Kobe Bryant once said:
“Everyone wants to be a beast. Everyone wants to be the best. But very few people are willing to do what it actually takes. Because what it takes is boring. It is waking up at 4:00 AM. It is shooting the same shot a thousand times. It is watching the film when you are tired. People fall in love with the result, but they hate the process. You have to fall in love with the boredom. You have to fall in love with the repetition.
If you can find joy in the mundane work that no one else sees, the lights will eventually shine on you.”
"I wouldn't have turned pro if I didn't think I could compete at the highest level. Once I turned pro, I knew there was no excuse with my age."
- 17-year-old Cooper Lutkenhaus 🇺🇸 on competing at the highest level of the sport.
I love this shit. How can you not love a kid that’s dotting 104, is in a dog fight for the ERA title while already having a sub-two and is willing to tell the reigning back-to-back NL Manager of the Year that this is his game. Absolute DOG.
Tom Brady shares what he tells every college athlete he meets and it's not what they expect.
"I hope this experience is hard for you. I hope it's not easy."
"I hope today in this game you're losing in the 4th quarter and you look at each other in the eye and try to figure out solutions to how you're gonna win the game."
"That's how you're gonna find out what you're made of."
You find out who you are when you are challenged. Expect adversity. Expect tough moments.
"Life is hard. The challenges of life are hard."
"This program is hard. It's built on toughness. It's built on resilience. And that's what I wanna see from this team."
You can't wish for easy or hope for easy.
Adversity is a gift if you let it be.
(🎥 Fox)
WEMBY JUST DROPPED A BAR:
"The lack of experience is a strength of us...because we could do impossible stuff because we don't know it's impossible" 🥶
(h/t @ohnohedidnt24)
So are we at a point where literally every gym accepts they need other athletes to win? I feel like 90% of these rosters only exist because of host families
De'Aaron Fox said Gregg Popovich came into the Spurs' locker room after the Game 3 loss:
"That was the first time he walked into the locker room and was like, 'Nah, that's BS. That's not how we play basketball.' Obviously, he had some choice words for us."
Eu já falei isso antes aqui, mas vou repetir: o San Antonio Spurs é a organização que eu mais respeito em toda a NBA.
E eu não tô falando de basquete praticado nem de conquistas.
Os caras realmente são uma família.
As principais lendas dos caras estão sempre nos jogos, mas não só isso: eles aparecem em treinos, estão lá pra quem acabou de chegar no time, falam abertamente que cuidam uns dos outros (como é o caso do Tim Duncan com o Gregg Popovich).
Eu não sei se dá pra replicar o sucesso, porque a NBA é uma caixinha de surpresas, mas toda franquia deveria tentar ser pelo menos um pouco San Antonio Spurs.