Being an NBA general manager really is a lot of pressure. There's so much that goes into the job.

Somehow you get past languages. I don't speak Mandarin. I don't speak fluent Italian. I don't speak German. But it's amazing how when you need to get something done, it finds a way.

A true champion walks off with his head high.

Character and class are character and class. Either you have it or you don't.

When you're going out with the attitude that you want to win, you can't get caught up in the style of play.

I'd rather play bad and win than play good and lose.

Moral victories are really more for coaches than players.

To point the finger at one guy, at each other or at the coaches, won't do any good. It's not supposed to be the coach. It's our team. The coaches can do a phenomenal job preparing you, but it has to come from within.

Sometimes you have to be very bad before you can be very good.

Anytime the coach gives you the ball and some encouragement, you get a sense of freedom.

Greg Anthony's a good player.

Like I've said all along, whatever's good for the team is good for me.

I can create offensive situations for myself and I can create situations for other people.

I can score with the first team or the second team. It really doesn't matter with me because I can create my own shot.

Who says a center can't make the pass into the post? Michael Jordan, effectively, was a post player and you saw with the championship teams players able to do multiple things.

Winning covers a multitude of sins. If you play bad and you still win, everyone says that's the sign of a good ballclub. But when you play bad and you lose, all of a sudden you have problems and everyone wants to know why.

I learned this lesson very quickly when I came into the NBA: Almost all the media and accolades go to the No. 1 guy. But if you're building a team, the most important player is the No. 2 guy. Because if the No. 2 guy wants to be the No. 1 guy, you have a major problem.

Most players will tolerate their coach, just like the coach will tolerate that player to do what they got to do, but Steve Kerr is unique. Players want to play for Steve Kerr. Everyone who's played in this league, who's coached in this league, who's been a general manager understands exactly what I'm saying - he's one of them.

Individual success comes as a result of team success.

Tim Duncan was a marvelous player. He played the game from the four, the five position. He was one of the unique players, like a Michael Jordan, who could get to spaces on the floor you that you couldn't do anything about.

To me, that's the brilliance of Michael Jordan. He was an incredible, amazing individual player who matched his talents to the team, matched the team's talents to him, and he lived in the middle of those extremes. I don't know how you do that.

He was so confident. But underneath that, behind the scenes, I knew Michael Jordan was a country kid from North Carolina, and it was that simple to him. He was a young man, at heart, who wanted to be one of the guys who loved to play and was willing to do whatever was necessary.

He made the game look easy. But being Michael Jordan, and all that came with it, that wasn't easy.

I had played on the police athletic league, but my father had a unique thing, he always said, 'Before you start going to basketball camp and doing all the things, you should learn about yourself first before somebody else starts telling you how to play.'