Top 66 Tom Thibodeau Quotes

You can have a great season, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re great. To be great you have to do it year after year after year.

Everyone tends to measure people on points and shots and not the all-around game.

There’s obviously different roads you can go down. And I think if you study it, how teams are built – and I went through this in Minnesota – the draft is critical, free agency is critical, player development is critical and trade opportunities are critical.

I went on vacation with my nephews to St. Thomas and we had a ball.

I think the important thing for me is to just be able to have a voice.

I think the big thing is you look at your team, and you always think about ways that you can improve.

One guy being off is going to hurt you. So you need everyone working together.

I think you learn from every experience, and you have to continue to adapt.

What wins still goes back to who you are as a player and what you do well. If you’re a great 3-point shooter, you try to get as many of those shots as you can. If you’re a good driver, get in the restricted area.

I go home and enjoy myself like everyone else.

The teams that win consistently, they put the work into it and they don’t skip steps.

I think I experienced it during the ’90s that there’s no better place to be than Madison Square Garden.

In some cases where the team is mixed, there’s almost two practices going on in one, where your young guys are getting the work they need, and the older vets are in the weight room getting strength and conditioning.

I know for me, I put everything I have into each and every day. So I have no regrets.

You set standards so things can be measured and done at a championship level.

There’s some nights you shoot the ball better than others. When you don’t shoot it well, you have to have an understanding you can play well by doing other things.

I think when a team wins, the fans enjoy it.

For me it’s always been about being true to yourself.

I think we all learn probably more from our mistakes than we do our successes.

As a head coach, you’re always concerned how you pace the team.

I think players look around and they look at the teams that they’d like to join and it’s usually teams that already have good players on those teams.

All my coaches growing up, they were teachers, coaches, and I always had an appreciation for the most demanding teachers because I thought they got the most out of you.

A player is not going to get minutes just to get minutes. You have to impact winning, you have to put the team first.

At Team U.S.A., I’ve worked with Doc Rivers, Jeff Van Gundy, Brendan Malone, not just great head coaches but assistants and great college coaches.

I think the important thing is to lock into what you have to do each and every day, put everything you have into it, and then you let the results speak for themselves.

I try to work out. As an assistant, it was a lot easier to work out. Then as a head coach, not as much as I should have.

If you’re guarded, you drive the ball or move the ball and make a quick decision, and help someone else.

You want to practice smart and you want to build a system in which you can bring the best out of each player and also bring the best out of the team.

There’s no magic formula where you’re going to get everything done in one day. I think it’s about establishing and building the right habits to be successful.

I think the playoffs heighten everything, you’re fighting the same opponent over and over again.

The physical toughness is the obvious – the ability to push through things no matter what’s coming at you, to keep going, to not give in. Never surrender. Usually the victory goes to the guy who can play through it the longest. Of course, the mental part is equally important.

You know I’m never happy. I’m not happy, unless I’m miserable.

Being opportunistic is important.

One, I’m never happy. Two, I always think we can do better.

I’ve always been partial to good players. If someone is a good player I’m interested.

You have to have core values. What do you believe in? Do you believe in hard work? Do you believe in discipline? Do you believe in conditioning? Because those are the things I know that do work.

You work every day with your player development, try to improve through the draft, you have free agency and you have trades. I think you have to be very aggressive in each area. Sitting back and waiting sometimes is not a good thing.

There’s no shortcuts to winning. You have to be willing to pay the price and be willing to sacrifice.

When you look at coaching in the pros 25-plus years, I have been with rebuilding teams and I have been with championship teams, and so I know all the steps in-between.

You have to believe – to me, the only way a team can improve is you have to be sharp.

Passing and defense are two things that help build your team, brings the best out of people.

I never work backwards.

I think it’s important to reflect at the conclusion of each season. That should never change, in terms of how you evaluate yourself.

I think people sometimes get caught up in the wrong stuff. The most important thing is the winning.

I think that’s a big challenge in the NBA: How quickly can you adapt? Because things always change in the league – whether it’s trade, free agency, an injury, you have to adapt quickly.

I grew up in Connecticut, so obviously I’m a Patriots fan.

I have great respect for the Heat organization, the way they play, what Pat Riley has done there, Erik Spoelstra.

When you get the second defender on the ball, their responsibility is to get rid of it, to make plays for their teammates.

It is rare when you have the opportunity to get a top-10 player.

It’s more than just playing hard. You have to maintain concentration and you have to combine that with your intensity level.

Sometimes as players achieve more and more and get further down the line in their careers, they tend to skip over the work part.

And when you study the NBA, you realize and know that the NBA is never staying the same. It’s always evolving, it’s always changing.

When you look at what a coach does, it is leadership, it is communication, it is teaching, it is motivation. It really comes down to those four things.

What I look at is, OK, this is our team. How can we get better? What gives us the best chance to win?’

The offseason is critical for any young player.

The biggest thing is chemistry on the floor and winning.

Nothing great was ever achieved without great work and great effort. It’s really that simple.

You miss the camaraderie of being around your team and your staff. It’s good to be back in the middle of it all.

I think game-time is important. So if a young player is not getting the appropriate amount of time to develop, we’ll utilize the G-League. That’s become an important part of our league.

I think as you’re approaching Draft day, you’re thinking about all of the possibilities, and you know that’s one way you can improve your club.

Injuries are part of the game for everybody. You have to manage those circumstances as best you can.

There are many people who say all the right things and never do any of the right things.

There will always be some games over the course of the season where we don’t shoot the ball great.

You never know how a season will unfold.

You can’t shortcut your way to success.

I think when you look around it’s: How can you build a team in which you have more than one star? That part is important.