Quotes About Basketball

The great thing about [Michael] Jordan was that he made them want it just like he wanted it. And a lot of times like a lot of the basketball players, not to be getting on basketball, but, with a lot of the basketball players you might have one superstar on the team, and they're not willing to play up to par with the way he is, so they don't make it. But then you have some celebrities on the basketball team, and they don't know how to get along with each other!

It's fair to say that Jews dominated basketball and that started in the 30s in all the big cities. I think it was simply because Jews lived in ghettoes and basketball is a great schoolyard game. You don't need a lot of space or equipment and you can adapt it to how many players you have.

It's humbling to know that you have fans all over America and all over the world and they want you to play on their respective basketball team. It's very humbling that they respect the way I play the game of basketball. I can't discredit that. I can't say I don't enjoy it because you put in a lot of hard work to have fans. And for me to be a role model and for me to have fans all over is great. It's very humbling.

When it gets down to it, basketball is basketball.

A big market is something that doesn't really concern me too much. It's cool to think about, it's good for off-the-court deals. But I'm more of a basketball player. That's what I want to be known as. And this is the best place for me to play basketball. I'm glad I'm here.

And from the first time I picked up a basketball at age eight - I had a lot of difficulty when I first picked up a basketball, because I was a scrub - there were things that I liked about it.

Chick Hearn was my favorite broadcaster ever - he's the one who taught me to think basketball, how to love basketball.

You always have to know what business you are in. Everybody thought we were in the basketball business. It's an NBA-team; we are not in the basketball business. We are in the business of creating experiences and memories.

I came up in a small town ghetto and I never did think I'd be a celebrity or famous athlete, I was just loving to play the game of basketball. And I worked hard at everything I did.

On an awards-show day, I can play basketball, go in, take a shower and put on a tux - it takes me three minutes to put on a tux - and be out the door in 15 minutes.

The tradition in Serbia has always been team sports - football, basketball, handball, volleyball and water polo, individual sports are not supported.

I played in a basketball league until I was 40 years old. I played every Monday night and the guys would say, "You take him out, and you'll see us afterwards."

Basketball really is a metaphor for life - the intangible skills I have learned on the court, have helped shape the person I am today.

Basketball is a game that gives you every chance to be great, and puts every pressure on you to prove that you haven't got what it takes. It never takes away the chance, and it never eases up on the pressure.

I felt I was good in basketball but I wasn't a blue-chip prospect.

The hardest thing for a basketball player to do is dribble two really hard dribbles. You are flying, and then pull up and shoot a ball from 15, 17 feet. It's the hardest thing in the game.

The world is not checking in with us to see what skills we've picked up, what idea we've concocted, what dreams we carry in our hearts. When a job opens, whether it's in the chorus line or on the assembly line, it goes to the person standing there. It goes to the eager beaver the boss sees when he looks up from his work: the pint-sized kid standing at the basketball court on the playground waiting for one of the older boys to head home. "Hey, kid, wanna play?"

I am reaching a point in my life where the basketball chapter in my life is slowly closing from a competition standpoint.

Basketball, hockey and track meets are action heaped upon action, climax upon climax, until the onlooker's responses become deadened. Baseball is for the leisurely afternoons of summer and for the unchanging dreams.

The great thing about basketball is you work as hard as you can to individually get better so that your team can win

Basketball, more than any other sport, is a team game...about the thousands of small, unselfish acts, the sacrifices on the part of the players that result in team building.

I'm not comfortable being preachy, but more people need to start spending as much time in the library as they do on the basketball court.

There are only so many hours you can sit on the bus and watch TV or play basketball or whatever we do to pass the time before we go out onstage.

You have to be wired a certain way to be a professional basketball player, and the way my body grew, something happened genetically that allowed me to become a lot more explosive.

I begged my mom for a beat machine, she spent a crazy amount of money - so there were no more Christmases, no more basketball camps, no more birthday gifts. I always knew that's what I wanted to do.

I got into running because I was too uncoordinated to play baseball, too small for basketball, and too tiny for football. I lived in a broken home and had looked to those sports as a way of staying away from my home.

I like basketball, and I've been to three games, which is so much more fun than seeing it on TV, I think.

And it blew my mind when I started to get wind of the fact that they actually liked me being around. That was humbling, because Kentucky basketball is a big deal, and I am not the biggest fan - I am just the most notorious one.

Back in East St. Louis, tennis wasn't the real thing. If you weren't playing baseball, basketball, football, you were kind of on the outside.

There is still an assumption among many people that to be black is to be lower class. In the last fifteen to twenty years, perhaps even further back than that, there's also been an explosion of a very wealthy black class in the United States, but those people are often treated as special cases: they're athletes, entertainers. Jay-Z. Basketball players. The country metabolizes the fact these rich black people exist, but it seems only to reinforce the idea that every other black person is limping along in poverty.

Basketball is sharing.

[The movies] glamorize game day a little bit too much. It's such a focus. They miss a lot of the nuts and bolts, and the time that goes into the preparation each week, or each couple of days in basketball.

I play fantasy basketball and fantasy football, soccer.

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?

Tattoos don't impress me. For me it's just another awkward part of fame. It's extraordinary - tattoos in basketball and soccer, it's quite extraordinary.

Hip-Hop itself, the culture, the way that it's going you could always see the effect that it has on basketball.

I'm not paid to be a role model. I'm paid to wreak havoc on the basketball court.

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

The invention of basketball was not an accident. It was developed to meet a need.

As I look back on the day I signed my professional contract in 1973, I've never gone to sleep wondering if I could pay the bills or take care of my family. That's what basketball has done for me. It's given me the greatest of thrills from high school to college to the Olympics to coaching to broadcasting.

Good basketball always starts with good defense!

The best part of basketball, for those people on the inside, is the bus going to the airport after you've won a game on an opponent's floor. It's been a very tough battle. And preferably, in the playoffs. And that feeling that you have, together as a group, having gone to an opponent's floor and won a very good victory, is as about as high as you can get.

I believe that whatever we have, regardless of a trade being done or not, I feel we have a shot. I've just got to believe that we're going to be all right. I've got to just play basketball.

I still regret that I never played soccer in high school. I chose basketball over soccer.

David [Halberstam] kept on doing what he did because he loved it. One of the obituaries I read quoted him as saying that he did journalism for the same reason the great Julius Irving did basketball: He loved doing it even when he was having a bad day.

No one missed more basketball in the history of NBA than I did. I played 14 seasons, on the roster for 14 years, and I missed more than nine-and-a-half full seasons.

When I was 17, I made the decision to have a good attitude. I was a junior in high school; the coach said I was going to be the captain of my basketball team. I thought – that surprised me because I wasn’t the best player. John Thomas was better than me, and I was probably second or third best player. And I kept thinking, “Why am I going to be the captain?” I think everybody else was thinking that too. And the coach then answered, “The reason John is going to be the captain is he has the best attitude on the team. He encourages others, he believes we can win, he never gives up.”

I can't play the game of basketball and live my life on what other people expect me to do or what they think I should do. That doesn't make me happy. What makes me happy is being able to make plays for my teammates, to be able to represent the name on the back of my jersey.