Dr James Naismith (creator of basketball):
-Be strong in body, clean in mind, lofty in ideals.
-The invention of basketball was not an accident. It was developed to meet a need. Those boys simply would
not play "Drop the Handkerchief."
-I am sure that no man can derive more pleasure from money or power than I do from seeing a pair of basketball
goals in some out of the way place--deep in the Wisconsin woods an old barrel hoop nailed to a tree,
or a weather-beaten shed on the Mexican border with a rusty iron hoop nailed to one end.
-You can't coach basketball Forrest, you play it. (to F.C. "Phog" Allen in 1906)
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
-The first time I shot the hook, I was in fourth grade, and I was about five feet eight inches tall. I put the ball up and felt totally at ease with the shot. I was completely confident it would go in. I've been shooting it ever since.
-I try to do the right thing at the right time. They may just be little things, but usually they make the difference between winning and losing.
-One man can be a crucial ingredient on a team, but one man cannot make a team.
Woody Allen:
What is so fascinating about sitting around watching a bunch of pituitary cases stuff a ball through a hoop (in "Annie Hall")
Red Auerbach:
Basketball is like war in that offensive weapons are developed first, and it always takes a while for the defense to catch up.
Charles Barkley:
-I don't believe professional athletes should be role models. I believe parents should be role models....
-If I weren't earning $3 million a year to dunk a basketball, most people on the street would run in the other direction
if they saw me coming
People say I enjoy being famous. I don't. But what choice do I have?
-These are my new shoes. They're good shoes. They won't make you rich like me, they won't make you rebound like me,\
they definitely won't make you handsome like me. They'll only make you have shoes like me. That's it!
(In a commercial for basketball shoes)
Larry Bird:
First master the fundamentals
Wilt Chamberlain:
They say that nobody is perfect. Then they tell you practice makes perfect. I wish they'd make up their minds.
Jack Donohue (Canadian national team coach):
-If you fall into a puddle wearing a new suit, you can either whine for months about ruining your suit or check for fish.
-He's the one who's working in the NBA and I'm unemployed (on advice he would give to former player Jay Triano
as he was about to join Toronto Raptors coaching staff)
Weldon Drew:
We have a great bunch of outside shooters. Unfortunately, all our games are played indoors.
Tim Duncan:
Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Until your good is better and your better is best.
Patrick Ewing:
We might make a lot of money but, we also spend a lot of money
Shannon Fish:
"If you are going to take it to the bank, then you better cash it in."
Dan Frisby:
Basketball is like photography, if you don't focus, all you have is the negative
Kevin Garnett:
They're really aggressive. They're like roaches on bread - you drop some on the floor and, boom, they're on it.
Stewart Granger:
The rule was "No autopsy, no foul." (on the pickup games of his childhood)
Phil Jackson:
If you meet the Buddha in the lane, feed him the ball.
Magic Johnson:
"I learned to give him the ball".... (Magic Johnson's answer when he was asked about what he learned about the game of basketball by playing with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar)
-It's almost as if we have ESPN (about playing with James Worthy)
-They said playing basketball would kill me. Well, not playing basketball was killing me (after being diagnosed as HIV positive)
Michael Jordan:
Even when I'm old and gray, I won't be able to play it, but I'll still love the game.
John Kerr:
I would get close to him and breathe on his goggles... (when asked how he would guard somebody like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar)
Bobby Knight:
You don't play against opponents. You play against the game of basketball.
Abe Lemons:
There are really only two plays: Romeo and Juliet, and put the darn ball in the basket.
Sara Levinson:
Basketball is the MTV of sports.
ShaquilleO'Neal:
I can't really remember the names of the clubs that we went to
(in answer to a question whether he visited the Parthenon while in Greece)
I'm tired of hearing about money, money, money, money, money. I just want to play the game, drink Pepsi, wear Reebok.
Scottie Pippen:
Sometimes a player's greatest challenge is coming to grips with his role on the team.
George Raveling:
Fans never fall asleep at our games, because they're afraid they might get hit by a pass.
Doc Rivers:
Winning is like deodorant - it comes up and a lot of things don't stink.
Bill Russell:
The idea is not to block every shot. The idea is to make your opponent believe that you might block every shot.
Scott Skiles:
My problem would not be, 'Can I play in the game?' It would be, 'Can I get up the next morning?' That's one of the reasons I stopped playing. I got tired of crawling to the breakfast table the next morning
Norm Stewart:
We're shooting 100 percent - 60 percent from the field and 40 percent from the free-throw line
Jerry Tarkanian:
The secret is to have eight great players and four others who will cheer like crazy.
Isiah Thomas:
If all I'm remembered for is being a good basketball player, then I've done a bad job with the rest of my life.
Tom Tolbert:
I look at the NBA as a football game without the helmet.
Jeff Tufford:
I can teach you how to dribble, pass and shoot the right way, but I cannot make you do it the right way.
Bill Vaughn:
Any American boy can be a basketball star if he grows up, up, up.
Dick Vertleib:
This is the second most exciting indoor sport, and the other one shouldn't have spectators.
Paul Westphal:
You can run a lot of plays when your X is twice as big as the other guys' O. It makes your X's and O's pretty good.
John Edgar Wideman:
When it's played the way is spozed to be played, basketball happens in the air; flying, floating, elevated above the floor, levitating the way oppressed peoples of this earth imagine themselves in their dreams
Unknown:
-The backboard is your friend.
-Basketball doesn't build character. It reveals it.
-If you think small things don't matter, think of the last game you lost by one point.
-It is not how big you are, it is how big you play.
-In our court there are no objections...Only rejections! Block it!
-On any given night, anyone can be anyone.
-The harder you fall down, the higher you will bounce back up
-The hoop is open, the net is hot! Make that shot!
-My responsibility is getting all my players playing for the name on the front of the jersey, not the one on the back
-You miss 100% of the shots you don't take! Shoot the hoop!
Basketball Expressions
-Alley Oop to the Hoop!
-Beat him at the jump!
-Block that shot!
-Chairman of the Boards!
-Full Court PRESS!
-Guard your man!
-Get in your zone!
-Go for the three!
-Hands up! Block that shot!
-Hoop it up!
-Hoop, there it is!
-It's not the Hype, It's the Hoop!
-Keep that ball alive!
-Kiss the Rim!
-My 3 is an arc form!
-Nothin' But Net!
-Play ball!
-Pound the boards!
-Put it through for Two!
-Reject that shot!
-The Rim Reapers!
-Rip off the tip off!
-Sink it and Win!
-Sink that shot!
-Slam the competition!
-Take it to the Hoop!
-Turning the team around 360 degrees.
-We've got the Hoopla!
