Phil Jackson Quotes About Basketball
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An acrobatic dunk will make it onto Sports Center. A simple, unspectacular bounce pass in the rhythm of the offense will not. System basketball has been replaced by players who want to be the system.
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Approach the game with no preset agendas and you'll probably come away surprised at your overall efforts.
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Like life, basketball is messy and unpredictable. It has its way with you, no matter how hard you try to control it. The trick is to experience each moment with a clear mind and open heart. When you do that, the game - and life - will take care of itself.
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The ideal way to win a championship is step by step.
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I probably would have no capability of absorbing a 60-defeat season as a coach. It would be a foreign experience. My whole career, even as a player, has been on winning basketball clubs and it just seems to have been a part of the make-up of what’s been given me. That’s what I’ve been given and that’s what I’ve had to deal with. Some people can make fun of it or some people can have a good time with it, or some people can resent it. It’s just what it is.
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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.
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In basketball - as in life - true joy comes from being fully present in each and every moment, not just when things are going your way. Of course, it's no accident that things are more likely to go your way when you stop worrying about whether you're going to win or lose and focus your full attention on what's happening right this moment.
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Basketball is a simple game. Your goal is penetration, get the ball close to the basket, and there are three ways to do that. Pass, dribble and offensive rebound.
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I won't coach this team next year if he is still here. He won't listen to anyone. I've had it with this kid.
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My dad always had this little sign on his desk: 'The bigger your head is, the easier your shoes are to fill'. He really drilled that in.
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My philosophy is that you can't motivate players with speeches, you have motivated players that you draft. That's where they come in and those are the guys that are competitive. You cannot teach competitiveness.
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Always keep an open mind and a compassionate heart.
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Basketball, unlike football with its prescribed routes, is an improvisational game, similar to jazz. If someone drops a note, someone else must step into the vacuum and drive the beat that sustains the team.
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Basketball is sharing.
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If you meet the Buddha in the lane, feed him the ball.
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The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.
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I care about systematically playing basketball. If the spacing isn't right, if guys are standing on top of each other, if there aren't lanes to be provided, or rebounders available to offensively rebound the ball, or we don't have defensive balance when a shot goes up, all of these things are fundamental basketball. I follow it.
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I gave it my body and mind, but I have kept my soul.
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Good teams become great ones when the members trust each other enough to surrender the Me for the We.
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The greatness of Michael Jordan is his competitive drive. The weakness of Michael Jordan is his competitive drive
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I think the most important thing about coaching is that you have to have a sense of confidence about what you're doing. You have to be a salesman and you have to get your players, particularly your leaders, to believe in what you're trying to accomplish on the basketball floor.
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Love is the force that ignites the spirit and binds teams together.
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The best part of basketball, for those people on the inside, is the bus going to the airport after you've won a game on an opponent's floor. It's been a very tough battle. And preferably, in the playoffs. And that feeling that you have, together as a group, having gone to an opponent's floor and won a very good victory, is as about as high as you can get.
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My job as a coach was to make something meaningful out of one of the most mundane activities on the planet: playing pro basketball.
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I thrive on challenges, and there is no more imposing challenge for someone in my profession than winning an NBA title.
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Not only is there more to life than basketball, there's a lot more to basketball than basketball.
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You can't force your will on people. If you want them to act differently, you need to inspire them to change themselves
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Wisdom is always an overmatch for strength.
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Once you've done the mental work, there comes a point you have to throw yourself into the action and put your heart on the line. That means not only being brave, but being compassionate towards yourself, your teammates and your opponents.
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Winning is important to me, but what brings me real joy is the experience of being fully engaged in whatever I'm doing.
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