Larry Joe Bird is an American professional basketball executive, former coach and former player.
Born: 7 December 1956 ,United States
A winner is someone who recognizes his God-given talents, works his tail off to develop them into skills, and uses these skills to accomplish his goals.
Push yourself again and again. Don’t give an inch until the final buzzer sounds.
I’ve got a theory that if you give 100 percent all of the time, somehow things will work out in the end.
I really don’t like talking about money. All I can say is that the Good Lord must have wanted me to have it.
I don’t know if I practiced more than anybody, but I sure practiced enough. I still wonder if somebody – somewhere – was practicing more than me.
My coach told me, “Larry, no matter how much you work at it, there’s always someone out there who’s working just a little harder – if you take 150 practice shots, he’s taking 200.” And that drove me.
Once you are labeled ‘the best’ you want to stay up there, and you can’t do it by loafing around. If I don’t keep changing. I’m history.
I like being by myself.
Don’t let winning make you soft. Don’t let losing make you quit. Don’t let your teammates down in any situation.
Leadership is getting players to believe in you. If you tell a teammate you’re ready to play as tough as you’re able to, you’d better go out there and do it. Players will see right through a phony. And they can tell when you’re not giving it all you’ve got.
When I was a player, I didn’t expect my teammates to play the way I did. I did expect them to work hard hard every day and get better. And I never learned anything by losing.
