A Quote by Jerry West

The league is changing, and we don't have many back-to-the-basket players. We now have a game that requires skill and versatility. A lot of that is about being able to think. It makes all the difference in the world to have a player in there with a high basketball IQ who can make the right decision.

Jerry West

Quote Topics

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Quote Author

Jerry West
American - Businessman
Born: May 28, 1938

Interchangeability and versatility unlocks so many styles of play for your team. It's not the end all be all, but it helps you handle adversity so much better. It presents so many different matchup problems for the other team because they have to worry about so many different things. You can have long and athletic guys but if they're dummies then you're in trouble. What the Warriors have is amazing versatility, but also versatility in their basketball IQ.

Shane Battier

The best players in the game want the responsibility of being the best player. The reality is the game has changed from now back to '87. It's a lot tighter checking. The players are better today. So, that makes it harder for him just in that fact. We can't rely solely on Mario [Lemieux] to carry this team. We're not relying on that.

Wayne Gretzky

I think I'm changing the game. In that sense, I'm what Steph Curry is to basketball. Don't get me wrong: I don't necessarily think Steph Curry is the best basketball player, but he changed the game, so he's going to always go down as being remembered. Now everyone wants to shoot the 3 and shoot it from deep.

Le'Veon Bell

I can't play the game of basketball and live my life on what other people expect me to do or what they think I should do. That doesn't make me happy. What makes me happy is being able to make plays for my teammates, to be able to represent the name on the back of my jersey.

LeBron James

Whenever a ball is played backwards, make the right decision, back a player to pick you out, so there a lot of ways players can take responsibility on the pitch.

Matt Doherty

We talk a lot about having high-character guys and high-IQ guys, and I think that's one of the characteristics of those types of people or players that if and when something doesn't go their way, their reaction usually is to come back and fight harder, dig deeper, do more.

Mike Budenholzer

On how to make the game more exciting - Eliminate the referees, raise the basket four feet, double the size of the basketball, limit the height of the players to 5 feet 9 inches, bring back the centre jump, allow taxi drivers in for free and allow the players to carry guns.

Al McGuire

You should never want to be a one position player. If you're a real basketball player, you should be able to play any position. That's the difference between really good players and average players.

Shawn Marion

If you have the money and you find the one player who can make you win and make the difference, no matter how expensive he is, you should do it. But there are not many players in the world who will make a real difference.

Arsene Wenger

Retiring from cricket is not about form. I feel that the time is now and it's right. I've tried to give everything I have when I've played the game, the game goes on. You can't hold onto it and people shouldn't be too sentimental. I think a lot better players and greater players have gone, and the game has gone on and there are new players who take the mantle, and in my case it won't be any different.

Kumar Sangakkara

A lot of people just think I'm a big man, but I'm a basketball player. I am able to do everything that a basketball player can do - from playmaking and scoring to just passing the ball and just being a leader and post presence.

Joel Embiid

A young basketball player has people to look up to an emulate. We are a pro league, and we're on television. It makes a difference. It's shows what's possible.

Sue Bird

I think coaching is confused at times as being an arrow that only goes to a player. Those players send arrows back to you, and that’s where a relationship is developed. I don’t make a player, and a player doesn’t make me a coach. We make each other.

Mike Krzyzewski

The great thing about [Michael] Jordan was that he made them want it just like he wanted it. And a lot of times like a lot of the basketball players, not to be getting on basketball, but, with a lot of the basketball players you might have one superstar on the team, and they're not willing to play up to par with the way he is, so they don't make it. But then you have some celebrities on the basketball team, and they don't know how to get along with each other!

Ginuwine

There are loads of players I could name who are 16-16 looked like world beaters but then at 21-22 they are subs in non-league. There comes a time in your career when the pennies got to drop, where you've got to understand decisionmaking at the right, poignant moments in the game. When to pass, when to dribble, when to shoot. Game-changing moments, can you be the guy that sits there and takes the responsibility. And the great players do.