3. Roy Williams’ fantastic quote
Roy Williams has seen a lot of good basketball in his time around the game. At North Carolina, he was an assistant coach under one of the most legendary basketball coaches of all time, Dean Smith. Then, he took over as the head coach at Kansas University before returning to North Carolina to be the top dog. He’s coached a plethora of big-time NBA guys and knows talent when he sees it.
Obviously, we don’t need to hear Williams talk about Jordan to know how great Jordan is, but Williams still had one of the best quotes of the evening.
"“I can’t pick one moment,” said Williams. “When I think of Michael Jordan, yes, I think of the shot, but I think of three years of watching that youngster get better and better and better. Michael Jordan’s the only player that could ever turn it on and off, and he never frickin’ turned it off.”"
The way Williams makes his voice go a little deeper as he says “and he never frickin’ turned it off” is bone-chilling.
2. Walt Frazier bringing the heat
While Roy Williams delivered a quote that I’ll likely never forget thanks to its weight and sincerity, Walt Frazier also had a moment that I’ll never forget, but for different reasons.
There’s some old footage that appears to be post-1984 NBA Draft of Frazier saying, “Michael’s gotta realize that he’s not 7-foot, so he’s not gonna carry a team in the NBA.”
That’s… uh… not the best quote to have floating around out there if you’re Walt Frazier.