You have to be willing to take on challenges.

I always tried to play with intensity and focus.

You have to be willing to put in the time to develop your skills.

I always tried to lead by example.

I wanted to be a player who could deliver in clutch moments.

The key to success is to never give up.

I wanted to be remembered as a player who gave it everything he had.

Winning isn’t everything, but it’s the most important thing.

The key to success is to always keep pushing yourself.

I wasn’t the most gifted player, but I had a lot of heart.

Being a great player isn’t just about talent. It’s about hard work and dedication.

Sometimes you just have to go out there and let your instincts take over.

This is a silly place. Half the world has no clean water. The other half has so much that they pooh in it.

In basketball, you have to have a short memory. You can’t dwell on mistakes.

Guys like Larry Bird – he played so hard, he wants everybody else to play hard. That’s not unreasonable. Any coach would want that and demand that.

You can’t let your opponents see that you’re nervous or unsure.

Every player has their own style. Mine was just a little different.

My name’s been on this check for a week now.

Winning is what matters most to me.

I can see why fans don’t like to watch pro basketball. I don’t, either. It’s not exciting.

It’s been a journey, the NBA. It’s taken me a lot farther than I ever expected.

Strength is not nearly as important as desire. I don’t think you can teach anyone desire. I think it’s a gift. I don’t know why I have it, but I do.

When it gets down to it, basketball is basketball.

You have to earn your respect on the court.

I wasn’t the fastest or the strongest, but I had a great understanding of the game.

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

Eminem. My son was listening to that and I was like, “What is that junk?” Then I started listening and I thought, You know, that kid is pretty good. It’s the storytelling.

I like being by myself.

Basketball is a game of skill, not luck.

I really don’t like talking about money. All I can say is that the Good Lord must have wanted me to have it.

I get homesick.

I wanted to compete at the highest level again – and that’s the NBA

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

I wanted to be the guy who took the last shot. I wanted the responsibility.

Anytime you’ve got an opportunity to play for your country and win a gold medal, I think that takes it all. That’s the greatest thing you could ever achieve in your sport. So, I have been very fortunate to play on great teams, but the gold medal was probably the best.

While day by day the overzealous student stores up facts for future use, he who has learned to trust nature finds need for ever fewer external directions. He will discard formula after formula, until he reaches the conclusion: Let nature take its course.

The one thing that always bothered me when I played in the NBA was I really got irritated when they put a white guy on me.

I learned that it’s not about how many shots you make, but when you make them.

You don’t have to be flashy to be great. You just have to be effective.

When you’re a great player, you don’t have to talk trash. Your game speaks for itself.

I learned what my weaknesses were and I went out the next day to turn those weaknesses intro strengths.

I’m a loner.

I always tried to make my teammates better. That was my job.

I just tried to stay focused on what I needed to do.

I was always making decisions and they were easier decisions because I had control of the game, I had control of the ball. As a coach you sort of put the ball in other player’s hands and let them make decisions for you. But I still get a kick out of winning basketball games and that’s what I’m in this for.

I used to love the feeling of running, of running too far. It made my skin tingle.

I just shoot until I feel good.

I had a lot of confidence, but I also worked really hard.

I think a lot of blue collar people related to me because a lot of people work for their money.

As far as playing, I didn’t care who guarded me – red, yellow, black. I just didn’t want a white guy guarding me, because it’s disrespect to my game.

The nature of competition is such that any number of people invariably have their eyes on the same prize you do. Recognize your assets and employ them to the best of your ability.

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.

I wanted to win. I wanted to be the best.

Basketball has been my life and I worked at it so hard because I enjoyed it so much.

I don’t think that once you get to one level, you can relax. You’ve got to keep pushing.

When I go to the line I’m thinking ‘All net.’ When I don’t think that, I’m likely to miss.

I mean, the greatest athletes in the world are African-American.

I wasn’t afraid to fail. I was afraid not to try.

In the closing seconds of every game, I want the ball in my hands for the last shot – not in anybody else’s, not in anybody else’s in the world.

I knew I was as good as anybody. That’s not really bragging; it’s just that I’d put the time in.

When I was young, I never wanted to leave the court until I got things exactly correct. My dream was to become a pro.

When I was a kid, I never thought about anything. Never had to think about where I was going to school or what I was going to do. I just lived minute to minute.

There’s no such thing as a bad shot if you’re wide open.

Michael Jordan is God disguised as a basketball player.

There are many times when you are better off practicing than playing; but most people just don’t understand that.

I’m a firm believer in that you play the way you practice.

The best player I ever played with was Dennis Johnson.

I always thought the ball was going in. It was just a matter of making the right play.

My coach told me, “Larry, no matter how much you work at it, there’s always someone out there who’s working just a little harder – if you take 150 practice shots, he’s taking 200.” And that drove me.

Practice habits were crucial to my development in basketball. I didn’t play against the toughest competition in high school, but one reason I was able to do well in college was that I mastered the fundamentals. You’ve got to have them down before you can even think about playing.

It makes me sick when I see a guy just stare at a loose ball and watch it go out of bounds.

Leadership is getting players to believe in you. If you tell a teammate you’re ready to play as tough as you’re able to, you’d better go out there and do it. Players will see right through a phony. And they can tell when you’re not giving it all you’ve got.

The best player I ever played against was Magic Johnson. He was the total package.

Who’s guarding me, Chuck? Is anyone guarding me? You better get someone on me or I’m gonna go for 60.

I don’t know if I practiced more than anybody, but I sure practiced enough. I still wonder if somebody – somewhere – was practicing more than me.

Once you are labeled ‘the best’ you want to stay up there, and you can’t do it by loafing around.

The best players will play. That’s the way it will always be.

I don’t think about what I did. I think about what I need to do.

Hey, coach, you better get somebody else out here to guard me because I’m killing this guy.

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

I wasn’t real quick, and I wasn’t real strong. Some guys will just take off and it’s like, whoa. So I beat them with my mind and my fundamentals.

Leadership is diving for a loose ball, getting the crowd involved, getting other players involved. It’s being able to take it as well as dish it out. That’s the only way you’re going to get respect from the players.

I never thought about being the best player in the game, just the best player I could be.

I’ve been around a while. I kinda know these things.

The more you win, the better you’re gonna get. It grows on itself.

I hate to lose more than I like to win.

It doesn’t matter who scores the points, it’s who can get the ball to the scorer.

I don’t believe in luck. I believe in preparation.

First master the fundamentals.

I’ve got a theory that if you give 100% all of the time, somehow things will work out in the end.

Push yourself again and again. Don’t give an inch until the final buzzer sounds.

A winner is someone who recognizes his God-given talents, works his tail off to develop them into skills, and uses these skills to accomplish his goals.