Basketball Quotes

I think black Americans expect too much from individual black Americans in terms of changing the status quo.

Black people don't have an accurate idea of their history, which has been either suppressed or distorted.

You play with your soul as well as your body.

Alexander Hamilton realized that warfare was part and parcel of human nature, and it's something we had to prepare for.

I've had a desire to coach for years. This was something I felt I should do.

People still cheat on their wives, that hasn't fallen out of fashion. We all speak of it badly, but it has not fallen out of fashion.

I feel that there has been progress made since I was a boy on matters of race, but we have a long way to go.

I've had enough success for two lifetimes, My success is talent put together with hard work and luck.

The game has basically not changed since I ended my career.

I wanted to play baseball!

The transition was difficult. It's hard to stop something that you've enjoyed and that has been very rewarding.

I hope to be involved in a successful movie script.

I'm still my parent's child, I'm still me, but I made a choice. I evolved into Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. I think it has to do with evolution.

I think the NBA will certainly survive without Michael Jordan.

Our offensive philosophy is to simply find a way to get the ball into the hands of our team's best player.

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

I'm like a chameleon. I adapt to my situation. It's very slowed down here. I like it that way. I'm a guy that's very reserved, quiet and shy myself.

The last couple of practices, all we've been doing is a lot of defensive things. We've been going over some drills that make all of us have to communicate.

Going from Flip to Kev, obviously you don't want to see someone ever lose their job. For me it's probably a little more difficult, because other than Bill Blair, Flip is all I knew.

So you're dealing with a coach, and you're dealing with a guy who's actually experienced NBA basketball from a player's perspective and actually goes about it that way.

I would love to see Flip get back into the league. I think he can definitely still coach in this league. I think he will be in this league quicker than sooner.

Kev has these old Boston drills, where you all have to talk to each other, and interact, and it's helped us.

My role model was my grandfather. He instilled in me the feeling that no matter how successful you are you have a responsibility to help others.

Boards, boards, boards.

I was just letting the shots fly. You know, I don't leave any bullets in the chamber.

There's been a lot of talk of me being a one-man show but that's simply not the case. We win games when I score 40 points and we've won when I score 10.

I didn't expect this award [the 2008 MVP] would come to me. I'm surprised. I've played pretty well in other seasons. Our team hasn't been as good. Things just fell into place.

I like being by myself.

What's better? Dogs or broomsticks? I mean will the world really ever know?

I always know what's happening on the court. I see a situation occur, and I respond.

If there was a payment to the bank due, and we needed shoes, she'd get the shoes, and then deal with them guys at the bank. I don't mean she wouldn't pay the bank, but the children always came first.

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

But it is a black man's game, and it will be forever.

I think the reason why I'm the person who I am today is because I went through those tough times when I was younger.

I laugh and joke, but I don't get distracted very easily.

And winning is a huge thing for me.

Then I went to UCLA - so of course I became a huge Bruin basketball fan... and later came to football.

I told Zollie Volchok we needed an ultrasound machine and he asked me why we needed music in the locker room.

If people around you aren't going anywhere, if their dreams are no bigger than hanging out on the corner, or if they're dragging you down, get rid of them.

We cut him off and there was nowhere for him to go but out of bounds ... It's still the greatest move I've ever seen in basketball, the all-time greatest.

I tell you, it's funny because the only time I think about HIV is when I have to take my medicine twice a day.

The audience likes their emotions to be touched. They want to laugh and cry and feel good.

There have been times when I have failed. But there have never been times when I thought I would fail

I truly love the game; I wouldn't be playing if I didn't love the game. I'm not getting paid astronomical dollars; it's truly for the love of the game of basketball.

Even though, physically, I can't do it, the mind says, 'Yeah, I can still do it,' and I still think I can do it better than most in the NBA, … Driven From Within.

The problem with many athletes is they take themselves seriously and their sport lightly.

In developing teams, I don't believe in rules. I believe in standards. Rules don't promote teamwork, standards do

I have a plan of action, but the game is a game of adjustments.

Good sound habits are more important than rules - use concepts.

Whatever a leader does now sets up what he does later. And there's always a later.