Famous Quotes & Sayings

Dean Smith

Only praise behavior that you want to be repeated. Never use false praise.

Dean Smith

I do believe in praising that which deserves to be praised.

Dean Smith

A leader's job is to develop committed followers. Bad leaders destroy their followers' sense of commitment.

Dean Smith

You should sub a player out when you see a player not going full-speed or playing selfish basketball.

Dean Smith

The coach's job is to be part servant in helping each player reach his goals within the team concept.

Dean Smith

Good people are happy when something good happens to someone else.

Dean Smith

A lion never roars after a kill.

Dean Smith

Basketball is a beautiful game when the five players on the court play with one heartbeat.

Dean Smith

Basketball is a team game. But that doesn't mean all five players should have the same amount of shots.

Dean Smith

I always mean what I say, but I don't always say what I'm thinking.

Dean Smith

What do do with a mistake: recognize it, admit it, learn from it, forget it.

Dikembe Mutombo

I usually just speak in English when I'm on the basketball court. For some reason, my mind never even tried to cross any other language when I'm playing basketball.

Dikembe Mutombo

When I travel around the globe, I try as hard as I can to represent the NBA and the game of basketball to the best of my abilities. I get to go around the world and not only share the game but also my philanthropic work. Building a hospital in the Congo is one of the proudest achievements of my life.

Dikembe Mutombo

After spending more than 17 years playing for the NBA, in the summertime, I always came back to community service and different basketball clinics.

Edward Abbey

The function of football, soccer, basketball and other passion-sports in modern industrial society is the transference of boredom, frustration, anger and rage into socially acceptable forms of combat. A temporary substitute for war; for nationalism; identification with something bigger than the self.

Earl Nightingale

Successful people form the habit of doing what failures don't like to do. They like the results they get by doing what they don't necessarily enjoy.

Elinor Lipman

I was a roving guard on the Lowell Hebrew Community Center's girls' basketball team all through high school. My specialty was stealing the ball, but my only shot was a lay-up.

Dirk Nowitzki

I played all kinds of sports when I was young: tennis, handball, basketball, some soccer. I focused on basketball when I was 16 or 17 and then came to the U.S. when I was 20.

Dirk Nowitzki

I wanted to avoid service, because I was on the road to becoming a professional basketball player.

Dirk Nowitzki

Basketball gave me a lot, which is why I want to stay connected with this sport later on, maybe working with young people. But it would be more in the background. Being in the spotlight was never really my thing. I never wanted to be famous.

Dirk Nowitzki

I thought basketball was a game for women. My mother played basketball, and so did my sister.

Dirk Nowitzki

I always wanted to be a basketball player. Nothing more, nothing less.

Dirk Nowitzki

I know, basketball is a dance. I didn't understand the significance of that type of training at first. I was supposed to read poems...

Dirk Nowitzki

I take my sport damned seriously. Basketball is my life. There are other people who go into important games as if they were any other game. I'm a brooder and I spend a lot of time thinking about my opponent, about the things he can do and about what I have to do to win. I don't think I'll ever be able to change that.

Dick Vitale

One day to see that headline, not that someone won a basketball championship, but to see that a cure for cancer has been found, will be a great day for mankind.

Leon and I have talked a lot about his future and his options. He just had the best season of his basketball career, which is a credit to his work ethic and perseverance. I trust that Leon will ultimately make a great decision.

Lowell is a very, very good basketball team and they pushed us to the limit. Both teams played extremely well and I'm very happy with the way we hung in and executed at the end of the game.

Lorenzo will still be a valued member of our basketball family, and we will support him 100 percent in his desire to obtain his college degree.

Justin Young

Love is one of the top five players in the country, regardless of class. He's old-school, tough as nails and he's starting to extend his game out to the 3-point line. If you're a basketball purist, he's fun to watch.

Look, when we played Bellevue Christian the first time we got our doors blown off. I think we might be going the right direction at the right time. It would be great to play our best basketball in the state tournament.

Last year, we had (Brandon) McPherson and Donald (Cloutier) and Tyler (Morris). The year before we had Penny and Stefan Routt. These are guys that were awfully good basketball players. When you think of the Marion teams (that won three straight state titles in the '80s), it was all the same kids. They didn't have to make all the adjustments (from year to year).

Last year, we didn't have a whole lot of leadership from the seniors. I thought this year there's been a huge difference all the way through. We weren't playing very good basketball early in the year, and then throughout February into March we've been playing really, really solid basketball.

Juan Carlos

Many people who saw basketball as something distant, different from soccer, are coming around to the sport. It is becoming a national phenomenon.