Oscar Robertson Quotes

Author Image

Oscar Robertson

Profession : Athlete

Birth : November 24, 1938

It's a sad commentary when I have to say that sometimes in our country we are real sensitive to race.

Oscar Robertson

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.

Oscar Robertson

We're all Americans trying to compete. Magic was competing for his team and Larry for his team.

Oscar Robertson

Basketball is basketball.

Oscar Robertson

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.

Oscar Robertson

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

But I like to think an athlete is an athlete.

Oscar Robertson

Now, I guess, people want stars. People are trying to invent stars.

Oscar Robertson

I think that basketball players should get the job done no matter how it looks on the screen.

Oscar Robertson

The thing about it is almost everyone could pass that way, but we were kept from doing it by our coaches.

Oscar Robertson

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

You need a teaching coach who understands the game of basketball, not just some guy coming on the court talking about Xs and Os.

Oscar Robertson

When you play guard, you're not going to block a lot of shots. Inside, you're going to block shots.

Oscar Robertson

This is where young players today want to land. They want to be NBA players because of the money.

Oscar Robertson

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

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.

Oscar Robertson

If you're a basketball player, you've got to shoot.

Oscar Robertson

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

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.

Oscar Robertson

But if people are buying the products, naturally they're gonna use them.

Oscar Robertson