~ George Vecsey

Whether you're trying to excel in athletics or in any other field, always practice. Look, listen, learn - and practice, practice, practice. There is no substitute for work, no shortcut to the top. ~ Frank Robinson

I am not a strategic coach; I am a practice coach. ~ John Wooden

Basketball made me happy to be tall. And more secure about myself than I ever would have been without it. ~ Matt Emmons

Basketball talent is basketball talent, no matter if it comes from the suburbs or the city. Take the time to know and understand me before you judge me. Only God can do that. Roses do grow from concrete! ~ Chris Webber

Great shooters are one dribble guys. ~ Rick Majerus

For every pass I caught in a game, I caught a thousand in practice. ~ Don Hutson

When I'm in Miami I like to go and watch basketball, the Miami Heat. ~ Andy Murray

They asked me when I was out there, 'Why do you want to be traded?' I said me staying here is like divorcing my wife and marrying someone who looks like me. That's backwards, man. ~ Shaquille O'Neal

Why shouldn't I milk it? We're an agricultural institution. ~ Jim Valvano

I'm just a seasonal guy. Basketball, football, baseball, boxing, golf. Give it to me all the time. ~ Jerry Ferrara

I'm one year older, one year sexier - one more, baby. For me, it's all about the bigger picture. We want to win the whole thing. We've got to beat whoever is in our way. ~ Shaquille O'Neal

Meditation practice is like piano scales, basketball drills, ballroom dance class. Practice requires discipline; it can be tedious; it is necessary. After you have practiced enough, you become more skilled at the art form itself. You do not practice to become a great scale player or drill champion. You practice to become a musician or athlete. Likewise, one does not practice meditation to become a great meditator. We meditate to wake up and live, to become skilled at the art of living. ~ Elizabeth Lesser

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

I played basketball in high school, and I love watching sports - I'll watch everything except maybe hockey. ~ Andy Roddick

Get your education. The number of guys who are blessed to be in the league is so small compared to the number of high school players [who want to play in the league]. But one thing you can do is get your college education. If you are blessed enough to get a scholarship to play college basketball, make sure you get your college degree, too, then move on from there. ~ Tim Duncan

I think the greatest all-around athlete ever was Jim Brown. He played lacrosse, basketball and ran track at Syracuse. He played professional football for the Browns. ~ Will McDonough

Basketball has always been a sport I loved and grew up playing. For me, it was one of those things that ... I guess baseball was just in my genes a little bit. I have a lot of cousins that played baseball. Basketball is not an easy sport - you definitely got to be gifted to play that game. I felt like I was pretty good at it, but my ability was better in baseball. ~ Dellin Betances

The quality of the pass leads directly to the quality of the shot ~ Pete Carril

The courtside entertainment provided similar commercial thrills. Smaller businesses that couldn't afford their own teams bought the right to have company mascots wander the aisles, where they posed for photographs, danced as much as their cumbersome costumes allowed, and further blurred the line between professional basketball and a Lewis Carroll acid trip. ~ Rafe Bartholomew

The hand check has always been a part of pro basketball. ~ Stu Jackson

I can get better. I haven't reached my ceiling yet on how well I can shoot the basketball. ~ Stephen Curry

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

My diet is mostly chicken and fish. I make sure I get a lot of vegetables, a lot of fruit. I am a big fruit man, I am a vegetable man anyway. And I also get a lot of rest. That's the key I may be up early, but I'm in bed early too. ~ Magic Johnson