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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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Oscar Robertson
Age: 85
Born: 1938
Born: November 24
Basketball Coach
Basketball Player
The Big O
Oscar Palmer Robertson
Basketball
Court
Gets
Player
Doesn
Competitively
Play
Stern
Make
David
Blame

More quotes by 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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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 when I did it (the triple-double), I didn't even know it until someone told me.
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 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 if people are buying the products, naturally they're gonna use them.
Oscar Robertson
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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.
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 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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Look, I think you should promote the game, but I think you should make it what it ought to be. Not some kind of a side-show.
Oscar Robertson
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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!
Oscar Robertson
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People say that, but I think the NBA was bigger than Larry Bird and Magic Johnson.
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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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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We're all Americans trying to compete. Magic was competing for his team and Larry for his team.
Oscar Robertson
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The triple-double is just a stat. It's a test of your strength and stamina and playing ability, really.
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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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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But I like to think an athlete is an athlete.
Oscar Robertson