Best Team Basketball Quotes & Sayings

As a coach, you're just trying to figure out how to keep a team on edge. You've got to find that edge. — Don Meyer

I found the bench to be the greatest ally when I had to make individuals comply with what was best for the team — John Wooden

The truth of basketball is done in competition and fundamentals and team, but there's a lot of other junk that goes around the game. — George Karl

Michael Jordon may have been the best basketball player in history, but he couldn't have won six NBA titles without a team. — Mark E. Hyman

You don't have to be best friends as basketball players but I do believe in chemistry. I think it makes everything different if a team is really together and they're all on that same page. They might not like each other, per se, but if you're on the same page and the chemistry is there, you can play great basketball. You can go back to teams like Detroit, the Bad Boys. Those guys had great chemistry, that's why they won. — Dwight Howard

I'm not really worried about my numbers now as a 36-year-old. I'm not trying to be the first, experimental case of a 36-year-older trying to maintain his numbers, especially when I'm on a team like this. Can I do the same stuff I could do when I was Amare's age? Of course not. I'm not going to even try. However, I feel that I'm the baddest 36-year-old out there. — Shaquille O'Neal

The best teams play for each other, not with each other — Jeff Van Gundy

The two top teams with nice weather and nice people were Dallas and Miami. Of course, the Lakers wouldn't want to trade me in the same conference, so Miami was perfect. — Shaquille O'Neal

Characteristics of a Team Player We all fit into different niches. Each of us must make the effort to contribute to the best of our ability according to our own individual talents. And then we put all the individual talents together for the highest good of the group. Thus, I valued a player who cared for others and could lose himself in the group for the good of the group. I believe that quality makes for an outstanding player. It is also why the best players don't always make the best team. I mean by this that a gifted player, or players, who are not team players will ultimately hurt the team, whether it revolves around basketball or business. Understanding that the good of the group comes first is fundamental to being a highly productive member of a team. — John Wooden

Pete Berman sized up his competition like a predator lining up its prey. Gerry Williams dribbled once with his left hand, stopped on a dime, and nailed an open 15-footer. He had played on the Fellingwood Varsity Basketball Team since his freshman year, and was now a 16 year-old boy in a man's body. Pete sat on a board of the old splinter-ridden, wooden stands fixed on Gerry, but he was unable to defend his turf. His team was losing badly again, and the waiting was pure agony. — Phil Wohl

This is a team game and one man doesn't win and one man doesn't lose. In the end, the best team usually wins. — Wilt Chamberlain

Winning teams at the NBA level, the college level, and the high school level all play team basketball. Championship teams have five players on the same page at all times. — Hubie Brown

The team is an extension of the coach. — Don Meyer

I understand the NBA and the role I play on my team. I know that I have to play a leadership role and do whatever I have to do to win. — Carmelo Anthony

On paper, I think this is the best team I've been on. — Shaquille O'Neal

Offense at Indiana is not equal opportunity. Those players who shoot best are going to shoot most. It is important that every player know his offensive limitations. It is also important that a player know who the best shooter is on the team. When a passer has the option of passing to two players, I expect him to get the ball to the best shooter. I continually stop practice and ask players who the best shooter is and I expect them to know. It is important that you get the ball to your best shooter. — Bobby Knight

I wanna make uniforms for my high school basketball team through brand Yeezy. — Kanye West

The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team. — Phil Jackson

Stop by stop by stop. Play aggressively. Sprint back on 'D' and pay attention to how we're supposed to guard as a team — Gregg Popovich

My mother used to say, 'You gotta exercise.' She would really pound on me to exercise every day. She was very physically fit; she was on the basketball team in high school in St. Louis in the 1920s, when women didn't do that. And she taught me to play tennis, taught me to walk and run, and I ran for 30 years pretty religiously. — Dick Gephardt

In basketball, you can be the greatest individual player in the world and still lose every game, because a team will always beat an individual. — Bill Walton

I played a little basketball, but basketball interfered with theater season. That's when we did our term plays and did nutshell versions of Shakespeare for English classes. And, believe me, I got a fair amount of looks from the guys on the team. 'You're in theater but you can play football?' — Dennis Haysbert

I think what has happened to our basketball team, we've been badly distracted. They're not reading too many positive things in the paper. — Bill Russell

