20th-century Basketball Player Quotes

When you struggle, that's when you realize what you're made of, and that's when you realize what the people around you can do. You learn who you'd want to take with you to a war, and who you'd only want to take to lunch.

Chamique Holdsclaw

Complacency is the last hurdle standing between any team and its potential greatness.

Group discipline produces a unified effort toward a common goal.

No matter how far life pushes you down, no matter how much you hurt, you can always bounce back.

Success may result in winning, but winning does not necessarily mean you are a success.

I'm an unorthodox type of guy, a funny guy - at least I think I'm funny. And one of the things I like to do is come up with nicknames for myself.

Shaquille O'Neal

may the tide
that is entering even now
the lip of our understanding
carry you out
beyond the face of fear.

Wilt Chamberlain

In putting together your standards, remember that it is essential to involve your entire team. Standards are not rules issued by the boss; they are a collective identity. Remember, standards are the things that you do all the time and the things for which you hold one another accountable.

Mike Krzyzewski

Leadership is not about forcing your will on others. It's about mastering the art of letting go.

In a team sport like basketball, every time you help somebody else, you help yourself.

Success is a result of consistent practice of winning skills and actions. There is nothing miraculous about the process. There is no luck involved.

Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.

[Sports] provides a wonderful opportunity for initiating acquaintance. Regardless of the degree of our civilization, people still thrill to physical combat and admire the man who excels. He who is of proven merit in the field of major sports has shown to all that he is possessed of strength, vigor, stamina, and courage. The great majority of people want to know such a man... How well I have taken advantage of the football reputation it was my good fortune to gain is for others to judge, but I personally am very thankful for the whole experience and the fun and friends it has brought me.

I think I'll stick to what I'm used to, my principles, and that is team Number 1 and individual Number 2.

We had nonbelievers all along the way, and I have one thing to say to those nonbelievers: Don't ever underestimate the heart of a champion!

Rudy Tomjanovich

I think at some point during the course of the game, I will have an impact - whether it's blocking or whether it's catching the football.

Any coach needs talent. You start with talent. Without talent, we're all in the soup.

No matter how strong a condom is, it won't protect you from a broken heart.

I don't think being an athlete is unfeminine. I think of it as a kind of grace.

Jackie Joyner-Kersee

The basketball is a tool that the black [man] has now, same as maybe once he had a plow. He can use it to make something of himself and make a life for his children.

I liked challenging people and making them uncomfortable. That's what leads to introspection and that's what leads to improvement. You could say I dared people to be their best selves.

Some guys smoke. Some guys drink. Some guys chase women.
I'm a big barbecue-sauce guy.

My mustache speaks to me... it says, 'Together, we will return the NBA to the glory of its mustache days. Pistol Pete, Kurt Rambis and Clyde Frazier.' And in the offseason, my mustache and I will drive around in a muscle car solving mysteries. Times will be good. My mustache is very wise.

Of Kobe Bryant:

I've been quoted in the past and I will continue to be quoted; I think he's the best player in our league right now.

You might listen to black music, and you might watch black athletes, but that doesn't mean you'll be willing to talk to that black guy who just moved down the street.

Charles Barkley