Larry Bird Quotations

A winner is someone who recognizes his God-given talents, works his tail off to develop them into skills, and uses these skills to accomplish his goals.

The best player I ever played with was Dennis Johnson.

I really don't like talking about money. All I can say is that the Good Lord must have wanted me to have it.

What's better? Dogs or broomsticks? I mean will the world really ever know?

I wasn't real quick, and I wasn't real strong. Some guys will just take off and it's like, whoa. So I beat them with my mind and my fundamentals.

It doesn't matter who scores the points, it's who can get the ball to the scorer.

If there was a payment to the bank due, and we needed shoes, she'd get the shoes, and then deal with them guys at the bank. I don't mean she wouldn't pay the bank, but the children always came first.

Leadership is getting players to believe in you. If you tell a teammate you're ready to play as tough as you're able to, you'd better go out there and do it. Players will see right through a phony. And they can tell when you're not giving it all you've got.

Leadership is diving for a loose ball, getting the crowd involved, getting other players involved. It's being able to take it as well as dish it out. That's the only way you're going to get respect from the players.

I've got a theory that if you give 100% all of the time, somehow things will work out in the end.

As far as playing, I didn't care who guarded me - red, yellow, black. I just didn't want a white guy guarding me, because it's disrespect to my game.

When I was a kid, like 14 or 15, I played with the waiters from the hotel, 'cause that was the best game. And these guys, they'd let me play. And they were black guys.

When it gets down to it, basketball is basketball.

But it is a black man's game, and it will be forever.

Once you are labeled 'the best' you want to stay up there, and you can't do it by loafing around.

The one thing that always bothered me when I played in the NBA was I really got irritated when they put a white guy on me.

Push yourself again and again. Don't give an inch until the final buzzer sounds.

While day by day the overzealous student stores up facts for future use, he who has learned to trust nature finds need for ever fewer external directions. He will discard formula after formula, until he reaches the conclusion: Let nature take its course.

The best players will play. That's the way it will always be.

I used to love the feeling of running, of running too far. It made my skin tingle.

I don't know if I practiced more than anybody, but I sure practiced enough. I still wonder if somebody - somewhere - was practicing more than me.

I mean, the greatest athletes in the world are African-American.

When I was a kid, I never thought about anything. Never had to think about where I was going to school or what I was going to do. I just lived minute to minute.

I've been around a while. I kinda know these things.

It's been a journey, the NBA. It's taken me a lot farther than I ever expected.

Won't be much golf this off-season. It's going to be a working summer.

We're still looking and seeing what we can do. We like our team, we're very deep, but we don't like where we're at financially. We'll see what we can do.

We're glad this is over with. We wanted to be patient with this one because Ronnie is a heck of a player and someone's always going to take a chance on someone like that.

Me and Reggie go way back. I've seen him from him developing as a young player to us retiring his jersey. That's pretty awesome.

Obviously, we're very happy about getting a player of his caliber. He's one of the best shooters in the league and we definitely feel he can come in and help us right away.

I don't have a problem with them having a dam. The problem is standing water on the road bed. Eventually, that water will erode the road bed and the road will then break up and cave in.

I don't believe that. How can they be affected? It's the same thing every year.

I can't guarantee all our guys are going to be here, but the way we've been talking it seems like it will be a one-player-for-one or one-for-two trade. We'd like to keep all of our players.

He was clearly frustrated. Ronnie thinks if we lose, we would have won the game if he had the ball every time. The offense bogs down at times, but it's still a great offense. He held the ball a lot of times. Nothing frustrated me more than him not rebounding, but I didn't go out in the public and say anything.

He's got great length and he's one of the best shooters in the league. He gives us another dimension on the outside and hopefully that opens things up in the middle.

I ain't gonna sit here and blame it all on Ronnie, because other things happened, too. But in the pros, when you don't win, people are disappointed. I see it and I'm disappointed, too.

I admire the kid. Not for what he did, but how he's come back and he's worked and he's done things to improve himself. I look for a great year out of him.