The best teams have chemistry. They communicate with each other and they sacrifice personal glory for a common goal. — Dave DeBusschere

It's been kind of hard, I'm labeled as a jerk right now, you know what I mean? But I love it. I've been a jerk all my life. My momma loves this jerk. My kids love this jerk. I'm going to be a jerk in a good way, though. I'm going to be a jerk to the other teams and just go out there and play basketball. I can do that. — Stephen Jackson

Perhaps the toughest call for a coach is weighing what is best for an individual against what is best for the team. Keeping a player on the roster just because I liked him personally, or even because of his great contributions to the team in the past, when I felt some one else could do more for the team would be a disservice to the team's goals. — Tom Landry

When I was really young, the women's national team wasn't on a grand media stage, so my role models were male basketball and male American football players. — Abby Wambach

Why don't they allow professional wrestling at the Olympics? They allow pro basketball players and hockey players. Olympic pro wrestling would be awesome. The team from Mexico could wear those Mr. X masks. The French wrestler could hit his opponent with a baguette. Or perhaps just surrender. — Craig Ferguson

Mental Toughness is doing the right thing for the team when it's not the best thing for you — Bill Belichick

Basketball teams, after the perfunctory lay-up drill, fall into the crowded isolation and personal style of 10 city kids shooting at the same basket or playing one-on-one. — Ted Solotaroff

I grew up in Westlake Villiage, a suburb of L.A. There was a guy there who was a fighter and was like, 'I'll teach you to box.' I started a little bit of boxing, then it crossed over into jiu-jitsu. I was into it for a little while, but then I started doing basketball, baseball, team sports. — Jonathan Lipnicki

Reggie when I first met you, You didn't say two words to me, I didn't know who you were, But we instantly clicked, And you became one of my best friends man ... Words can't express how much I care about you, Your well-being, How you feeling, Not even just basketball man, But off the court, I always make sure you're alright. You're such a humble person man. You do everything for the team. You always put yourself last. And I learned a lot from you. Thank you man, thank you. — Kevin Durant

I played small forward on the basketball team. I also ran the 300 hurdles. — Gabriel Luna

Westbrook: 10 triple-doubles and carrying that team, injury-prone, into the playoffs. LeBron being the best player in the world. But I think right now I would go with James Harden because of what he's done. He's stepped up his game defensively. He's not a great defender but he's competing on the defensive end. — Mark Jackson

I'll just have to get it against my favorite team. — Shaquille O'Neal

I didn't expect this award [the 2008 MVP] would come to me. I'm surprised. I've played pretty well in other seasons. Our team hasn't been as good. Things just fell into place. — Kobe Bryant

Championship teams are built on being prepared, playing unselfishly and being held accountable — Jason Kidd

There's a misconception about teamwork. Teamwork is the ability to have different thoughts about things; it's the ability to argue and stand up and say loud and strong what you feel. But in the end, it's also the ability to adjust to what is the best for the team. — Tom Landry

I'm someone who always comes on the court no matter what's going on in my life. It's all about basketball and my teammates and my team. I don't let any distractions in, and I bring my best every night, regardless of what's going on or what people are talking about. — Kris Humphries

My goal was just to try and be the best player on my high school team, and look where I am now. And that was still my goal as a young kid, just to try and be a little better than my brother was. — Larry Bird

The 1992 US Olympic basketball team is the best sports team ever, the equivalent of rounding up the greatest American writers of the last century or so and watching them collaborate: 'OK, Twain, you do the dialogue and hand off to Faulkner. He'll do the interior monologue. Hemingway will edit - no, don't make that face, you know you overwrite. And be nice to Cheever. He's young, but he's got a good ear. Wharton and Cather can't play - they're girls.' — Anna Quindlen

Our offensive philosophy is to simply find a way to get the ball into the hands of our team's best player. — Kelvin Sampson

We love playing together and we love adversity. You know, back-to-back, the two best teams in the East. — Steve Nash

When I bought the [WNBA] team, I saw that no one really cared about them. Like the locker facilities that these young women have to work in-they weren't right. I want to give them the best locker room facilities and show them they're valued-because if you show them value, they're going to perform better. And this goes for all women, not just basketball players. — Sheila Johnson

