Systems are overrated; players are underrated.

Everyone wants to focus on what Ben Simmons can't do, which is shoot and try to rush him into being a range shooter. I think Simmons in Philadelphia has done a good job in focusing what he does great versus what he doesn't do as well.

To be successful in anything, you have to have a passion for it, and that leads to being enthusiastic and demanding. I didn't have it for history. So I wouldn't have been a good teacher in that area. But I had it for basketball. And that's what coaching is at every level: it's about teaching.

I think fans oftentimes get an inferior product on back-to-back games, and I think that has to be the number one thing that gets addressed for the fans and for the players - the elimination or the drastic reduction of back-to-back games.

Dwight Howard is a Hall of Fame player.

While a guy may not be totally happy, he can be effective and do well for the team.

The best player's responsibility is to unite and inspire your teammates to play up to their full maximum ability, and that never occurs if you try to separate yourself as part of the problem.

I don't know about any others, but coaching basketball is the only thing I can do.

I have known Marbury since he was in seventh grade, and I have always felt he is a hell of an NBA player.

Stop the nonsense about 'student-athlete.'

I love listening to Coach Belichick's press conferences: even though they may not be what the media wants, they're great coaching, teaching tools.

As far as LeBron James, to me, he's on his way to carving out the very best career that's ever happened in the NBA.

The triangle itself is just an offense based on freedom of the ball to go to different places, everybody feeling involved. It's a good thing.

I don't like comparing people or teams.

There are franchise players to build around that have championship-level talent, skill, basketball IQ, and character - it's hard to find those guys. Those guys are rare.

Mark Fox is always criticized recruiting: he can't keep the Georgia kids home. What that means - he's not cheating and paying. That's what it means.

I don't ever remember wanting to do anything but coach. My dad obviously influenced me. But it wasn't because he sat there and drilled coaching stuff into our heads. We were on the bench keeping the scorebook and traveling with the team on weekends. It was such a great upbringing.

I was asked to do something and represent my country. That's a great honor. This isn't about what it could do for me but what I could do for U.S.A. Basketball.

My father and mother have given me so much love, so much support, that it would trivialize their parenthood if I would reduce it just to basketball. But my dad does call me before and after every game. And when we lost a game we shouldn't have, he told me it wasn't my fault. And I appreciated that, because he was trying to pick me up.

Providence had a graduate assistant job opening. They asked me if I wanted to apply, and I applied. That break right there put me in position to learn from great coaches. It really jump-started every other good break I ever had in coaching.

Players and coaches alike, you sign up for 82 games. You get paid for 82.

I grew up dreaming about being an Olympic basketball player: Doug Collins getting smashed into the stanchion, making two free throws. Phil Ford and Mike O'Koren in 1976.

Why is UCLA and Georgia Tech in China to play a basketball game? Missing all that school, and then force-feeding their fans the idea of 'student-athletes.'

I think greatness is always good for the NBA. Great players, great teams - it's always good for the NBA.

Christmas Day is a big day for NBA basketball.

I miss coaching - certain elements of coaching.

In one era, it's hard enough to compare people. But comparing people of different eras... that's next to impossible.

Every team has leadership. The leadership is the best players. But there's positive leadership, and there's negative leadership.

If sports science really has a beat on what's healthy for the players, then they need to tell the league how many games that is healthy for players to play and then only play that many games.

I broadcast games. I think there is a huge difference between print journalism and broadcasting. I don't have to say, 'sources close to LeBron James,' five times a game. I can just put my name to it. I say what I believe. It doesn't mean it's right. It's what I believe.

If you are going to call out your teammates, you have to call out yourself, too. You can't just separate yourself from the rest, because if you are going to get 90 percent of the credit when you win, you have to be willing to take 90 percent of the blame when you lose.

You start comparing people, and ultimately, somebody feels diminished.

I've had two owners - Jim Dolan and Les Alexander in Houston. Both were terrific. They wanted to win badly and gave you the resources to win.

The public Yao was the private Yao: To his core, there was an unmistakable peace to him.

As great of a player as Yao was, he was kind and patient with everybody. He wasn't trying to feed an image or cultivate a brand or manipulate a public persona.

There is a goodness about Yao that is unique, that never left him through all the pain and injuries and disappointments that accompanied his unprecedented accomplishments and successes.

Among the hardest-working players I've ever been associated, Yao stands at the very top of the list. Beyond that, though, here's what truly separated him from everyone else: His ability to enjoy other people's successes.

I love Joe Ingles. I think Joe Ingles is a tremendous glue player, terrific shooter, passer, defender.

Life sort of works out the way it works out.

All the fascination with numbers conspires to make you forget the beauty of the game sometimes.

The beauty of growing up in a coaching family, particularly one that isn't at the very highest level, is that you get to be in the gym - that's where you grow up.

There have been people who said I was a Pat Riley clone. But I don't think that's true. While I did learn a lot from him, I could never be him. I mean, we even dress so differently.

I think the beautiful part about Yao is that his main legacy won't be about the game. His legacy will be about helping people. His legacy will be taking on important world causes to better his world.

People talk about Kobe's 81-point game, the second-highest scoring game in NBA history. I saw the game. I don't care if it was 79, 81 - I just remember the game. I remember the moves. I remember the shots. I remember the beauty of it. The numbers? What he shot from the field? I don't care.

My intensity is my greatest strength. It's also my greatest weakness.

I'm not a positive guy.

One of my college roommates was into The Police, and I got to like them. But I hear one of the guys left the band.

My one suggestion going forward is, any felony committed against a woman should be a full-season suspension.

I quit the Knicks, so I know what quitting is. I did. I quit. And it's something I regret to this day. I live with it every day, and I regret it. And I let my emotions come into it. And I was just emotionally spent. I made a bad decision, and I quit.

I had a great job with the Knicks.