I think what it came down to is that our owner wants to win and, in the end, we did this deal because we knew it would make us a better team.

Like me, he plays the game to win, ... Because of his intensity and desire to win, Ronnie's a guy I would pay money to watch play.

I think enough is enough. I think Ronnie will do fine, but not here.

Over the last four, five years, you've seen some of the things, and maybe we did bend over too much for Ronnie to try to help him. But I can sleep good at night, knowing we did the best we could.

Some guys can lead and some guys can't. I have a lot of trust in Jermaine and I know he wants to be a good leader. But to just throw him in there and say, 'OK, you're our leader,' that's tough, especially when you're injured a lot. You lead by example and not with words, and when you're not out there every day in practice and games, it's hard to lead.

I think Rick will get him the ball. We have a problem now when we drop it in the post; we hold on to it too long. We need more movement with the shooters we have. I think you'll see that.

I think in another month we'll know if the league will allow us to take him off our cap and give us some relief.

I think he's the right guy at the right time. Sometimes you need a wake-up call. We've got ours.

I think he'll make an immediate impact because of the skills that he has.

It depends on what players are offered. The owners have a say in this, too. They want to do the right thing. If we get a good offer, we'll probably take the player. If we don't get good offers, we'll probably take the (draft) choice and do more scouting this winter and prepare for the draft. I think we'll get a good player out of this.

My best friend missed three one-and-ones. I still get mad at him for that.

We can't let that type of stuff happen. I've been talking to (Harrison) at least once a week. Not only David, but everybody, has to clean that junk up. It's uncalled for. We don't like it, the fans don't like it. That stuff is going to be taken care of.

We would like to get a deal done. We're looking at every option. Teams continue to call us every day, but we're going to do what's right for the franchise and not just do a deal to do one. We want somebody who is going to fit in with this team.

We weren't really interested in what teams were talking about. We haven't had our team together for two years. I like how we're playing now. We need to get everybody back and look at the product before we make any type of decision on whether we want to do anything this summer.

Consistency has been one of our biggest problems. I don't see anybody on our team that you can depend on every night to do the same thing. One night they're up, and one night they're down. If you know what you're getting from each player, it's pretty easy as far as coaching. When it's inconsistent, you don't know what you're going to get and it makes it hard to substitute.

There's going to be some changes in the way they play. It's like they're just going through the motions out there at times. We've talked to them and expressed our frustrations, and if it continues to happen, we'll probably have to look in another direction, because one thing we're going to do is put a competitive team out on the court.

The right guy at the right time after Athens and the World Championships, ... This is the type of guy we need. After 2004 we needed a wake up call and we got ours.

That's wild. That is really wild. That's a lot of points, I'm telling you. There's no question how good he is, but when you start throwing numbers around like that, it's unbelievable. It would be hard to believe if you didn't know it was true.

This franchise needs to get into the playoffs. You get into the playoffs, and things can happen. Obviously, we're not going to win a championship, but maybe it's something we can build off of for next year.

There were a lot of doubts. I had an opportunity to play against Reggie. After the first two or three times, there was no doubt they made the right decision.

There were some concerns, but I'm a little different. I think we will get a commitment out of our best young players. And the guys that are young now won't be so young by the time (the 2008 Summer Games) comes.

About all our good high school players are going out of state. ...That's something that probably hurts more than anything. It's very important to try to keep our kids in-state. That's how you have an identity.

It seemed like our team was going to the West Coast, stopping off at cities and our players were worried about being traded. Our time for excuses are over.

I've got a theory that if you give 100 percent all of the time, somehow things will work out in the end.

Any time you deal a player, you would like him to go out of the conference. We're looking at the West, but if it's the East, that's how it's going to be. Whether we get a draft choice or a player, we're going to make sure it's the right deal. We've done enough to back Ronnie. We're in a position where we have to protect the franchise now.

I'm a firm believer you have to be patient in this league. The teams that are patient in trades (have more success). We'd like to get this done, but we've got a job to do and we have to make sure our fans are happy with what we get. They're our paying customers and we're trying to do our best for them.

