David Robinson
Largely in the beginning, I did a lot of extra work because I was lighter than all the other guys. I was at a massive disadvantage, so I had to put on weight. I started with eating. I had to really focus on my diet.Collection: Diet
Keep working and saving and striving for a better future for your children, and for their children, even if you won't be around to see it pay off.Collection: Future
You need to learn a practical lesson. Grit alone is not going to save you from sinking.Collection: Alone
When all else fails, trust God.Collection: Trust
All this stuff doesn't happen to you for your own sake. It doesn't happen to you so you can fill your shelves with trophies or line your pockets with cash; it happens so you can have a positive influence and encourage other people.Collection: Positive
A lot of these teams really forget that part of success comes with having veteran leadership. You see a lot of teams forget that and start letting go of these old veterans. They don't realize how important it is to have a veteran voice in your locker room or on the bench. It's important to have guys who have been there before.Collection: Leadership
Your peers will respect you for your integrity and character, not your possessions.Collection: Respect
Preparation is everything.
It's the playoffs. There's no room for okay.
That's what university life is all about. Challenging, questioning, enjoying good people and good friends, and pushing yourself to the limit.
Michael, to me, he was an assassin. He was one of those guys that prepared himself extremely well and was relentless in his attacking. And there are a few guys who have that mentality. I think Kobe Bryant has that type of mentality, and LeBron has that type of mentality.
Obviously, I'm not working out the way I was when I was playing. I do yoga. I swim a lot. I'm drinking a lot of good, healthy mixes. I got myself a Vitamix.
Your grandfather is and will always be your hero, your inspiration. He fought in World War II, came home to Little Rock, Arkansas, and worked for 50 years as a mailman in the segregated south. Not once did he get a job promotion in five decades. But he kept working all the same.
I know I will leave my work unfinished. I just hope I planted enough seeds in my children and grandchildren that they will continue.
I was always curious. I wanted to learn a little about a lot of things, and I really had to get pushed to achieve.
We went through a nice stretch of big guys. But soon, everyone is going to realize that there's only one Steph Curry.
If you forget your history, you forget who you are.
A well-rounded education has always been an issue close to my heart.
The individual stats, that stuff is fun, but it doesn't last. Somebody else is gonna come along and break your records. But the memories that you take are forever.
In the NBA, you're taking a bunch of different talents, and you're managing them. You have to give them a system; you have to give them a belief. That's why coaches like Phil Jackson and Gregg Popovich are so great: because they gave the team confidence in the system and in their ability to execute night in and night out.
Most proud moment: Winning the championship in 2003 with a great team, retiring, and going out in the perfect way. Had a great journey and knowing it was the right time to focus more on family and community activities.
The biggest challenge was becoming a leader and taking our team to the highest level. Feeling the personal responsibility to take the team to the next level. Overcoming fear of inadequacy and never getting down on yourself or doubting who you are.
I think everything works in cycles. I was fortunate enough to come along in the golden age for big men. There were guys like Hakeem Olajuwon and Patrick Ewing.
I have the unique distinction of being on the only Olympic team to lose without controversy, and the only Pan Am Games team to lose without controversy.
This is sports. In sports, you win and you lose. That's the nature of sports. You can't get away from that part of it. And if you get too hung up on the losing part, then you miss the boat. The competition part, a game like that, is why you play sports. That is as good as it gets.
Yes, I played in '92 with the original Dream Team, and then again in '96 with what they labeled 'Dream Team III.'
My dad was enlisted in the Navy; my mother was a nurse. It just was never a thought process. It was just go to the best school you can go to, do the best you possibly can do, and be the best person you can possibly be, and I think our faith had a lot to do with that.
Just being raised in a home where my mother, from as early as I can remember, always taught me to be thinking about other people first, basically that our service was going to be the measure of our success.
My dad was in the Navy, and I was raised with a strong commitment to service.
USNA had a great engineering school, which was one of my interests, and I knew I would benefit from the great discipline and accountability that Navy provides.
Coming in, I had no idea basketball would be a career for me, but I grew 7 inches in college and was fortunate to have a great career in the NBA. The experience taught me about service, what our great country was built on, the sacrifices people have made, how to work together and trust the people around you to accomplish a great goal.
Marc Gasol, he's more of a true center. There are guys who play that traditional center role, but the game is also played differently now.
Shaq was a great physical specimen. I mean, 7 foot, 350 pounds. There wasn't anybody like him.
I see these college kids taking these crazy shots, and it's like, taking that shot is going to leave you without a job. You're not Steph Curry.
I played for a long time, and there's not many guys I would say, 'O.K., take any shot you want.'
In some ways, you have to fail some. You have to figure that stuff out, because if I didn't have an Hakeem Olajuwon, would I have been able to achieve the heights that I did achieve? I don't think so. He pushed me, and I pushed him.
You have to raise your game, you have to be ready to compete, and you've just got to give Hakeem credit. He was great. He really was great.
You give a team a month - three weeks - to get together, and you're going to make mistakes. You're just not going to be as sharp.
What's great is what Coach Popovich and R.C. Buford and the whole family have done a great job in continuing to build the franchise and still be very, very competitive.
It takes time; you look at what happened with LeBron, Wade, and Bosh. It took them a year or two to get their legs underneath them and figure things out, and even then, that run was relatively short.
Believe it or not, the Navy requires plebes to actually be able to swim.
You are overboard in deep open water without a PFD (personal floatation device), or at least that's what your instructor is yelling. Sink or swim, plebe.
I hope the young guys who are playing today realize what they have been given and will take it upon themselves to give back in return.
My fouls used to be ticky-tacky, but I learned real fast to make them count.
Sometimes I feel like hitting somebody. You look at the refs and they say, 'We'll take care of it.' I think, 'Yeah? You won't take care of it the way I'd like to take care of it.'
I'm not a great reader, believe it or not. It's not the vocabulary - my father made me read the dictionary when I was little - but my attention span is poor. Takes me months to read one book.
If you're a better scorer than me, I'll put you down on the block; you score. I don't care. I can do other things.
Popovich is always talking about team.
When you get on the floor, you've got to think you're the best player. Everybody does that.
When you get that signing bonus, don't start thinking about all the things you can do with $1 million.