It was important to me to believe, because if I don't believe, how can I expect them to believe?

I want to see if the player communicates with his teammates and how he responds to coaching. Another thing to remember is players' bodies can develop better than their skills.

How can I tell the eighth or ninth man on the team that I want you to work hard every day and I want you to improve and get better, but while you're doing that you're not going to get any minutes?

It's hard to get people to overcome the thought that they have to take care of themselves first. It's hard to get players to give in to the group and become selfless as opposed to selfish.

All of those things had been talked about, suggested, rumored, as a manager and as a member of the Knicks organization, I couldn't allow myself to think that way or believe that.

If all I'm remembered for is being a good basketball player, then I've done a bad job with the rest of my life.

Larry Brown thought Steve Francis was a Larry Brown type of player.

My first choice was to work it out with Larry Brown. I needed Larry and I gave him 50 million bucks. This is a situation that I'm in and I'll handle it and I'll make it work.

The biggest difference is in the leadership. It was better for us. We had more coaches and mentors to help us. A lot of the younger players today suffer from a lack of direction.

I've been in pressure situations before. All my life it's been about pressure and having to get it done. Just because you say it publicly, it does not make me afraid of it or make me shy away from it.

Instead of me telling them what they need to work on, I wanted to hear from them what they needed to work on.

It's been made clear to all of us that a player should never leave the playing field and go into the stands.

My thought has always been completion. Maybe you have to rebound better, shoot better, hit free throws, handle the ball, defend better. You have to do all those things in the course of a game.

My greatest gift that I have in life is basketball.

It was important to me to believe, because if I don't believe, how can I expect them to believe?

Everybody wants to be perfect.

We decided to either try trades or just go with older players. If you do that and let contracts expire you can be in the lottery for about four or five years and expect your fans to be patient.

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.

You're always at war with the guy on the other bench. You pick up their patterns. That's what I got the most out of this year. I know what other coaches like to do.

I would still like to get more athletic and have players that can really cover what's going on in the game.

You have to develop your whole game to completion.

I believe in the players and what I've put together and we'll make it work.

We decided to go the way of trading and getting younger players.

I love what I'm doing.

We were going to have to experiment, and we needed to develop our younger players. And a lot of the changes were because of injuries. But that's where I give a lot of credit to the group in terms of being able to maintain things.

I'll continue to try to make changes to better improve the team.

I've always believed no matter how many shots I miss, I'm going to make the next one.

I can't think of any NBA team over the last few years that lost three starters. And we replaced them basically with three guys who really haven't played in this league.

The type of athletes we draft still need types of versatility on the defense side of the ball, run the offense. You should still be concerned on the offense side of the ball.

Most players in this league say they want consistency.

There is no evil in the atom; only in men's souls.

The simple everyday experiences become the doorway to new thoughts and inspirations.

When people embrace character, there's latzie. It's the stuffing of a scene that's not written. It's not in the stage direction and it's not in the words. When people embrace character, it informs their living, breathing moments in a scene so well.

It's still a trip for me to see somebody that I've only seen on television or in a movie. When they are there in real life, it's very different. When we played Detroit, Kevin Costner played before us.

For watching sports, I tend to drink Guinness; early evenings always begin well with a Grey Goose and tonic with plenty of lime; and on a cold winter's night, there's nothing quite like a glass of Black Maple Hill... an absolute peach of a bourbon.

There's an outline for each of the books that I adhere to pretty closely, but I'm not averse to taking it in a new direction, as long as I can get it back to where I need it to go.

I'm just thankful for everything, all the blessings in my life, trying to stay that way. I think that's the best way to start your day and finish your day. It keeps everything in perspective.

Bikes and planes aren't about going fast or having fun; they're toys, but serious ones.

But I have found that in the simple act of living with hope, and in the daily effort to have a positive impact in the world, the days I do have are made all the more meaningful and precious. And for that I am grateful.

Things can get only so bad. People want to eat, so at some point they resist further cuts to their consumption - it's not a bottomless pit.

It doesn't occur to me that I don't drive a cool car until I hang out with Jon Hamm, who picks me up in what looks like a Transformer, and I think, 'Oh, that's what movie stars are driving. I guess I'm not a movie star.'

While at the same time knowing that once he had gone down that road, once it was clear that his life was never a peaceful one from that moment on. He always knew that there was somebody that would like to kill him.

My mother is my root my foundation. She planted the seed that I base my life on and that is the belief that the ability to achieve starts in your mind.

People who add value to others do so intentionally. I say that because to add value, leaders must give of themselves, and that rarely occurs by accident.

I always embrace the worst-case scenario.

For me it's been very exciting to contribute to the public's understanding of how rich and wondrous science is.

A small company like Nichia should do niche products.

Like a lot of freelance cartoonists, when any opportunity like that comes along, I have a hard time saying no, whether it makes sense or not.

When I was seven, these kids in the alley behind our house in Omaha called me Freckleface Strawberry. I hated my freckles, and I hated that name. I thought it was humiliating in the way that only a seven-year-old could hate it.