I never dreamed that it would be like this. We're very disappointed in the fact that we had the guys here to do it and to get off to the start we did is very frustrating. We've gone downhill since then. But hopefully we're back on the right track and we can move forward.

I like the way we're playing. Not just because we're winning games, but because of the way we're moving the ball. It seems like we're coming together. We'll win a lot of games doing that.

If there's a deal out there where we think we can better our team, we will do it.

I don't know if this is the right wording, but I felt betrayed. We're disappointed. Things happen, maybe it's a good thing. He's a very talented player. I always liked working with him and how he went about things on the basketball court. He's a top-12 player in the league, but we're in a situation where we have to move on.

Hoosiers love this place. The high school game has produced a lot of legendary stories, and those stories get told here.

I am very happy for DJ. As a former teammate and friend, Dennis is a good person and I am sure he will do a great job.

I am very happy for DJ, ... As a former teammate and friend, Dennis is a good person and I am sure he will do a great job.

He's made as many clutch shots as anybody who has ever played this game.

I believe God was disguised as Michael Jordan today.

You can't walk in there after a couple of months off and expect to play in the playoffs. He's definitely going to have to play some games before the playoffs. There's no question about that. The playoffs are completely different.

The more you win, the better you're gonna get. It grows on itself.

I have always been confident in my skills and once the game got going I knew I was probably the best player on the floor most of the time whether it was junior high, high school or college. I knew I had control of the game.

Anytime you've got an opportunity to play for your country and win a gold medal, I think that takes it all. That's the greatest thing you could ever achieve in your sport. So, I have been very fortunate to play on great teams, but the gold medal was probably the best.

Basketball was always a game to me. One of the greatest things in life for me was to be able to play what I loved dearly and get paid for it. So it was always a game to me and that's how I perceived everything.

I think you have to work very hard and dedicate yourself and have the respect of your teammates before you're about to go out and just try to take a game over by yourself.

In the closing seconds of every game, I want the ball in my hands for the last shot - not in anybody else's, not in anybody else's in the world.

The nature of competition is such that any number of people invariably have their eyes on the same prize you do. Recognize your assets and employ them to the best of your ability.

Basketball has been my life and I worked at it so hard because I enjoyed it so much.

If you tell a teammate you're ready to play as tough as you're able to, you'd better go out there and do it.

I think a lot of blue collar people related to me because a lot of people work for their money.

Coaches can talk and talk and talk about something, but if you get it on tape and show it to them, it is so much more effective.

Strength is not nearly as important as desire. I don't think you can teach anyone desire. I think it's a gift. I don't know why I have it, but I do.

The best basketball announcer is one who allows you to close your eyes.

You never make any of the shots you never take. 87% of the ones you do take, you'll miss too. I make 110% of my shots.

I like being by myself.

I'm a firm believer in that you play the way you practice.

I've always been interested in jobs in the NBA. But I've been in this for 20 years and it might be time to do something else.

I can see why fans don't like to watch pro basketball. I don't, either. It's not exciting.

I just shoot until I feel good.

Who in their right mind wouldn't listen to what Larry Bird tells them? He knows what it takes to be a successful player, and he's letting us do the things to have the success.

It makes me sick when I see a guy just stare at a loose ball and watch it go out of bounds.

Guys like Larry Bird -- he played so hard, he wants everybody else to play hard. That's not unreasonable. Any coach would want that and demand that.

When I was a player, I didn't expect my teammates to play the way I did. I did expect them to work hard hard every day and get better. And I never learned anything by losing.

I wanted to compete at the highest level again - and that's the NBA.

I was always making decisions and they were easier decisions because I had control of the game, I had control of the ball. As a coach you sort of put the ball in other player's hands and let them make decisions for you. But I still get a kick out of winning basketball games and that's what I'm in this for.

I always know what's happening on the court. I see a situation occur, and I respond.

You can make all the excuses you want, but if you're not mentally tough and you're not prepared to play every night, you're not going to win.