Growing up, people will tell you that you have a better chance to become an astronaut than becoming an NBA player. So when you finally get to the NBA, you've beat the odds. So when you put on that jersey, everything else is downhill.
Interpretation
Success is achieved by overcoming difficult odds, and reaching your goals is a significant accomplishment.
Clyde Drexler's quote highlights the incredible odds faced by aspiring NBA players compared to other professions, like becoming an astronaut. It emphasizes that achieving a dream that many consider improbable is a profound success, and once that dream is realized, the challenges that follow seem less daunting in comparison.
In practice
During a motivational speech to youth aspiring to play basketball.
Going to the Portland Trail Blazers, who actually took the time to invest in me, was perhaps the best thing that ever happened to me in my career. I got to a small market where I could focus on basketball, basketball, basketball. No distractions.
The most important secret of salesmanship is to find out what the other fellow wants, then help him find the best way to get it
Winners are not born, they are self-made.
Talent is a process, not a thing. Failure is not proof of an innate limit but rather is an indication of a skill we haven’t yet developed.
Nothing great will ever be achieved without great men, and men are great only if they are determined to be so.
Practice habits were crucial to my development in basketball. I didn't play against the toughest competition in high school, but one reason I was able to do well in college was that I mastered the fundamentals. You've got to have them down before you can even think about playing.
I can't imagine a person becoming a success who doesn't give this game of life everything he's got.
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