John Wooden said the best teacher is the bench, ... If I go that route, and I haven't decided, it won't be because I'm angry. It will be that we have to grab some people's attention. The only way to get people's attention is with playing time. |
(He can) push the ball, (he's a) good defender. A lot of people spoke very highly of him, so now we're gonna take a look at him. |
[In the TORONTO SUN, Steve Buffery writes that Raptors coach Sam Mitchell] firmly believes, despite all of the gloom and doom predictions by various NBA pundits who predict that the Raptors are heading for the Atlantic Division basement, that his club can make it to the playoffs this year. And one of the reasons for that is that he has a full season as an NBA coach under his belt. ... expects his veterans to step up and the rookies to play well. |
[The Bulls] played hard. There were three loose balls after we made a run, and those guys got on the floor. |
[Toronto coach Sam Mitchell doesn't pay a lot of attention to preseason predictions ? even when they come from his own general manager, Rob Babcock, with suggestions that the Raptors might struggle as much again this season in another developmental year as they did in 2004-05.] We're going to surprise some people, ... I was with Milwaukee a couple of years ago when everybody picked us to finish last, and we made the playoffs and we were one game away from the fourth spot. I'm not going to say that's going to happen with the Raptors, but I'm not going to say it's not going to happen. That's why we play the games. |
A lot of it is just mental breakdowns, it's just errors. Guys not being where they're supposed to be. |
A lot of teaching. |
A lot of times, it's not what an agent does for you when things are going great as much as it is when things are pretty rough. We started this season 0-9, and Lonnie was always calling to check on me. That means a lot. |
Allen has the ball so much that you kind of gear your defense around trying to stop him. You know in certain situations who is going to get the ball. That doesn't mean you are going to stop him, obviously, but you know the ball is going to go through Allen Iverson. |
Antonio has been a professional his whole career. He's president of the players' association and he understands that's a huge responsibility. And regardless of what disappointments we all may have, you got to do your job first. |
Antonio showed up because he got traded and he's a pro. We're very respectful of each other, he's a good man, and he did what was right. |
Are there going to be some disappointing times? Yeah. But the team that has won a couple of world championships, the San Antonio Spurs, also had some disappointing moments along the way. |
As coaches, our thing is not necessarily wins and losses, it's how we play the basketball game. I worry about how we're playing the game and the records will take care of themselves. |
As far as I'm concerned, we haven't played a game yet, have we? Everybody's 0-0 right now. I don't know what Rob may or may not have said and I'm not saying he did not say those things. As a coach and as a competitor, I like to think our team has just as good a chance as anyone else. |
At his age and this time of his life, he doesn't want the stress of being up and down all the time. It wears you out. |