I've always believed no matter how many shots I miss, I'm going to make the next one.
Isaiah Thomas
It was important to me to believe, because if I don't believe, how can I expect them to believe?
If all I'm remembered for is being a good basketball player, then I've done a bad job with the rest of my life.
It's hard to get people to overcome the thought that they have to take care of themselves first. It's hard to get players to give in to the group and become selfless as opposed to selfish.
Most players in this league say they want consistency.
My greatest gift that I have in life is basketball.
I want to see if the player communicates with his teammates and how he responds to coaching. Another thing to remember is players' bodies can develop better than their skills.
I would still like to get more athletic and have players that can really cover what's going on in the game.
You're always at war with the guy on the other bench. You pick up their patterns. That's what I got the most out of this year. I know what other coaches like to do.
You have to develop your whole game to completion.
It wasn't about the X's and the O's and the strategy; it was more about keeping 12 guys focused and committed to a task. That group dynamic, and then helping them to grow as people and basketball players.
The biggest difference is in the leadership. It was better for us. We had more coaches and mentors to help us. A lot of the younger players today suffer from a lack of direction.
We were going to have to experiment, and we needed to develop our younger players. And a lot of the changes were because of injuries. But that's where I give a lot of credit to the group in terms of being able to maintain things.
We decided to go the way of trading and getting younger players.
We decided to either try trades or just go with older players. If you do that and let contracts expire you can be in the lottery for about four or five years and expect your fans to be patient.
The type of athletes we draft still need types of versatility on the defense side of the ball, run the offense. You should still be concerned on the offense side of the ball.
My thought has always been completion. Maybe you have to rebound better, shoot better, hit free throws, handle the ball, defend better. You have to do all those things in the course of a game.
My first choice was to work it out with Larry Brown. I needed Larry and I gave him 50 million bucks. This is a situation that I'm in and I'll handle it and I'll make it work.
Larry Brown thought Steve Francis was a Larry Brown type of player.
Instead of me telling them what they need to work on, I wanted to hear from them what they needed to work on.
I've been in pressure situations before. All my life it's been about pressure and having to get it done. Just because you say it publicly, it does not make me afraid of it or make me shy away from it.
I'll continue to try to make changes to better improve the team.
I love what I'm doing.
I can't think of any NBA team over the last few years that lost three starters. And we replaced them basically with three guys who really haven't played in this league.
I believe in the players and what I've put together and we'll make it work.
How can I tell the eighth or ninth man on the team that I want you to work hard every day and I want you to improve and get better, but while you're doing that you're not going to get any minutes?
Everybody wants to be perfect.
All of those things had been talked about, suggested, rumored, as a manager and as a member of the Knicks organization, I couldn't allow myself to think that way or believe that.
It's been made clear to all of us that a player should never leave the playing field and go into the stands.
