Isaiah Thomas Quotes

It's hard to be the point guard, especially playing with a young team.

He's helped me do so much in my career, helped me be the player that I am. If there's no Larry Brown, then there's no MVP, Allen Iverson.

Look, coaching is about human interaction and trying to know your players. Any coach would tell you that. I'm no different.

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

Since Carlo Ancelotti has arrived, he had emphasised hard work and intensity, and now that is what Real Madrid are associated with. He has playing experience, which makes him different to other coaches.

One of the things I like to do is let the players play and the coaches coach.

All my coaching life, I am the same, always on the touchline, the same way. I am in the game all the time. I am focused.

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

Duke has coached a lot of players who were versatile.

I have a very English coaching philosophy.

You've got to coach with what you have and who's available.

Popovich is always talking about team.

I got interested in coaching while I played at St. Joseph's. Because we played a national schedule, we played teams coached by Nat Holman, Joe Lapchick, Hank Iba, and others. I could see the impact the coach had on their teams, and I thought, 'That's a pretty good thing to do.'

I've always been a point guard, so being a coach on the floor, I've had to connect with every one of my teammates and find ways to motivate them, find ways to build them up.

The players on the team are the reason why we win. You don't have to treat them all identically; they're not going to be all the same. Your ability to lead and motivate those guys differently is important.

The key to coaching is not what you do, but the way you do it. The intangibles, the motivational parts of the game are the most important facets of it.

You've got to coach worrying about your entire team: whether that gets you a championship or whether that gets you fired. I think it allows you to coach free. You're coaching with freedom because you know you're doing what you think is right.

People say you can't go out and eat with your players. I say why not.

I feel that a great coach is one that has a vision, sets a plan in place, has the right people in place to execute that plan and then accepts the responsibility if that plan is not carried out.

I'm not buddy-buddy with the players. If they need a buddy, let them buy a dog.

I've been fortunate to be short my entire life. There's only one position I've ever had to play, and that's point guard. So I've always had to be that leader. And that was my job: you know, to talk.

I feel more comfortable with the ball in my hands, playing the point guard. But I like playing the 2, too. I think I bring tough defense and the ability to score and also get my teammates the ball to score.

I'd like to think that every captain around the world has a vision of how they want their teams to play and most of them are allowed to take their teams forward in their own way.

You have got to boss scrums. The players need to know what you want them to adhere to. Then it is up to them to decide whether they are adhering to that or not.

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.