It's about what the players are doing. My job is facilitate that. My job is to put them in positions to succeed. My job is to listen to their ideas, take them if they're good, quietly push them to the side if they're not. My job is to help them grow.
Nick Nurse
I believe in getting the ball up the floor and trying to take advantage of transition opportunities.
I understand there are bumps in the road. I understand there's a lot of noise that I don't want to listen to, and I just try to do my job to the best of my ability.
It's really an organizational job with a football team to watch them go through their day.
I think switching is like a lot of things. You can do it - it's a game plan - but you better do it well. You better practise it.
As an assistant, you are grinding it out and churning out work like there are not enough hours in the day, really. As a head coach, you are doing similar.
It shouldn't be two separate styles between the first and second unit as much.
Most of the places I came from, you gotta do a lot of gunslinging or coaching by the seat of your pants.
An entrepreneur will do whatever they have to do to make sure things get done. Our coaches will be that way; our players will be that way. Just do what it takes.
We've gotta be trying to think of what's coming next before it comes next.
I just think there are so many more good, talented players.
I tried to convince those guys at the Bullets in the '95-'96 season that they could try to beat the mighty London Towers, who won everything the year before. I got out of bed every day with the mindset of getting the team to Wembley for the play-off final and to win the championship.
I think I jumped the gun a bit on head coaching. I got named a head coach at 23, and I really didn't know what I was doing. I remember getting that job and going, 'Oh my God, they gave me the job.'
People talk about offensive chemistry all the time, but defensive chemistry is something you have to build, too, and there's a lot of that work to be done with just communications and the feel of who certain guys play.
I'm a guy that, when there's something rolling out there, the predetermined rotations might go right in the garbage can.
People asked me, 'Why aren't you doing something more important?' When I was doing well in the D-League, they were like, 'Why can't you get an NBA job? Or a college job?' I don't think people thought much of what I was doing. That's fine. I was learning. Not just X's and O's, but team dynamics.
Why are people afraid to try something different? Because of the scrutiny they're going to receive if it doesn't work. That stops people from trying things different a lot.
Chemistry kind of builds all season. It's not like we say, 'OK, it's game one, and now we've got our chemistry.' I think it shifts and moves all season long.
One of my favorite things about the D-League was going on the road and losing and not having to talk to anyone after the game.
I call Kawhi the best team player in the league. He really does everything: he defends. He scores. He has been grabbing huge rebounds. He is a leader. His competitive spirit to win rubs off on everybody.
Football is a pretty complex numbering system most of the time: run the three back through the four hole, things like that. We kind of do the same thing - the three man sets for the four, or whatever.
Sometimes, I don't enjoy the wins, and I don't enjoy the losses, but I'm here just to get the result and get moving.
I've coached a lot of teams and moved up gradually and tried to succeed and tried to have success at every level. When that happens, you just continue to wonder if you can keep doing it one more level.
Iowa is always home for me.
Predictability can eventually be defended.
We are trying to get away from those traditional centre, power forward type things.
I loved every job I had.
I always say we're chasing perfection in an imperfect game.
I like to have an attacking style on both ends.
I just want to keep getting better. People used to ask me - when I was winning in the D-League - why I wasn't in the NBA, and I'd tell them, 'I just want to learn and get better.' I figured it'd happen one day, and if it didn't, I really enjoyed my time coaching anyways.
If you ask what my philosophy is, my philosophy is kind of like an entrepreneurial philosophy.
I think the game in general is changing so fast right before our eyes.
I was getting a degree in accounting, and I was going to go off and account. And as it worked out, I haven't accounted for anything since.
Long time ago, we used to sit around eating popcorn and drawing up plays.
I think there's always enough right in front of me worrying about who's playing the minutes tomorrow, but you've always got to have an eye on a year or two from now and what those guys will do if you think, 'Well, let's give them a full year at the 905 and see how they progress.'
I don't mind physicality in the least - I don't mind it in the least, both ends of the floor.
You're really in a bubble if you're not watching the league.
I want to see given extra effort, pulling for your teammates: those are the kinds of things we're shooting for and we're going for because that's what we need.
I just want us to be playing our best basketball here when the playoffs start, and in the right mindset.
You look at any roster and you say, 'Geez, he's pretty good. He's pretty good. He's talented. He comes off the bench?' All of a sudden, it's, 'Geez, that's a pretty good roster they got right there.'
We've got to be innovative. We've got to think about what's coming next.
Esthetically, let's move the ball. Let's guard people. Let's fight.
I was in love with the triangle because it was so different to what everybody was doing in the NBA. Everybody else was dribbling down, throwing it into the low post, and then their guy would go to work. To me, it was boring.
I don't think when I decided I didn't want to be an accountant any more that I was necessarily saying I wanted to be an NBA head coach. I just really wanted to figure out if I could do it.
I know, when I'm walking out on the court before for the game, it's like, man, if you wanna compete, here it is. It's coming. That's something I really enjoy.
I used to say, as an assistant, I would go in and close my door for three hours after practice and just watch film. Now it seems like I'm in a meeting and then another and then another for three hours that have nothing to do with basketball. It's just different.
In the regular season, they all only count for one win or one loss. But for a team or coaching staff, these are tests, and you want to see where you're at.
I've known Adrian Griffin for quite awhile now and always had him as my 'when I get a job, I want to hire him if he isn't already a head coach and I can get him' list.
My goal early in becoming a head coach so young was to find out if I could do it. I just wanted to see if I could be a good head coach and then start learning from head coaching.
My job is to coach the team and get them to try to play the best they can come April, May, and June.
