Top 169 Quotes & Sayings by Kenny Smith
Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American athlete Kenny Smith.
Last updated on September 7, 2024.
I started playing basketball when I was 6 or 7. I wasn't strong enough to shoot the correct way, so I just used two hands. As I got older, I just kept shooting that way.
If LeBron James is playing in Las Vegas, the arena would be sold out, and it would be rocking. If LeBron James is playing for Las Vegas, it would be beyond sold out.
There's hasn't been a day in my life since I was 9 years old that I haven't touched a basketball or done something connected with basketball.
You can have your own thought process about things, but you still need to include and co-exist with other people.
There are people who will take shortcuts, and if you decide to take a shortcut, it usually backfires, so I'm proud to say I'm not a shortcut taker.
My mother and father didn't treat my brothers and sisters the same, so to treat 12 players exactly the same, that's a great accomplishment.
I think, for me, one of the things I've been blessed with is the ability to speak with clarity.
I always thought it's not that the greatest players in the world come from New York. It's just the guys who shouldn't have made it, they came from New York. That's what makes New York special.
By the time I turned 16, I'd played more than 300 games outside high school.
I don't know about bullying and all of that stuff. That doesn't work in basketball.
If you practice anything enough, you can be consistent.
When you play, you get an opportunity to hone your craft.
Mark Jackson played 19, 20 years in the NBA. Shouldn't even have probably been in the league, and he's the third-ranked assist guy in the NBA. But you describe his game: Can he jump? No, not really. How's his outside shot? Eh, it's inconsistent. Can he defend? Nah, he can't stay in front of guys. And he played 19 years!
You do the job you have to do where you have to do it.
I've played more park games than NBA games, and I had a 10-year NBA career.
I remember when I was 11 playing against guys who were as old as 22. I just stayed outside and shot from there.
We all want to let fans behind the scenes. We just don't want them following us around.
I'm not a boxer, I'm a basketball player.
Something that my teammates always thought was going to be a punishment for me - sitting next to Coach Russell on the team bus - actually turned out to be the best moment of my life.
I'm always the neutral guy, man. I'm able to bring people together.
If you put 100 people on an island with no food, no water, no hope of a ship coming, then some will overcome it and be resourceful, some will live in it, others will panic, and others will show horrific character, which is wrong. But not to understand that all alternatives are possible is wrong as well.
I like to dribble to Queen's 'Another One Bites the Dust.'
It's difficult to see my daughters on television and in music videos, and then I get tweets or comments about crushes and, 'Hey can I date? And hey, I'd be a good son-in-law type.'
I make people pay their debts.
The older you get, the longer your jump shot becomes.
Basketball is me.
Mike Brown wasn't about race relations, nor Trayvon Martin or even Hurricane Katrina for that matter. It's about trust.
When the Sacramento Kings, when I was there, we win 29-30 games - that was a successful season. And it would be packed from start to finish. You couldn't get a seat.
I want to study law.
One thing is a pro is supposed to make certain plays, while a college player is learning to make plays.
The Warriors are competition, and competition makes the best of us.
Mike D'Antoni is a great offensive mind. He's a great coach.
Image overshadows reality in our league, and there are people who get to believe they are better than they really are.
NCAA is looking at how to do a better job enforcing their rules instead of looking at why the predatorial environment is created. There's a predatorial environment that their rules have created, which makes people feel undervalued.
The 18 years on TNT has prepared me for a lot of opportunities, and coaching is one of them.
I was overwhelmed meeting him. I didn't know what to say, I didn't know whether to call him 'Coach Russell,' 'Bill,' or 'Mr. Russell.'
My high school coach used to tell me there's no correct way to shoot, that the only correct way was to get the ball into the basket.
You don't get the accolades unless you win. It took me a while to understand. No one will remember how Kenny Smith played in Game 1 unless we win the series. The thrill is in winning.
You make decisions just crossing the street.
From the outside looking in, I would say the franchise that has had the most stories that are unrelated to basketball are the Knicks.
Timing is everything in this league, and I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. But I never lost my confidence. Atlanta was changing coaches and systems. I knew they'd make personnel changes.
One thing about being a great ball handler is not looking at the basketball.
I think it is inevitable that I'll be coaching or be a GM.
When someone is in 'the struggle,' which many of our black communities are in, they are living with a lack of educational facilities, high unemployment, and poor recreational facilities.
The one thing in most communities, the staple is the basketball court. And when that looks good, I think the community feels good about itself, knowing that people care and have an opportunity to not only play there, but it's also a social meeting place.
I've been winning my whole life. I've been blessed to be a winner.
There's no representation. That's why the NBA Players Association was formed, players' unions were formed. That's why those unions were formed - to have representation before you make rules for me that I have to abide by. How can I participate and how can it be fair if there's no representation?
This league has great players, and it has great images. Sometimes those two things get confused.
Great players, they start becoming immune to what the defense does to them.
Kobe Bryant should know how to defend a pick and roll.
What made it so special was the city of Houston had never won a sports championship. I think the championship changed people's thinking about their own city. It made them feel like their city had some significance that it hadn't had before.
In Texas, it's football. In Georgia, football. There's an appreciation from the average person about football more than anywhere else. And we have that for basketball in New York. And we'll always have that in New York.
As African Americans, we always have to fight for inclusion, despite your moral background: Christian, Muslim, Jewish - it doesn't matter.
Coaching is definitely on the aspiration list.
Any guard would love playing with a great big man, one who rebounds, blocks shots, and scores.
We win together as a team, and we lose together as a team.
I think that for me, as a UNC graduate, I value my education - I think everyone who's gone to that university values education.
My situation in Houston is like night and day compared to Atlanta. This system fits my game, and the team has confidence in me to get the job done.
I don't think the Lakers could control Tony Parker's ability to get into the paint, so his health is the key for San Antonio.
Dunk, and people anywhere will ooh and aah. But you can wow a crowd in New York with ball handling and passing.
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