Top 102 Quotes & Sayings by Mike D'Antoni - Page 2

If you're a ball stopper, usually you're inefficient.

You have guys that are comfortable in certain roles and they've made a lot of money in the role that they've been in, so it's hard for them to change or envision doing something different from what they're doing because what they're doing obviously was giving them a lot of success.

To me, a big man has to be able to guard on the perimeter.

Why not play the most possessions you can play if you're the best defensively and offensively? Any time possessions are cut down, then a bad call, a missed shot then you have a chance to lose.

As a coach, you're worried about everything.

I don't want to go with conventional thinking.

Players, if you give them the freedom, then they will do remarkable things.

Nobody wants to go into the season going, 'OK, if you have a really good year, you can come in third.'

Some players need it and some don't. Some have a little too much confidence. But bench players, guys in secondary roles, just need a shot of confidence all the time.

I know every coach is trying to do the best for his team and trying to win.

When you're desperate, it's good on defense because your hair should be on fire, but it's bad on offense.

One of the reasons I didn't make it in the NBA - I played 3 1/2 years - and one of the reasons I was in Europe for 20 years was because I lost my confidence. That comes from coaches that are emphasizing the mistakes, taking you out anytime you make one.

I think coaching Steve Nash is easy no matter if it's a good or bad start.

It's hard to to make it in the NBA. Everybody's got talent. So what's the difference between a talented guy who makes it and the type that doesn't? I've found that a lot of the time it's mental; it's confidence.

I had always wanted to see Europe, and what better way to see it than to spend a year there playing basketball?

Swagger's big. We have to have confidence to go ahead and play our game in who we are and not get away from it.

You don't have to love each other. I've been on a lot of championship teams in Europe where there's edges and we don't go out to dinner every night.

The big men aren't going away, they're just getting better.

The only thing I try to do as a coach is just stay on message and pound the points home.

I hate when guys say: 'Hey I didn't get my touches.'

You have to play offense and defense without thinking, and react like you know what to do, but if you're thinking of where to be and 1,000 other things you can lose focus. You're trying to play hard, but you're overthinking.

The defense can be affected by certain guys not being comfortable in the offense, and then not just playing and reacting on the other end.

The big thing about coaching is, however you are, that's how you've got to do it.

Every coach is paranoid.

The only thing we can ask players is to play as hard as they can. Whether you're happy or not doesn't really matter if you are playing as hard as you can.

My whole philosophy is 24 seconds or less. I don't care if it's seven or 10 or 20, we just have to get one good shot in those 24 seconds and that's what we'll do.

She really taught me a lot about how to believe in myself without being cocky. That's a tough thing to do sometimes. But my mom had it down pat.

Defense is always collective. You have to do it collectively.

We believe in public education. We think it's important in our country to have it and for us to support it.

I can't just say I wanna take a Hall of Fame point guard and make him into something else.

There's some guys in the league that I really want to respect me. I respect the way they play, I respect the way they look at the game, and their respect is more important instead of having a job.

My dad was a principal and coach. My sister was a superintendent of schools in West Virginia.

A lot of 3s, a lot of ball movement, a lot of quick movements. Yes, you can win that way.

Ultimately, you try to fit your personnel and what you can do as well into what you run.

Sometimes those labels that the league puts on players aren't right.

Almost everyone in the family have been schoolteachers, been in education forever.

I like the offense to flow.

When it came to basketball, I was a fanatic. I started to focus solely on basketball the summer before my freshman year in high school. I worked on my shooting in the driveway, drawing up charts where I recorded each day's performance. I spent hours working alone on ball-handling. I ran five miles a day and played games against my friends.

Rondo is a very good basketball player - really good.

I was a much better player in Europe than I was in the N.B.A., and lot of that had to do with feeling comfortable psychologically and believing in myself.

If fans are discouraged, find another team to root for.

Most of the time when there's a communication problem, it's because the message being received is not the message you want. It's not that they don't know what they need to do, how we need to act as a team, whatever. If you don't like the message, then you go say there's a communication problem.