I think in college they give you a chance to really mature, form yourself and build relationships. I think that's what a team is all about, and when you build relationships, it shows on the court and that brings out success. I love the whole attitude of staying in college to take advantage of a free education. I just felt like Kentucky wasn't a fit for me. The whole attitude and approach of the one-and-dones, that's good for them, that's their decision. But I think [Duke] Coach [Mike Krzyzewski] is a guru of basketball. I want to learn from one of the best. — Jabari Parker

Leaders have to search for the heart on a team, because the person who has it can bring out the best in everybody else. — Mike Krzyzewski

The best way to build team chemistry is the way Rupp used to substitute, when they fouled out. — Dean Smith

Basketball is a great mystery. You can do everything right. You can have the perfect mix of talent and the best system of offense in the game. You can devise a foolproof defensive strategy and prepare your players for every possible eventuality. But if the players don't have a sense of oneness as a group, your efforts won't pay off. And the bond that unites a team can be so fragile, so elusive. — Phil Jackson

A lot of people talk about the Fab Five, and they were wonderful, one of the best teams you'll ever see in college basketball. But the '89 team is the best one to ever play at Michigan in my opinion because they won the national championship. Winning a championship is winning a championship. — Trey Burke

The best teams are team in any sport that lose themselves in the team. The individuals lose their identity. And their identities come about as a result of being in the team first. — Mike Krzyzewski

A lot of players know how to play the game, but they really don't know how to play the game, if you know what I mean. They can put the ball in the hoop, but I see things before they even happen. You know how a guy can make his team so much better? That's one thing I learned from watching Jordan. — LeBron James

The biggest thing that will define my legacy is how I've done it, and what I've done, and who I am. I'm a weird big guy. Doing rapping, doing movies. Do a lot of stuff. But always do things the right way. Went to the police academy to become a police officer. Get his master's in criminal justice, stayed out of trouble. Played for three different teams. Changed three different franchises around. This is a guy who they would have secret meetings about to change the rules. So, that's going to be my legacy: the most dominant player ever. — Shaquille O'Neal

The doors had a peephole, and periodically an Iranian guard would look through and choose who he would let in. It was a bit like waiting to be picked for a sports team at school. You stand there trying to look as useful as possible to the two kids lucky enough to have been chosen as captains. If they were picking you for footy you tried to look as tough as possible. For basketball, you tried to look as tall as possible. For cricket, as long-suffering and patient as possible. That day, every time the guard looked through the peephole, I tried to look as un-Great Satan-like as I could. — Peter Moore

A basketball team is like the five fingers on your hand. If you can get them all together, you have a fist. That's how I want you to play. — Mike Krzyzewski

We're talking about being relevant again. I want the Sixers to be on people's tongues again ... I want the Sixers to be the basketball team that people want to see. — Doug Collins

Don't let talent get in way of team performance. Great players do what's outstanding for team, not what makes them stand out — Jerry West

I've always been a quitter. I quit the Boy Scouts, the glee club, the marching band. Gave up my paper route, turned my back on the church, stuffed the basketball team. I dropped out of college, sidestepped the army with a 4-F on the grounds of mental instability, went back to school, made a go of it, entered a Ph.D. program in nineteenth-century British literature, sat in the front row, took notes assiduously, bought a pair of horn-rims, and quit on the eve of my comprehensive exams. I got married, separated, divorced. Quit smoking, quit jogging, quit eating red meat. I quit jobs: digging graves, pumping gas, selling insurance, showing pornographic films in an art theater in Boston. When I was nineteen I made frantic love to a pinch-faced, sack-bosomed girl I'd known from high school. She got pregnant. I quit town. — T.C. Boyle

I'll play all five positions if my team needs me to. — Kevin Durant

The highest level of achievement is attained by the teams with the best conditioned players — Jack Ramsay

I tried out for my basketball team every year and I never made it. You had to buy the shoes before you knew if you were on the team because it took a few weeks for them to ship. I bought the shoes every year, never once made the team, had a ton of high school basketball shoes. — Adam DeVine

A long list. From getting cut from the high school basketball team, to getting fired from jobs, getting credit cards rejected and cut up. Rejection has only been a distraction, not a roadblock. "Every no gets me closer to a yes," was the saying I used to use. — Mark Cuban

