Famous Quotes & Sayings

Dean Smith

I wasn't as critical during games as I was at practice. Players needed confidence during games more than criticism.

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.

Dan Bailey

Champions have no off-season.

Elgin Baylor

Not only do I admire Jordan's accomplishments and his phenomenal basketball ability, but also the way he has conducted himself on and off the court. I don't think there will ever be another player to have the same impact on the game of basketball as Michael Jordan.

Elgin Baylor

Coaching is easy. Winning is the hard part.

Elgin Baylor

If you look up the definition of greatness in the dictionary, it will say Michael Jordan.

Eli Manning

It was a great place to grow up. There were always kids around in our neighborhood. We had a basketball hoop in the back of our house, a little front yard where you could get touch football games going. I know you think of it as a big city, but it was fun for me to grow up in New Orleans. I remember it as a very normal childhood.

Eli Manning

I don't play basketball for the money. I don't play it for the crowd. When I didn't have a friend, when I was lonely, I always knew I could grab that orange pill and go hoop. I could go and dunk on somebody. If things weren't going right, I could make a basket and feel better.

Eli Manning

Chicago was big for me as far as developing as a person and as a basketball player.

B. C. Forbes

It is when things go hardest, when life becomes most trying, that there is greatest need for having a fixed goal.

B. C. Forbes

Diamonds are only lumps of coal that stuck to their jobs.

Ben Roethlisberger

Basketball was always my first love, but once I had a good year as a senior, I figured the next step was to play college football.

Ben Silbermann

As a kid, I always idolized entrepreneurs. I thought they were cool people in the way that I thought basketball players were cool people. It's cool that some people get paid to dunk basketballs, but I'm not one of those people.

Avery Johnson

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, to make sure that I was always ready to play and try to stay ahead of the game, 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.

Avery Johnson

People really don't care, in some ways, that you have a family. With a high profile job like I have, they just want you to win basketball games. You can do that and still keep your family together. I try the best I can to be at the basketball practices or tennis practices or recitals. In my first year at Dallas my (then 11-year old) son Avery Jr., said, "You know daddy, you're still the best coach in the NBA." I was like, "But I haven't won a playoff game yet." And he said, "That's okay. You're still my daddy." That makes you feel good.

Ashley Judd

And it blew my mind when I started to get wind of the fact that they actually liked me being around. That was humbling, because Kentucky basketball is a big deal, and I am not the biggest fan - I am just the most notorious one.

Oliver is probably the best high school basketball player that has ever played here on this court. He is just a phenomenal scorer. He hit every shot with a hand in his face. I don't think we could have guarded him any tighter than we did and he still made them, even on the four-point play.

Andrew Bogut

Some American guys talk and try to intimidate you. Basketball is basketball. You put the ball in the hole, and you're going to win the game. You've just got to keep playing your game.

Shooting 34 percent in the state basketball tournament, I don't think you're going to win a lot of games.

She can score, she can rebound, she can play the point. Literally, she could play any position. ... She brings that element off the bench that can do all the dirty work, and she's got a lot of basketball smarts.

She has a lot of basketball knowledge. She played pretty decent defense early, but by the end of the year she was pretty solid defensively. It's nice to know that we have someone that is a true point guard.

She has just been a blessing to the program. Not only is she a fine basketball player, she's also a tremendous person in the sense that she's a team player, an outstanding student, and someone who is important to the program because of the example she sets for the younger players.

She beat me pretty good. That was the first time I saw her with a basketball in her hands. I quickly learned how well she could shoot the ball.