Top 60 John Stockton Quotes

Depending on the point in the game and what’s necessary, if you can deliver the play, whatever that is – heck, if it’s a screen – and you get a guy open, and he scores a big basket for you, that gives me as much of a charge as anything.

The key word is ‘control.’ I have to get to the point where I can do it like Magic does. That means penetrating, scoring more, taking over on offense once in a while, increasing my range on the outside shot to open things up for the drive.

I have a great respect for people that write. I don’t know how they do it every day… or do novels that they have to use their minds instead of just their memories. It’s tough duty.

I don’t like to give in to injuries. I don’t like to use them as excuses. Everybody has them.

I’m not a cerebral player. When I’m out on the floor, I try to play.

I just play. I’m not one to think about it. If I get one assist and we win, that’s great. Otherwise, I could care less.

It’s quite an honor to be selected to represent my country in the Olympics.

If you think you’re doing everything right, then you have a tendency to stand pat.

Usually for the last play, everyone goes helter-skelter. They go to the wrong spots. They don’t do the right thing.

I never felt I was better than anybody, but I always felt I could compete with anybody.

I don’t crush the kids. But I do want them to know that they have to earn what they get. I’m not like Jimmy Piersall’s dad or anything. I mean, I tell them I’m happy if they just do the best they can. My parents were that way with me.

I don’t care if people even discuss what I did. But if anyone is ever sitting around the kitchen table talking about my career, I hope they say they enjoyed watching me play. That’s good enough.

I think records are irrelevant, but I’m being approached about it all the time. If I could avoid it, that would be great.

When you’re younger, you might make some shots you’re not normally capable of, because you’re more fluid, maybe stronger, maybe faster. As you get older, you learn not to take those crazy shots.

I was always the kid dribbling the ball on the sidelines, hoping someone would pick me. I’d go with my older brother to the gym or park, and when I went out there, I’d pass the ball so I could get picked again.

It’s always in a cycle. One set of plays will work really well for a time, and then defenses figure it out, and you go to something else.

I never thought I’d make it in the NBA, so everything else is gravy.

The game’s a beautiful game when five guys go out there and give something of themselves so that you can win.

You don’t get this opportunity many times in life to compete against the best in the world every night. I certainly didn’t expect to have 10 or 11 years of chances at it, so I don’t want to take that for granted.

I just always believed that all comments are better face-to-face, whether they’re derogatory or whether they’re not.

I’m a bartender’s son. Some things you never forget.

I know my first years sitting on the bench, largely behind Rickey Green, was a great learning tool for me.

I think I’ve preserved most of my private life, and I think that’s still important for me, and that’s still important for my family.

The West is tough. Great teams. Great records, top to bottom.

I don’t like to miss games.

I’ve played games where I thought I played one of my better games, and statistically, there’s nothing there, and vice versa. I’ve never based how I feel about my performance on stats.

I don’t judge my performance on how many assists I have or how many points I have.

Basketball is a game of streaks. Sometimes a guy will be cold for a month and then get hot for a month.

My playing time in 1992 was limited because of an injury I suffered in a practice.

I think there are a lot of ways to play the PG position. Scoring first is a way that works for them and their teams. I personally like to watch PGs that like to work for others.

The main thing I worry about with the shoes I wear is comfort. What you’re comfortable wearing is what you’re going to play your best in.

If I could turn into my old coaches, or my parents, then I’d consider that a definite plus.

Once I came to Salt Lake City, I didn’t want to go anywhere else. It was home sweet home for me.

I’ve been lucky to have great coaching, great teammates, and a desire to keep getting better. That, slowly over time, helped me grow from an average high school player to the NBA.

Sometimes you’re your own worst critic.

I really don’t think of myself as the best player on the team.

I don’t think you ever hear anybody shoot the last shot and say they didn’t think it was in.

I was thinking back when Karl Malone and I, when one of us would be in the weight room early in the morning, and the other one wasn’t there, the first comment to the other person would be, ‘It’s mighty lonely up here.’

I haven’t played quarterback since eighth or ninth grade. I didn’t see it get much attention when I completed a pass then.

Mostly, I go in the weight room and visit.

If you start chasing around trying to get steals for your own benefit, then you really put your defense at a disadvantage. It’s not a big thing for me; if it happens, great.

I have an ego like everyone else. I want to be recognized as a good ballplayer.

I had little or no expectations coming in. I was thrilled when I was drafted in the first round because that meant I was going to be given a full year’s chance to make the team.

Why was I able to be able to pass? What did I do right that allowed me to make a pass – any given pass? There’s balance; there’s vision.

I heal quickly, and I stay in good shape, and I will stay in good shape.

All I know is the same lessons you need to learn at Little League basketball, you need to learn at the upper levels. It’s the little things you learn when you’re little that apply in college.

The games can go any way. As we know in this league, you can win by 30 or lose by 30 the next night. That is just the way the league is.

You thrive off everybody on your team. If one guy’s playing well, that makes your job easier. If a guy’s shooting well, it makes your job easier. If a guy’s rebounding well, it makes your job easier.

For me, the timing has been good, but I also feel very lucky to be playing in Utah. We have a good team with tremendous players who like to win.

Obviously, being in the league for so long, you do have something to offer as a coach.

I never consciously thought about going all the way through the ‘Gonzaga farm system,’ but that’s the way it happened.

I guess I’d rather be comfortable and play well because I’m comfortable than to get recognition and play someplace where I wouldn’t be comfortable and wouldn’t enjoy myself.

Essentially, when you join a team, you’re making a commitment to your team. You can’t take that lightly.

If I pass the ball to Karl Malone, he still has to make the shot, or nothing has happened.

I think everybody should have the attitude that you can’t allow yourself to be hurt. You avoid a lot just with that attitude.

You can’t afford to hop around and act like a kid when you have to get back on defense and worry about the other parts of the game. But at the end, when the buzzer sounds, you have the luxury of hopping around and looking foolish for a while.

I had been told I might be drafted in the fourth round. ‘Great,’ I said at the time.

I was just lucky to have a uniform.

I really don’t look at my accomplishments. I really don’t think about myself much.

I’m not much of a numbers guy, and yet that’s the way I’m defined a lot.