Basketball Player Quotes

“Anything can happen if you are willing to put in the work and remain open to the possibility. Dreams are realized by effort, determination, passion and staying connected to that sense of who you are.”

“All I knew is that I NEVER wanted to be AVERAGE.”

“I set another goal, a reasonable, manageable goal that I could realistically achieve if I worked hard enough. I approached everything step by step.”

“We all fly. Once you leave the ground, you fly. Some people fly longer than others.”

“I want to be perceived as a guy who played his best in all facets, not just scoring. A guy who loved challenges.”

“Everybody has talent, but ability takes hard work.”

“I built my talents on the shoulders of someone else's talent.”

“If I had stood at the free-throw line and thought about 10 million people watching me on the other side of the camera lens, I couldn't have made anything. So I mentally tried to put myself in a familiar place. I thought about all those times I shot free throws in practice and went through the same motion, the same technique that I had used thousands of times. You forget about the outcome. You know you are doing the right things. So you relax and perform.”

“You have competition every day because you set such high standards for yourself that you have to go out every day and live up to that.”

“I've never been afraid to fail.”

“It's absolutely wrong that I don't want guys to challenge me. And the people who say that aren't in the room.”

“I'm not out there sweating for three hours every day just to find out what it feels like to sweat.”

“I'd take 12 guys who had a strong passion for the game over 12 guys who don't respect the game.”

“Can I still dunk... Are you stupid?”

“If you are confident you have done everything possible to prepare yourself, then there is nothing to fear.”

“Sometimes I wonder what it will be like to look back on all this. Whether it will seem real.”

“Basketball isn't my job.”

“When I step onto the court, I'm ready to play. If you're going up against me, you'd better be ready. If you're not going to compete, I will dominate you.”

“Patience. I will become what I know I am.”

“Excellence isn't a one-week or one-year ideal. It's a constant.”

“Maybe it’s my own fault. Maybe I led you to believe it was easy when it wasn’t. Maybe I made you think my highlights started at the free throw line, and not in the gym. Maybe I made you think that every shot I took was a game winner. That my game was built on flash, and not fire. Maybe it’s my fault that you didn’t see that failure gave me strength; that my pain was my motivation. Maybe I led you to believe that basketball was a God given gift, and not something I worked for every single day of my life. Maybe I destroyed the game. Or maybe you’re just making excuses.”

“Focus like a laser, not a flashlight”

“There was never any fear for me, no fear of failure. If I miss a shot, so what?”

“A loss is not a failure until you make an excuse.”

“I know what I would do if I were coach. I'd determine our strengths and weaknesses and utilize them. And it's pretty clear what our strength is.”