Oscar Robertson Quotes
It`s a sad commentary when I have to say that sometimes in our country we are real sensitive to race.
They should have a rule: in order to be a sportswriter, you have to have played that sport, at some level; high school, college, junior college, somewhere. Or, you should have had to have been around the game for a long time.
I think that teaching coaches are the norm now.
You need a teaching coach who understands the game of basketball, not just some guy coming on the court talking about Xs and Os.
I don`t blame David Stern because a player gets on the court and he doesn`t put out competitively. No one can make you play if you don`t want to play.
I don`t think that players learn how to play any other aspect of the game in high school or college.
If you`re a basketball player, you`ve got to shoot.
It`s like all guys want to do is make a dunk, grab their shirt and yell out and scream - they could be down 30 points but that`s what they do. Okay, so you made a dunk. Get back down the floor on defense!
When you play guard, you`re not going to block a lot of shots. Inside, you`re going to block shots.
Who do I think was the greatest? This might shock you: Elgin Baylor. He did so many great things. Nobody could guard him, playing in the forward spot. I`d love to see some of today`s greats playing against Elgin. They couldn`t guard him. Nobody could.
The Olympics were great, because you had to make the team, and then go to the games. Now, I don`t know, these guys today don`t want to do anything like that.
Just fundamental things - I played guard and I played forward, so you get into a position where you are pivoting out on the court.
When you go into a game on offense, you make a couple moves and see what the defender is going to do. Then you pretty much can figure out what he is going to do against you - whether he carries his hands low or high, whether he is bumping or pushing, those type of things.
I`d like to think that the nature of the two teams - Boston being a championship team over the years and the Lakers, same thing - was a lot bigger than Larry Bird or Magic Johnson.
We`re all Americans trying to compete. Magic was competing for his team and Larry for his team.
You don`t cut anywhere, don`t pick down anywhere, don`t double screen, no weak side picking. All these things that should happen in a game of basketball don`t happen anymore.
You`ve got to learn the footwork, the positioning, how to box out, how to pass, how to shoot your free throws. All these things are necessary, not to be the No. 1 player in the world, but maybe you can play against him.
Some players are more physical than others, some play with more finesse. Some are just really great all-around players. So you have to change your game.
When you play against different people from all walks of life you can`t do the same thing against every player defensively or offensively. You have to change up the way you go at a player.
I think that basketball players should get the job done no matter how it looks on the screen.
But I think the image that`s thrown out on television is a bad image. Because you see players who want to imitate hip-hop stars. And the NBA is taking advantage of the situation.
You see what happens in college and high school games today - a three-point shot or a dunk. I think that`s the reason that you see a lot of that in the pros today.
The thing about it is almost everyone could pass that way, but we were kept from doing it by our coaches.
I think that everyone should be able to dribble. Everyone should be able to pass. Otherwise, why are you out there?
But if people are buying the products, naturally they`re gonna use them.
But I like to think an athlete is an athlete.
You have to teach now - tell a kid how to box out, tell him how to pass, teach him footwork. Players don`t understand that anymore.
Now, I guess, people want stars. People are trying to invent stars.
This is where young players today want to land. They want to be NBA players because of the money.
I was taught to play that way when I was in high school and even before I got to high school.
Basketball is basketball.
You look at today, it`s a different situation. You have a game that has been transformed into a game where almost every shot is either an outside shot - a three-point shot - or a dunk.