People will think there are no other great ballplayers. Look at Garnett. Look at Duncan, Shaq, Kobe. Look at the players with Sacramento. The have a really good basketball team. — Oscar Robertson

When a player keeps a calm demeanor on the court, it's easier for his ability to shine. The best response to an opposing player's physical or psychological tactics is to keep cool and come right back at him with the force of your game, not your fists. Revenge is always sweeter if your team wins the game. — Walt Frazier

I don't put pressure on myself. When I put pressure on myself, then I just play bad. When I play bad, my team plays bad. — Carmelo Anthony

It's LeBron's team. He's the captain. This is the time in my career where I can fit in. I'm now in the security business. My job is to protect the King, and that's what I'm here to do. — Shaquille O'Neal

We may not be the best conditioned team in the country, but our players think they are. — John Wooden

I'll take the contract. He can have the team. — Herbert Kohl

To me, the big thing in being a successful team is repetition of what you're doing, either by word of mouth, blackboard, or specifically by work on the field. You repeat, repeat, repeat as a unit. — Vince Lombardi

We want stuff done right. As long as it's my team, I'll voice my opinion. Yep, it's my team. You media guys might give it to him, like you've given him everything else his whole lifetime, but this is the Diesel's ship. And if we're not right, I'm going to go out there and try to get it right ... Just ask Karl and Garywhy they wanted to come here. It was because of one person, not two. One. — Shaquille O'Neal

The strength of my Princeton teams has always been attitude, intelligence and discipline. — Pete Carril

The basketball team was trailing by three points. I trail by four points - north, south, east, and west. I also trail by covered wagon. — Jarod Kintz

The tradition in Serbia has always been team sports - football, basketball, handball, volleyball and water polo, individual sports are not supported. — Novak Djokovic

I was homecoming queen. I was star of my basketball team. — Marla Maples

You can't not be into basketball and grow up in Chicago or live in L.A., because people are so fanatical about the teams. You know what's going on with the games even if you don't watch. — Virginia Madsen

I think I was chosen by basketball, although I never really physically got drafted to any team that I played for. — Julius Erving

I remember one time being told I could not play in a basketball game at the College of William and Mary because I was black, even though I was playing with a United States Army team. — Walter Dean Myers

Damian Lillard is having a better year than Chris Paul. Lillard got snubbed when he was left off of the USA Men's Basketball team, and now the All-Star team. — Kenny Smith

Regard your team as a family. Give the same attention to the bottom guy as you do the top guy. You have a responsibility to all of your players. — Pete Newell

By analogy, if we were to develop a soccer team, then we would not invite basketball and volleyball players to the try outs. We would invite soccer players to apply. — Jean-Marie Le Pen

Nobody's more important than the team. — Rejean Houle

Tim Thomas is about excuses. It's always somebody else's fault. He said I was jealous? He should thank me for helping him get that contract. He said I didn't show? They traded me, they traded Ray, they traded Big Dog [Robinson] and Tim Thomas still wasn't the man on that team. Michael Redd became the man there. I think I'm doing quite well for myself here. Right now, he needs to focus on his game. Right now, he's not a good basketball player. And I like Tim Thomas. He just has too many damn excuses. — Sam Cassell

Goals should be realistic, attainable, and shared among all members of the team — Mike Krzyzewski

She understood about the comfort you can get from a small separate world, whether it's a theatre or a basketball team or the inside of a book. — Susan Cooper

I don't have a lot of experience running basketball teams.I'm just trying to get smart enough even to understand everything going on. As much of a fan as I am, I haven't played the game since ninth-grade. If you told me when I bought the team that there were 12 kinds of pick and rolls, I would've told you I have no frickin' clue about that. — Steve Ballmer

Baseball is a team game but, at the same time, it's a very lonely game: unlike in soccer or basketball, where players roam around, in baseball everyone has their little plot of the field to tend. When the action comes to you, the spotlight is on you but no one can help you. — Chad Harbach

Create unselfishness as the most important team attribute. — Bill Russell

People want to be on a team. They want to be part of something bigger than themselves. They want to be in a situation where they feel that they are doing something for the greater good. — Mike Krzyzewski

Being named as a finalist for the USA Basketball National Team is an unbelievable feeling and an opportunity that is truly humbling. It is an honor to be included with such talented players and I look forward to the chance to represent my country this summer. — James Harden