Jeff Van Gundy Quotes

You've got to play to your players' talents.

To say we have to play a certain way, or try to, every game is great in theory, but depending what players you have got you have to play to their strengths and cover up their weaknesses.

I've always believed that. I'm not a guy who comes in with an offensive system, and we try to fit guys to it. I think it goes the other way. 'Here's who we've got. Let's put them in the right spots where they can be productive.'

If you identify those guys - something we have done in the past - who are not as valued in the current market for whatever reason and you look to get them to play at a higher level than where they have come from. That's how you develop the team.

If you can utilize a guy's talents and not let other parts of the game suffer, you've got a winning mix.

I used to have a log on every corner in the league, what their strengths and weaknesses are.

When you have your roster set up different ways, you really just have to examine the roster, find out what their strengths and weakness are and hopefully you take your roster and the vision you want to implement of how you want to play and you can tweak your roster to create that.

I have a lot of admiration for those who build tactical systems, but I always thought the most important thing a good coach must do is build the team around the characteristics of his players.

You see the assets of your actors and you see their strengths and you try to play into them. It's like I feel part of my job is as a coach. I'm putting a team on the field and you want to formulate how to make the best game out of these players.

You can't always have the best team. It's always a compromise.

I need to build my team around my weaknesses.

No tennis player is perfect. Even if you're world #1, I don't think, you still have things to improve on, and I'm not even close to that. So I am going to have weaknesses in my game; I am going to have strengths in my game, but I still have time to develop a lot of things, hopefully, and we'll see how it goes.

I think what coaching is all about, is taking players and analyzing there ability, put them in a position where they can excel within the framework of the team winning. And I hope that I've done that in my 33 years as a head coach.

I don't think a manager should be judged by whether he wins the pennant, but by whether he gets the most out of the twenty-five men he's been given.

It's an offseason. These days are valuable for everybody.

You don't play extra guys just to play them. You play 'em because they can help you in some way.

I think it's pretty unique to see a coach adjust to the talent he has and maximize the abilities of players he has and help them keep growing.

To get the best out of any player you need to play him in his best position, it's as simple as that.

I always think how I should play to make the most out of my teammates' abilities and their established styles.

You have to know what your talent is, and you have to exploit it. And then, while you're exploiting that talent, you find ways and tools to elevate other sides of you that are weaker.

There is not really any point in having a big squad if you don't use it.

I know my strengths and weaknesses, and I play to them.

Roy Hodgson destroyed me. He made me play in the centre of midfield.

As a coach, you have to play to how your team is built.

You're doing yourself a disservice if you're not building your roster and your team to give yourself a legitimate chance to score 21 points.