Christian Laettner Quotes

You can have great players, but if they don't want to be coached, what are you going to do?

Scott Skiles is one of the best coaches in the NBA, someone I observe and learn from on a day-to-day basis.

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.

The best thing you can say about any coach is his players play hard for him.

I just coach and get my guys ready.

For years, we have had many coaches in football, but there are no teachers anymore. And you see that in the play itself.

Coach K, he's just the most legendary coach to coach college basketball. I felt like going to Duke University I can learn a lot from him in my time there.

You see the excitement on the players. I don't know... if they think, 'This coach is crazy,' or if they think that, 'No, this is pretty good.'

I am not a usual coach: it doesn't matter for me who are scoring the goals.

In this business, a lot of coaches are running around thinking they're the reason their teams are winning.

The Rockets have a philosophy of what they think their coach should be.

When you have a coach that is a competitor, that wants to win more than anything else, it really carries over to the team.

Coach Calipari pushes his players, and that's why his teams are successful.

I've had a lot of great coaches. I think Guus Hiddink and Vicente del Bosque are the ones closest to my style. I'm more friendly with the players than a 'formal' coach. I'm not a professor. I'm Roberto Carlos and I want to win with my players and I want them to help me by doing their job well.

Louis Van Gaal is a great coach. He has inspired a lot of players to give their best, shown them how to play.

In the NBA, you're taking a bunch of different talents, and you're managing them. You have to give them a system; you have to give them a belief. That's why coaches like Phil Jackson and Gregg Popovich are so great: because they gave the team confidence in the system and in their ability to execute night in and night out.

It would be worse if I have players who are happy if they sit on the bench, because that doesn't mean that we develop our game.

I would be a very demanding coach. I wouldn't yell and scream, but I want players that want what I want. And that's why I couldn't coach, 'cause I know how hard it is and I know how hard I want you to play. But everyone's not going to do what I want.

The thing about playing basketball in Houston was we had a great coach, great system, and we had guys that believed in me. Once you get that belief in you, it's easy to play basketball, so, we really never had so-called role players.

I think coaches who don't coddle but praise players when they deserve it get the best results.

I know myself that when there is a manager who knows how to get the best out of you then it's different - and that's why I chose Villa. I wanted to work with Steve Bruce again.

The key is having great players. But there are a lot of teams that have All-Stars and haven't been able to put it together.

I've been around enough to know what it takes to get a team to reach its potential, and I want players who want to reach their potential.

I like to be able to control which players I'm working with. Because it doesn't matter how good a coach you are if the guys you're working with think they already know it all. You need a response, you need to feel they're trying. I want players who are always striving to improve.

Really the team often will take on the personality of its coach.