Now you've been in the playoffs once, you know what it tastes like, you know what it feels like. You know, going through the season when Coach is preaching physicality, how hard you gotta play, how you gotta take care of the ball, why he's saying that. Because all that comes into play in playoff basketball.

In my mind, LeBron James is the best player in the league.

You always take rest over rust in the playoffs.

Freedom of movement, which is a great rule, doesn't mean freedom to go to the rim for a layup or freedom to take any shot you want to take or me going in there and not playing through contact.

I never want to hurt a player but being physical is different. Body to body.

I can hold my head high for what we built in Toronto.

I'm ready to roll 24/7.

I understand the outrage because it seems the list continues to grow: Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd. The injustices continue to mount and nothing seems to be changing.

Fifty-four years ago, I was an 8-year-old boy living in rural Kentucky when the schools were desegregated. I walked into a white school where I was not wanted nor welcomed.

Fred VanVleet's story - here's a kid who's not very fast, not very tall, undrafted, had every excuse to not make it big and here he is and he's gonna be one of the top free agents.

KeyArena was rocking, loud. The Finals in '96, I thought that was loud.

To be honored by your peers is incredibly gratifying and I am so thankful to my colleagues across the league for this recognition. I'm also grateful to the talented and dedicated coaching staff I work with every day in Toronto. To be recognized with an award that bears Michael H. Goldberg's name is very special.

I tried to listen to way too many voices in my first stint as a head coach. The second time around, I know what I want and how I want to do it.

I look back and see what life could have been if I hadn't applied myself in basketball, and I'm really thankful for every experience I've had.

We were poor and lived modestly, but we always had food on the table.

I remember going with my grandmother to the houses she cleaned when I was little, and I would have to stay down in the basement while she cleaned, and then we walked back home together.

When I first got to Toronto, we were last in defense, 20-something in offense, we were the laughing stock in the Eastern Conference.

For someone to believe in you, that's all you want as a player and as a coach.

All winners are edgy. Guys that are pushing themselves are edgy. It's the old saying we have in Kentucky: I'd rather have a guy I have to say whoa to, than giddyup.

That's the problem with our industry: patience. People want instant NBA stars, and that's not going to happen.

I think the basketball gods will get you every time if you start trying to mess with the game. You've got to take what the schedule gives you, or who the standings give you.

It's very difficult to overtly do it. But I try to live my life consistently as a man and as a father.

Basketball is like society - you're going to have good and bad.

As you get older, as a father, you hope your kids can make that kind of impression on somebody who will say, 'Hey, here's a guy that you want, a guy of character, got his head tied on right, a good student, a good basketball player,' whatever it is.