Top 60 C. J. McCollum Quotes

Writing and speaking and communicating, it’s something important to me, and something I want to get better at.

I always say, it’s not the shoes; it’s the player. If you can hoop, you can hoop.

When you have an almost seven-foot wingspan and can guard multiple positions, you’re going to get minutes.

When you’re watching from the bench, you can pick up on everything – where guys like to shoot the ball from, how teams defend the pick-and-roll, which big men are good at hedging the screen and so on.

When you’re smaller, you kind of learn how to do other things. You have to work a little bit harder.

I take a lot of pride in being flexible, preserving my body. After a workout, I ice both feet, my calves, knees and stretch.

America certainly is a great country with plenty of freedoms, but there are a lot of systemic issues that need to change.

You have to learn how to win in this league. It’s a process.

I’m a fan of Stance socks.

There’s just so many great artists out there, but I think growing up, J. Cole has been the guy that I’ve always been listening to, even in college. Going from that struggle to stardom, that rise to stardom, ‘Dolla and a Dream,’ all that stuff – I’ve listened to all his classics, all the old J. Cole stuff.

I think, in moderation, taunting is a part of life.

My parents have done a tremendous job, over the course of my career. They try to make every game and I think my rookie year, my mom made every game… They’ve been really consistent and it’s all you can ask for as a kid.

I was 5-6, a little chubby, spot-up 3-point shooter. So I couldn’t blame the schools for not recruiting me. But then my junior year, I was 5-11, hit a little growth spurt.

You get better by playing, honestly. That’s where you develop as a player is to play through mistakes in game action.

In order for us to have changes in society, we have to do a better job with listening to each other, listening to stories, listening to experiences and sharing things. That’s the way you’re able to come to a better understanding of people in general. We have to do a better job in society. It starts at the top.

I ended up switching over to journalism in college. A few weeks into freshman year, I realized that business school wasn’t for me. And writing stories and reading and talking to people is something that I just enjoy doing, so I figured why not try to build up a post-basketball career with that.

A lot of people have compared being an NBA rookie to being a fraternity pledge. It’s not really intense like that. It’s more like being an intern.

I think sometimes there’s this perception that players are supposed to be robots.

Life happens fast. You have to have a Plan B, a backup plan and really figure out a way to have different avenues of income and just avenues of happiness. That is what is really important, being at peace and having that happiness.

I like to take it back, cause I’m an old soul. Growing up, my brothers, I’d grow up hearing what they were playing, and that’s how my taste has evolved.

Other fans might stop coming to games when their teams fall in the standings. Blazers fans just pack the house even more.

Other people need to be forward thinkers. Not just basketball players. Not just people in the sports world. But people in general.

I try not to worry about nothing I can’t control. I can’t control rumors.

You want to see range? Dame has range.

I accept who I am. Rapping is not my forte.

For me, understanding your heritage and wanting to leave a legacy was always important to me.

If I could go back in time and give Rookie C.J one piece of wisdom, it would be that sometimes less is more. Off the court, sometimes it’s just better to shut up and be quiet.

It’s been a tough 2020, honestly, for me personally, for a lot of people in the world in general.

You got to be able to hit mid-range shots, you got to able to hit threes and you got to be able to finish in the lane.

I’ve been playing basketball since I was five.

Competitive people, especially in sports, want to learn about everything. So when you’re interested in something, you become a bit obsessive. You start to research it and ask questions about it, and before you know it, you have a serious hobby because of how you’re programmed.

When I started playing professionally, it made me realize that I had a voice in the league, one that gave me the chance to share a different side of our day-to-day life and the things that were happening on and off the court.

I think I’m the first player in NBA history to average 20 points a game and shoot two free throws per game.

Yea, I wrote my college thesis on why college athletes should get paid. I think there’s a way to do it based on the amount of revenue they generate.

Draymond Green is one of the best in the league at grabbing a defensive rebound and starting the break.

Like, if I’m assessing someone’s game and they can’t shoot, they can’t shoot. And they know they can’t shoot. It’s not like I’m making fun of them. I just keep it real, man.

I had a few brief, brief interactions with Coach K. Mainly us beating them in the NCAA Tournament back in 2012.

It’s mentally draining to be on 100% of the time on both ends of the floor, especially when you’re the team’s undisputed shot creator.

People think because there’s only 24 hours in a day, we’re just supposed to play our sport and then go home and think some more about our sport. They don’t think that we should care about other things, but the reality is that you can be really good at what you do for a living and have other hobbies.

I think, when you get to know somebody on a personal level were you truly understand what makes them tick, what they play for, things they like to do in their spare time, you’re around their families, I think you’re kind of able to kind of coexist more when you have a relationship.

One thing I love about guards in this league is that you can be a 5-foot-9 pit bull or a methodical 6-foot-7 jump-shooter, and still succeed in your own way.

I think you should look at it as a blessing that other people would think you’re valuable enough to be mentioned in a trade. It could be worse. No one could want you.

Growing up in the inner city, you might not see a lot of different career paths and different jobs.

I don’t care how much you traveled in college, and I don’t care what kind of shape you’re in. Travel is the one thing you’re absolutely not prepared for as a rookie.

Growing up in the inner city, a lot of kids didn’t think reading was cool. I’m trying to show them that it is cool and the importance of growing and learning outside of their everyday lives, which is a lot of times sports.

I ended up breaking a bone in my foot early in my rookie season, and honestly, it was kind of a blessing. I had so much free time while being laid up that I put a lot of time in on film to understand the game from a different vantage point.

I’ve been a guy who’s never really been satisfied. Work hard, try to figure out ways to improve, try to figure out ways to sustain a certain level of play.

Over the course of my life, there have been so many people who have invested in me and provided me with opportunities to grow.

Being able to go to someone’s house and have dinner with them and their family, being able to go see a movie with them, or go shopping, it makes you really care for someone and hope that they succeed. That means a lot in an on-court relationship. It creates trust.

We don’t have those bougie, not-into-it, wouldn’t-be-caught-dead-in-the-free-t-shirt hoops fans in Portland. We’ve got those pinwheel-tattooed, bleeding-red-and-black, still-rocking-that-Walton-jersey, ride-or-die, realer-than-real hoops fans in Portland. The love is real. The support is real.

I got hurt my senior year of college. I ended up breaking my fifth metatarsal after I pulled out of the Draft. That was a good experience for me to kind of find myself, figure out a plan for post-basketball because obviously it doesn’t last forever.

I have a responsibility and a job as a guy who gets paid a lot of money, I’m expected to perform. And 82 games in 6-7 months is a lot, and it’s hard on the body, and you’re not gonna play perfect every night. Even Ray Allen misses shots, even LeBron misses dunks.

One of the advantages of going to a small school is that you’re expected to be the man. They have to give you the ball, and there’s more room for error in a situation where you can play your way through mistakes (and no matter how good you are, this is a valuable coping skill at the NBA level).

My mother, my father, my brother, they’ve done a tremendous job of preparing me and helping me get right in having confidence.

You gotta really enjoy off days.

I work really hard on my craft.

I like watches.

Other fans get antsy when their team’s offense struggles to score for a few possessions. Blazers fans give us standing ovations, like they’re trying to will their energy into us.

I think that’s the biggest thing in this sport is when you prepare, you have extra confidence.

When I think about defending Kyrie, I think about respect. His shooting percentages were close to 50/40/90 as a 19-year-old rookie. When you come into this league with numbers like that, defenders have to respect your jumper.