Doc Rivers Quotes

If we kept all the players I liked personally, we'd be a lot worse team over the years.

You've got to coach worrying about your entire team: whether that gets you a championship or whether that gets you fired. I think it allows you to coach free. You're coaching with freedom because you know you're doing what you think is right.

I'm not buddy-buddy with the players. If they need a buddy, let them buy a dog.

The important thing is to get the right players on the team so Mike can be successful.

It's all right buying all these good players but they've got to gel, and that takes time.

It is important for the manager to find the right solution for your team.

Since Carlo Ancelotti has arrived, he had emphasised hard work and intensity, and now that is what Real Madrid are associated with. He has playing experience, which makes him different to other coaches.

When things aren't going well, it's very easy to blame the coaching staff.

When you're managing a team the key is, I guess, to find where those boundaries are, where you're prepared to let people go, to what extent you're allowing them to be a free spirit because ultimately it's all got to be in the greater cause which is making sure the team wins cricket games.

I have been captain in the past and I know what it takes to gel a team and get it going.

I like to be close to the players and listen to what they've got to say and feel. Then I make decisions from a coach's point of view, thinking about what's best for the team.

The decisions you make are based on what you think is better for the team and the player.

Mascherano's impact as a leader is more important inside the squad, and Messi's leadership is more important in the pitch.

I think it's a requirement that the general manager and the coach are communicating with each other on a regular basis, and it's unacceptable if they're not.

It would be worse if I have players who are happy if they sit on the bench, because that doesn't mean that we develop our game.

But it's still a coach's game. Make no mistake. You start at the top. If you don't have a good one at the top, you don't have a cut dog's chance.

Perhaps the toughest call for a coach is weighing what is best for an individual against what is best for the team. Keeping a player on the roster just because I liked him personally, or even because of his great contributions to the team in the past, when I felt some one else could do more for the team would be a disservice to the team's goals.

I'm happy with the coach we have. I think any one of the ones I asked them to consider would've been good.

People say you can't go out and eat with your players. I say why not.

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

You don't have to be popular with the players to be a good manager or coach.

Your performance depends on your people. Select the best, train them and back them. When errors occur, give sharper guidance. If errors persist or if the fit feels wrong, help them move on. The country cannot afford amateur hour in the White House.

It's critical that the manager has the respect of players so he can make the moves that he feels is appropriate without having somebody go to the papers. They respect you. So you respect them back.

People say the most important thing is building a world-class team.

You know, I think when you coach or you manage, you make decisions, and there's some that are really, really tough.