There are a lot of young teams that all they are is young. That doesn't mean they have a chance to be good.

You don't know a player until you coach him.

Are you playing for your teammates and coaches? That's how it should be.

I think everyone talks about talent. It's really one of the most overused terms. It comes down to, do you play, and do you win? Talent is one factor, but certainly not the only one.

Only once did someone talking about my appearance bother me.

It can get good quickly in this league, and it can get bad quickly.

Goaltending was brought in because of Mikan and Chamberlain. So rules do change for specific players, in concert with a need to stay up to date on how coaches are taking advantage of the rules.

Whenever you are coaching, you are trying to get the most balanced team that you can: balance between defense, offense, and rebounding.

I like to watch anyone who has great competitive spirit and will: passionate teams.

Manu Ginobili - I like to watch him. I would pay to watch him play the game. He will try things that will drive a coach crazy, like a full-court bounce pass, but he has such a flair for the game. I love his energy and his spirit and his unpredictability.

I enjoy watching Gregg Popovich-coached teams.

If your best offensive players go down, all you can do is hang on.

You can't hold up in a FIBA game if you don't have great competitive spirit.

If you coach, and coach every day, you should be getting better if you're self-evaluating and you've got people around you telling you the truth.

There are certain aspects that I miss of coaching. But you can't just pick out the good parts. You've got to be all-in and understand there's some negatives, too.

It's hard enough to coach in this league when you're doing what you believe in. But when you have to try to coach something you may not be sold on, it becomes even more of a challenge. It's really hard.

To me, it doesn't matter who's out there: NBA basketball is great - if teams are putting out their best players and they're competing to win.

You have to be careful as a news organization that you don't fall into voluntary censorship, that you worry about offending your 'league partner.' I never worried about that. I worry about fans listening.

Everyone's system in the NBA makes sense. It all comes down to the quality of player and the quality of execution.

D'Antoni can be successful playing slow or fast because he is a bright guy who has very creative ideas.

When I'd watch myself coaching, I'd say, 'Man, I look bad,' but I never felt I didn't have a sense of humor with the team. Maybe I was too over-the-top serious.

Kobe Bryant is a terrific offensive rebounder.

At first, you can play into the naivete that people think you have because you don't dress well. They almost give you the benefit of the doubt. But when success comes, that's no longer a good angle, so now you're 'a political animal.'

I want to control everything that goes into winning or losing.

Losing has an unbelievably negative impact on me.

I read somewhere that failure is an event, not a person, but I never feel that way. It's who I am.

Most elite big men are high maintenance.

There's always been conflict, inherent conflict between players and coaches.

I always said 'strength in stars.'

Chicken parm is hard to beat.

You would never find a coach in any sport more giving of his time than Coach Parcells to other New York coaches.

It's hard to change a roster around. You've got to hit your draft picks right, you've gotta hit free agency right, and a team's got to fit together.

When Jordan was averaging over 30 and shooting over 50 percent, he was doing it with less shooting on the floor for himself. He had less spacing to work with. He was going against defenses that were allowed a lot more liberties as far as physical contact, how hard they fouled, and all those things.

Often, organizations don't know how good they have it with a player or coach.

The NBA is a crazy place.

I never lost the desire to coach.

For professional athletes, I always think about it in these terms: the most difficult diva of women's soccer would be the easiest NBA player ever.

Sometimes you try to change, and you go backwards.

When you have the best player, you can do a lot of things. The best player can usually back it up, too.

I think anybody confusing a system with a reason for success is making a huge mistake. Systems don't win games. Players do.

All you try to do in any system you incorporate is put players in their areas of strength and try to hide and minimize their weaknesses.

Detroit Pistons basketball slogan: When the going gets tough, we fire the coach.

It's staggering how many players, even with the sums of money they make, don't do a great job of saving it.

I frankly think the NBA All-Star game has run its course, the whole dunk contest... The game - if those guys actually played hard in that game, it'd be the best watch ever.

It is a player's league until you lose.

I think there are much bigger differences between players in this league than between coaches. There is a big gap between LeBron James and the small forward for whoever. Far bigger than between two coaches.

I think coaches should get the same amount of credit in victory that they get in defeat.

Phil Jackson was a brilliant basketball coach, not just because of the offense that he employed, but it was so many other things that went into it.

I think Jeff Hornacek is a very, very good basketball coach and an outstanding person.

When you get a draft pick right, you should be given full credit.