Bill Walton Basketball Quotations

I lived to play basketball. Growing up as a kid, Bill Russell and the Boston Celtics were my favorite team. The way they played, the teamwork, the sacrifice, the commitment, the joy, the camaraderie, the relationship with the fans.

But you have to understand, my beard is so nasty. I mean, it's the only beard in the history of Western civilization that makes Bob Dylan's beard look good.

We can never thank David Stern enough. His vision to use basketball to improve the quality of our lives to make this world a better and saner place, that guy, is the most important man in the history of basketball.

Basketball is one of those rare opportunities where you can make a difference, not only for yourself, but for other people as well.

Life is about growth. People are not perfect when they're 21 years old.

Without question, no hesitation, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was the best player I ever played against.

I don't sleep much. I'm on the go. My mind is racing. My wife says my mind is like the rolling dials on a slot machine. So, yeah, I think about everything.

That's what makes it so fun to be on a team. You're sitting at your house, thinking up this wild, crazy stuff as to how it's going to go, and the other guys are sitting at their houses doing the same thing.

No one missed more basketball in the history of NBA than I did. I played 14 seasons, on the roster for 14 years, and I missed more than nine-and-a-half full seasons.

Well, we've made some changes on this tour. We're no longer sleeping in the parking lots and swimming in the fountains. We've been staying in hotels most of the way, though I will say some hotels have declined to take us because we're just having too much fun.

Bill Russell was my favorite player of all-time.

Chick Hearn was my favorite broadcaster ever - he's the one who taught me to think basketball, how to love basketball.

I might be the most injured athlete in the history of sports. I've had 31 operations. An endless string of stress fractures.

I'm mainstream. Always have been.

At 49, I can say something I never would have said when I was a player. I am a better person because of my failures and disgraces.

Tracy McGrady is doing things we've never seen from anybody - from any planet!

Mick Jagger is in better shape than far too many NBA players. It's up in the air whether the same can be said of Keith Richards.

Growing up, my parents were very, very strict. And then I went to UCLA with John Wooden, who was just off the charts.

I mean, I'm 6-foot-11, I've got red hair, freckles, I'm a goofy, nerdy-looking guy, I've got a speech impediment-I stutter and stammer all the time-and I'm a Deadhead.

I was a skinny, scrawny guy. I stuttered horrendously, couldn't speak at all. I was a very shy, reserved player and a very shy, reserved person. I found a safe place in life in basketball.

Right now, you know, it's not about the refs or anything else, it's about hitting first, getting on the run and never looking back.

I couldn't imagine not playing basketball. To me, basketball is what life is all about.

Tim Duncan's foot issue, I think, is a major factor in this year's playoffs. That's not the kind of injury that gets better over time playing NBA basketball.

In basketball, you can be the greatest individual player in the world and still lose every game, because a team will always beat an individual.

John Stockton is one of the true marvels, not just of basketball, or in America, but in the history of Western Civilization!

No matter how good you get, there's always something further out there.

I love to cheer, and yell, and joke and to celebrate the best basketball in the world. And to see these new players, to see how good they are-guys like Paul Pierce and Jason Kidd and, of course, Shaq and Kobe, who are just off the charts. It's a real pleasure.