1.You don’t win championships by just being normal, by just being average.
2. I lived to play basketball. Growing up as a kid, Bill Russell and the Boston Celtics were my favorite team. The way they played, the teamwork, the sacrifice, the commitment, the joy, the camaraderie, the relationship with the fans.
3. But you have to understand, my beard is so nasty. I mean, it’s the only beard in the history of Western civilization that makes Bob Dylan’s beard look good.
4. The Grateful Dead, they’re my best friends. Their message of hope, peace, love, teamwork, creativity, imagination, celebration, the dance, the vision, the purpose, the passion all of the things I believe in makes me the luckiest Deadhead in the world.
5. I had the only beard in the Western Hemisphere that made Bob Dylan’s look good.
6. I can think. I can sleep. I can move. I can ride my bike. I can dream.
7. I have nothing but respect for the Lakers. So many of their legends shaped who I am as a person and player.
8. Basketball is one of those rare opportunities where you can make a difference, not only for yourself, but for other people as well.
9. We can never thank David Stern enough. His vision to use basketball to improve the quality of our lives to make this world a better and saner place, that guy, is the most important man in the history of basketball.
10. Life is easy when you’re hot. But what happens when the ball bounces the other way? You just keep getting back up and climbing up.
11. At 49, I can say something I never would have said when I was a player, that I’m a better person because of my failures and disgraces.
12. A lot of people understand what not saying anything means, so, in effect, not saying anything is really saying a lot.
13. When you are in unrelenting, excruciating and debilitating pain that never goes away for years on end, your life is over.
14. The great thing about being a broadcaster is you have this incredible responsibility to the people that make it all happen, the people that turn on the television set.
15. Life is about growth. People are not perfect when they’re 21 years old.
16. My life changed irrevocably four-and-a-half years ago when my spine failed and collapsed. I spent two years on the floor, in excruciating, debilitating and unrelenting pain. I can only describe the pain as being submerged into a vat of scalding acid that has an electric current running through it. And you can never get out, ever.
17. My bike is my gym, my wheelchair and my church all in one. I’d like to ride my bike all day long but I’ve got this thing called a job that keeps getting in the way.
18. Without question, no hesitation, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was the best player I ever played against.
19. I grew up in an non-athletic family, where my parents were interested in music, in literature, in education and art.
20. Music is critical in our lives and culture. It’s the inspiration that drives us. It’s also the window to our souls. It’s a reflection as to who we are, what we stand for and where we’re going.
21. I don’t sleep much. I’m on the go. My mind is racing. My wife says my mind is like the rolling dials on a slot machine. So, yeah, I think about everything.
22. That’s what makes it so fun to be on a team. You’re sitting at your house, thinking up this wild, crazy stuff as to how it’s going to go, and the other guys are sitting at their houses doing the same thing.
23. No one missed more basketball in the history of NBA than I did. I played 14 seasons, on the roster for 14 years, and I missed more than nine-and-a-half full seasons.
24. I’ve had 36 orthopedic operations, have two fused ankles, my knees, hands and wrists don’t work, I now have a fused spine, other than that, everything is great.
25. Well, we’ve made some changes on this tour. We’re no longer sleeping in the parking lots and swimming in the fountains. We’ve been staying in hotels most of the way, though I will say some hotels have declined to take us because we’re just having too much fun.
26. Bill Russell was my favorite player of all-time.
27. Being a broadcaster encompasses the business of sport, which is my life today, and it encompasses the skills of being a history student, and the ability of being a performer.
28. When you find yourself talking about less and less and forgetting the love that you bring, never forget there are things you can replace but others you can not.
29. If you’re living for today, if you’re only dreaming about yesterday, it doesn’t work. You got to know that tomorrow is going to be better. Then you’re on your way.
30. Chick Hearn was my favorite broadcaster ever – he’s the one who taught me to think basketball, how to love basketball.
31. Health is the most critical thing in our life. With your health anything is possible, without it you can’t do anything.
32. Health is a function of three things. 1. Luck 2. Genetics and 3. Choices in your lifestyle.
33. I’m a lifelong stutterer.
34. Anytime you bring Michael Olowokandi on to your team, disaster is soon to follow.
35. Kevin Garnett is the prototype for the NBA player of the future. He’s already one of the greatest players to have played the game.
36. Kazemi has to understand that nobody is going to tell him he has to go back to Iran if he misses a shot.
37. When everybody thinks alike, nobody thinks.
38. What a pathetic play from a pathetic human being.
39. Greg Ostertag is one of the top centers on this planet!
40. Steve Nash is the most unathletic player in the league.
41. Where else but the NBA could people like Bill Russell, Spencer Haywood, Ricky Barry, Dennis Rodman, and Allen Iverson come in and be allowed to be who they are?
42. You look at Vladimir Radmanovic, this guy is cut from stone. As if Michelangelo was reading and a lightening bolt flashed before him.
43. Doug Christie, what skill, what strenght, what power, what quickness. The visionof Magic Johnson, the athletisicm of Michael Jordan, the toughness of larry Bird. Dough Christie has it all
44. Why is Scottie Pippen taking a charge? Taking a charge is for people with no game!
45. Patrick Ewing used to be much better in every aspect of the game.
46. The only man who can stop Cliff Robinson is Cliff Robinson. The man is unstoppable even at 38.
47. Kenyon Martin is the 2nd best player in the Eastern Conference.
48. Yao Ming is the best thing to happen to the NBA in a long time. He is just a beautiful person inside and out. The vision, the creativity, the gentleness of spirit … he has it all.
49. When you intercept the ball with your stomach, that is great defense
50. At 49, I can say something I never would have said when I was a player. I am a better person because of my failures and disgraces.
51. A huge Chinese population here in… Houston.
52. Success at the highest level comes down to one question: Can you decide that your happiness can come from someone else’s success?
53. I learned a long time ago that minor surgery is when they do operation on someone else, not you.
54. Growing up, my parents were very, very strict. And then I went to UCLA with John Wooden, who was just off the charts.
55. Mick Jagger is in better shape than far too many NBA players. It’s up in the air whether the same can be said of Keith Richards.
56. Tracy McGrady is doing things we’ve never seen from anybody – from any planet!
57. I mean, I’m 6-foot-11, I’ve got red hair, freckles, I’m a goofy, nerdy-looking guy, I’ve got a speech impediment-I stutter and stammer all the time-and I’m a Deadhead.
58. I was a skinny, scrawny guy. I stuttered horrendously, couldn’t speak at all. I was a very shy, reserved player and a very shy, reserved person. I found a safe place in life in basketball.
59. Right now, you know, it’s not about the refs or anything else, it’s about hitting first, getting on the run and never looking back.
60. If Anthony Johnson ever gets a jumper, who’s going to stop him?
