Quotes About Basketball

Baseball is like cricket, and I grew up in a country where they had cricket. So I understand cricket, soccer and basketball. I played basketball at the club level and a little bit in college, so thats why Im a basketball fanatic.

The University of Houston has made an excellent choice by hiring Ron Hughey as its new women's basketball coach. Coach Hughey will bring an expertise and energy level to the program that will excite fans and put Houston Women's Basketball back on the map. Having watched him coach up close, I know his players will improve immensely and love learning from him. I look forward to following Houston Basketball in the years to come.

Every memory I had growing up was involving a basketball. I didn't go to the prom and stuff like that. It was always basketball for me.

I was a better basketball player growing up in high school than I was a swimmer. Basketball to this day is my favorite sport.

Everyone thought I was going to die like a year later, they didn't know. So I helped educate sports, and then the world, that a man living with HIV can play basketball. He's not going to give it to anybody by playing basketball.

I grew up in a small town in Illinois, and my dad was a basketball coach. Thanks to him, I have excellent fundamentals in both basketball and baseball.

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.

If I don't get five [titles], I won't be happy with myself as a basketball player. I don't know how you guys will feel about me.

Basketball is a game and their primary reason for participating in the sport is simply for the pleasure they experience while playing. Don't be afraid to lose. Have fun while you're busy playing hard and playing smart.

Guarding LeBron James has to be the hardest job in basketball.

The biggest thing that I felt basketball could do for me was help me get a good education.

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 probably would have no capability of absorbing a 60-defeat season as a coach. It would be a foreign experience. My whole career, even as a player, has been on winning basketball clubs and it just seems to have been a part of the make-up of what’s been given me. That’s what I’ve been given and that’s what I’ve had to deal with. Some people can make fun of it or some people can have a good time with it, or some people can resent it. It’s just what it is.

Moving to the US was quite a transition for me, to say the least! There were, and still are so many new things to get used to: the language, food, culture, even the style of basketball is different here!

I had never made any plans beyond basketball.

I've had the privilege of coaching the best basketball team in the history of the world, and that's the USA national team. I've had a chance to coach them for eight years. If you were to ask me if I could end my career only coaching one team for the rest of my coaching career, I don't think it could get better than that, especially with the players that I've had during those eight years. When you've coached at that level, you know, you've coached those players, it's pretty hard to say, I would rather coach anybody else.

I don't have a set working style. Some lyrics come really slow, others come in 10 minutes while I'm watching basketball. They're always a surprise to me.

I just love the game of basketball so much. The game! I don't need the 18,000 people screaming and all the peripheral things. To me, the most enjoyable part is the practice and preparation.

So like any football or basketball coach, you always always believe you're going to win.

If you're playing basketball with someone who's better than you, you have to get better or else it's no fun

My daughter genuinely asked me to hand her the basketball bat. I might be failing as a father.

I started playing professional basketball in 1971, and I played professionally for five seasons before going to Philadelphia.

My father made me who I am. He gave me a basketball and told me to play with the ball, sleep with the ball, dream with the ball. Just don't take it to school. I used it as a pillow, and it never gave me a stiff neck.

Our feelings can be hurt, but you can take a yoga class, you can pray, you can play some basketball - you can figure out things for your hurt feelings.

Meadowlark was the most sensational, awesome, incredible basketball player I've ever seen.

I've always thought that my exposure to competitive sports helped me a great deal in the operating room. It teaches you endurance, and it teaches you how to cope with defeat, and with complications of all sort. I think I'm a well-coordinated person, more than average, and I think that came through my interest in sports, and athletics... Playing basketball you have to make decisions promptly, and that's true in the operating room as well.

[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 basketball, I surf and swim and go to the cinema and listen to music and read. I like shopping.

I was really fortunate. I don't believe in luck so I was really fortunate. God really blessed me in terms of my health. ... I was really healthy. But I tried to do my part in terms of preparation, in terms of perseverance. I tried to do my part to make sure that I was always ready to play and try to stay ahead of the game. I tried to beat people with my mind. I wasn't the biggest or the one that jumped the highest, but I had a real high basketball IQ and I knew it. ... I was a student of game and tried to prepare and be professional and have a good attitude. All of those things helped me have a long career.

My goal is to let people see who I am as a person, not just a basketball player. Many people see athletes in a certain way - flat and one dimensional. I want to change that view.

I did takwondo from the time I was pretty young and also played I did taekwondo for martial arts and then also played football, baseball, and basketball against older kids because of my brother being older. I learned pretty quickly to not be intimidated and to not back down.

All of the Chinese people, the Asian people say, "Oh Yao Ming, you are all the Chinese, all of Asia's hopes." That's a lot of pressure. I'm just a basketball player.

Something I like to do a lot is just sit by water when there’s a current and just stare into the water. I don’t fish, I don’t hunt, I don’t scuba, I don’t spear, don’t boat, don’t play basketball or football – I excel at staring into space. I’m really good at that.

I don't really want to go into my problems with the team at the time except to say that no one's ever had to pay me to play basketball.

Standing on that platform, I said a silent prayer. I thanked God for giving me the strength and the opportunity to come back, to play basketball again, and to be part of that whole magnificent Olympic experience. It's a memory I will always cherish.

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

The risk of failure is a very personal thing. One of the quotes I like, I think this came from the famous basketball coach from California - John Wooden - is that, "Successful people - winners - do everything necessary to prepare to win, without the certainty of winning." Everybody would do everything necessary to prepare to win if winning was a certainty. So you're willing to put yourself out publicly and privately and say, "I'm going to do this."

Tim Duncan's foot issue, I think, is a major factor in this year's playoffs. That's not the kind of injury that gets better over time playing NBA basketball.

I always wanted to be an NBA ball player since I was eight years old. I kind of went on the road of sports and I ended up on the stage with the microphone. For me it's like a dream come full circle. I think some people do it because their agent tells them it's a good look to get some publicity. But myself, I eat, live, and breathe basketball.

My relationship with Northeast Ohio is bigger than basketball. I didn't realize that four years ago. I do now.

College basketball was one of the hardest, most rewarding experiences of my life. Every single day on the court was a mental and physical challenge.

I love the flow of the game. There’s a certain fluidity to basketball. I don’t enjoy watching baseball or football in the same way.

A lot of times I blend in a little bit easier because I'm not like a basketball player who's going to stand out because of his height.

Basketball, like all sports, is predicated on the execution of fundamentals. The coach is a teacher. His subject: fundamentals

The great thing was my teammates really set some great screens to get me open. I just went out there and played basketball.

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.

Basketball's so much like life: if something's going great, you wait a minute, it will change. If something's going bad, you wait a minute, it will change. So I try to play things on such an even keel, knowing that things are going to change. You take the good with the bad; you don't get too excited, you don't get too down and sometimes that's the hardest thing in the world to do when you're in the midst of it, but that's the best way to handle it.