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But I like to think an athlete is an athlete.

Oscar Robertson

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Oscar Robertson
Age: 85
Born: 1938
Born: November 24
Basketball Coach
Basketball Player
The Big O
Oscar Palmer Robertson
Thinking
Like
Athlete
Basketball
Think

More quotes by Oscar Robertson

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I think that everyone should be able to dribble. Everyone should be able to pass. Otherwise, why are you out there?
Oscar Robertson
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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.
Oscar Robertson
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It's a sad commentary when I have to say that sometimes in our country we are real sensitive to race.
Oscar Robertson
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Just fundamental things - I played guard and I played forward, so you get into a position where you are pivoting out on the court.
Oscar Robertson
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But if people are buying the products, naturally they're gonna use them.
Oscar Robertson
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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.
Oscar Robertson
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I don't know hardly any of the players who have the in-between game like me, who can go to any position on the court.
Oscar Robertson
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Now, I guess, people want stars. People are trying to invent stars.
Oscar Robertson
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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.
Oscar Robertson
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I think that teaching coaches are the norm now.
Oscar Robertson
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People will think there are no other great ballplayers. Look at Garnett. Look at Duncan, Shaq, Kobe. Look at the players with Sacramento. The have a really good basketball team.
Oscar Robertson
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When I started playing, I wasn't fast, I was gangly, my jumpshot was terrible.
Oscar Robertson
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I think no one has written a history of the great coaches who were around 30 to 40 years ago who taught the fundamentals.
Oscar Robertson
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But when I did it (the triple-double), I didn't even know it until someone told me.
Oscar Robertson
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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.
Oscar Robertson
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I don't think that players learn how to play any other aspect of the game in high school or college.
Oscar Robertson
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But after that you don't see a lot of real good fundamental play. You see a showboat-type basketball which is almost parallel to street basketball.
Oscar Robertson
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There's so many young peoople who start to play basketball and never learn the fundamentals.
Oscar Robertson
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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.
Oscar Robertson
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I played when I played, and played, I think, against the greatest players in the greatest time in the history of basketball.
Oscar Robertson