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Basketball, more than any other sport, is a team game...about the thousands of small, unselfish acts, the sacrifices on the part of the players that result in team building.

Dean Smith

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Dean Smith
Age: 83 †
Born: 1931
Born: February 28
Died: 2015
Died: February 7
Basketball Coach
Basketball Player
Engineer
Emporia
Kansas
Dean Edwards Smith
Game
Acts
Team
Thousands
Results
Players
Sports
Result
Small
Basketball
Games
Sacrifice
Unselfish
Part
Building
Sacrifices
Player
Sport

More quotes by Dean Smith

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You should sub a player out when you see a player not going full-speed or playing selfish basketball.
Dean Smith
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Over coaching is the worst thing you can do to a player.
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The key statistic is still to get to the foul line.
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I enjoy basketball. I enjoy coaching basketball. It's the out-of-season stuff I didn't handle well.
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I know a lawyer who'd love to retire and be an assistant coach. I mean, it's fun.
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I would never recruit a player who yells at his teammates, disrespected his high school coach, or scores 33 points a game and his team goes 10-10.
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Our teachers at the public school level are the most underpaid for the importance of their job in America.
Dean Smith
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I always mean what I say, but I don't always say what I'm thinking.
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You can't teach court savvy
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I do believe in praising that which deserves to be praised.
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The flash of rain, the shining rainbow riding completely around the plane, the lift over mountain ridges, the steady, pure air at dawn take-offs. ... It was so alive and rich a life that any other conceivable choice seemed dull, prosaic, and humdrum.
Dean Smith
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Only praise behavior that you want to be repeated. Never use false praise.
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There is a lot of basketball beyond our control, but a player should never let anyone try harder than he does
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As soon as you try to describe a close friendship, it loses something.
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I just think we shouldn't get into counting coaches' records. I've never been for that but I know that's just American society.
Dean Smith
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What to do with a mistake: recognize it, admit it, learn from it, forget it.
Dean Smith
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The focus should be on the players. I'm here a long time. You can call me in the summer. Our seniors will be gone.
Dean Smith
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Any old coach will say the game was meant for finesse. It's a beautiful game, especially on television.
Dean Smith
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Always have your players go and pick-up the guy who draws the charge.
Dean Smith
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A leader's job is to develop committed followers. Bad leaders destroy their followers' sense of commitment.
Dean Smith