Basketball Player Quotes

To live fully your well-read life -at any age- it is essential to take your selection of books seriously. When you drift from book to book, you're lulled into thinking that this lack of focus is right and natural - but it's as wrong as can be. Some serendipity in your reading is delightful, but if you wanted to build a house, would you wait for the materials to assemble themselves? - Steve Leveen

Pat Williams (basketball)

Not every effort at loving difficult people will have a positive ending... We don't love people in hopes of a happy ending. We love them because it's the right thing to do.

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.

I got the rebound and he tackled me. I know this is Sunday, but this is the wrong field.

I consider myself a pretty rounded guy. I've done pretty elite things in business, sport and academics and all of a sudden I woke up one morning and I'm a 'big, black, British, gay guy'. That was frustrating at times

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

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.

There'll be bluebirds over
The white cliffs of Dover
Tomorrow
Just you wait and see.
There'll be love and laughter
And peace ever after
Tomorrow
When the world is free.

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

Wilt Chamberlain

You know, I've always told him (Larry Brown) I wanted the relationship that Michael Jackson... Michael Jordan, I'm sorry. … I wanted the same relationship with him like Phil Jackson and Michael Jordan had.

On his reception by other players when he returned from retirement to an All-Star game:

It was the first game ever called on account of hugs.

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'm still glad that we didn't shake their hands. They were whiners and criers. Piss on them.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

Close-out games are actually kind of easy. Teams tend to fold if you come out and play hard in the beginning, so we want to come out and establish an early lead and protect it.

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.

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

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

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.