Tom Brady explains why he’d rather have a less talented teammate who is dependable every day than a gifted player who’s unpredictable “What ended up being my biggest weakness became my biggest strength. There’s a physical, mental and emotional part of us that allow us all to be successful.” “We oftentimes over-evaluate the physical. Emotionally, you bring a competitive stamina, energy, enthusiasm and optimism to the team every day.” “There’s nothing worse than a teammate that one day he’s fucking great, and the next day, what happened to him? When you have that athlete or teammate that you know every day is going to show up…” “He’s going to be on time. He’s going to train hard. He’s going to be good in the locker room. He’s always going to be dependable. Those are the type of teammates you want.” “You would take someone like that over the more skilled player that has more volatility because you know what you can count on.” “To me, mentally and emotionally I was off the charts. Physically, I needed to catch up.”

Garrett Temple says the secret to lasting 16 years in the NBA is being low maintenance “I think it goes back to what we talked about earlier. Just understanding your role. I think it’s more difficult for highly touted guys, or guys that are just very talented, that can do a lot of good things and don’t get that opportunity right away. I think they may not be able to be adaptable.” “The talent level is immense. But the ability to be professional, and that’s general, but that means be on time, have a work ethic, be low maintenance. I think that’s the big thing now.” “Being low maintenance, which means not having anybody have to worry about you, or asking for too many things, or you being a prima donna, or things of that nature.” “Just being somebody that’s under the radar. I call it the ‘What do you need, Coach?’ player. When you can be that guy, and then once you get on the court you produce, especially on the defensive end, offensively you can make shots, miss shots, but if you produce defensively and you cause no problems, you only bring positivity to the team, it’s hard for coaches and GMs to get rid of you. It’s very hard.” “Those are all things you can control. It’s simple, but it’s not easy. Because you get in your head. ‘I was this dude, but you go three games without playing. The dude in front of me not even playing well. What are you doing?’” “The ego is so big in professional sports. You have to have one to get to a certain level, but you literally have to be able to turn it on and off.” “And once your mindset is about winning, the team winning, you can focus on doing whatever the team needs you to do to win. That’s the biggest thing that allows people to stay in the league.”

Steph Curry says the first test of whether someone really wants to become great is if someone has to tell them to go to the gym “I always tell kids now, nobody should have to tell you you should go to the gym, right? As a kid I was that type of kid, I was going to find a gym wherever.” “My dad played in the league, so it’s not like the access wasn’t there, but he couldn’t be the one telling me it’s this time, ‘What we doing today?’ If I’m not the one pushing that, start there.” “It always became just a joy of finding ways to get better. Every day I was just exploring, trying stuff. Never really satisfied with the level that I was shooting. Even if I had the greatest workout, I’m probably thinking about the couple of misses that I had. I was always curious about how can I get better the next session?” “Just exposing myself to different thought processes, being uncomfortable, getting in gyms with players better than me.” “If you’re not getting anything out of it, there’s that internal voice that’s like, ‘I probably coasted today.’ Or, ‘No, I did something. I got something out of this today.’..” “When I got to the league, I thought I was preparing myself for the NBA journey… Just putting myself around people who knew what they were talking about and pushing me in the right direction.”

Tyrod Taylor says commanding a room isn’t about being the loudest person in it “Not necessarily even just the loudness. It’s just the command. I think that’s more of a preparation. If you’re prepared and know what you’re talking about, you can go in and easily command the play.” “I don’t care if I tell you to run backwards this play, if I say it the right way, everyone in there should believe that this play is going to work.” “I used to hear, ‘You got two ears and one mouth for a reason.’ Listen more than you speak. And when you do speak, just make sure that it’s meaningful, that you say the right things and that you’re always respectful.” “Processing things, hearing people out, not being quick to speak and not necessarily being the loudest in the room.”

Cooper Kupp believes in order to perform at your best, you have to stop caring about the result “Early on mindset in the moment was… Don’t mess up. Make sure I run the right route. Get to the right spot. I’ve got so much going through my head.” “Jared threw such a great pass…I end up missing it…A game-winning touchdown. The results aren’t always going to tell you the truth. What’s your process like? How are you going about things?” “People are going to hate to hear that this is my mindset… But you have to not care what happens. You have to not care what the result is.” “Get completely past… The wins and the losses. Get completely past… What the stats are going to be.” “I work from Monday to Saturday… To make sure I prepare… And do everything I possibly can… To be the best Cooper Kupp… That I can be on Sunday.” “The things I eat. When I show up to work. The film I’m watching. I’m as intentional as I can possibly be.” “It doesn’t matter. I’ve already done everything I possibly can… To be in that moment. All I can do is attack it. The results do not matter.” “I get to play from victory… Not for victory.” “The worst thing I can do… Is look back and be like… Why didn’t I go after it? I’m just going to send it. If it doesn’t work… It doesn’t work.”