Serge Ibaka Quotes

If I were involved with the NBA, I wouldn't want a 19-year-old or a 20-year-old kid to bring into all the travel and all the problems that exist in the NBA. I would want a much more mature kid. I would want a kid that maybe I've been watching on another team, and now he's 21, 22 years old instead of 18 or 19, and I might trade for that kid.

It's funny, 'cause it seems like just yesterday that I was the youngest player just starting out. But now there are young players all over the league, and they'll ask me questions about playing overseas or finding an agent.

I like to get the ball in transition and go and everything, but I'm also not as dependent on having the ball all the time as I was maybe in college and when I first got to the NBA.

I couldn't be more proud to be in the NBA, to be with the Celtics and be surrounded by the people I get to go to work with every day.

My first target is not to win: it's to develop young players with our work. That was my first idea when I started as a coach, because with this work come results.

The most important thing for me is to feel that young players want to learn on the training pitch. If they spend 10 hours sitting around playing PlayStation, that's their business.

Once you have had 10 seasons at this level, the next season is not going to be so different. For a young player with only 20 appearances in the Premier League there is an opportunity to improve.

I'm obviously very grateful to play for a sports organization like the Boston Celtics.

The NBA is the best league in the world. It's no way you're going to be able to fill the void that the energy of performing before 20,000 people every night gives you. That's just impossible. So, I just try and move on from that and let it be a moment in time and leave it alone.

Even since I've been in the NBA, a lot has changed with the game.

Chelsea is a fantastic place for young kids. They develop you, work you hard, and you can see they have top-class talent all around the world.

I go into calling any match, any fight - I don't care if it's the main event or the opener - that these guys have put in their work: they're here for a reason, and there's a reason I'm calling this fight, so I do want to give it as much attention and respect and energy as I would the main event or a championship fight.

Pakistan is a great team to be a part of and to see the emergence of young players is exciting.

I have faith in the players, who have paid me back on the pitch. I have brought in young players because they have a lot of potential. I'm the only one who decides, and I take decisions based on sporting reasons.

You're all over the place usually with young players. You're trying to manage their emotions and teach them NBA situations. It usually takes months, even years, to learn and recognize NBA situations and then to develop a level of competitiveness that's necessary at this level.

I think that's vitally important, that we get players playing at a younger age group.

You want to win in the NBA you want to build a culture and teams will always do that and try to win. It's cutthroat. All 30 teams want to be that way whether they are rebuilding, have young players, have a style of play. It doesn't matter, everybody wants to win.

We all have learned throughout our careers that there are ups and downs in the NBA.

Watching a guy go from not having ever played an NBA game before to growing up and developing into an All-Star player, that's probably the most rewarding thing that you can do as a coach.

Every time we go to Sacramento, I go see De'Aaron Fox. Every time he comes to Miami, he comes to the crib. We just kinda kick it and really think about it. 'We are in the NBA right now. This is real.' And we cherish those moments because you never know when your time is up on this earth.

The Energy job was probably the key. It kind of transitioned me back into the States. It gave me a link to the NBA. And I got to make some contacts and meet some players and get players set up and learn the NBA game and terminology and coaching those type of players. It was certainly a huge, huge key to getting to the NBA.

I like young players when they are still open to learn and behave normally, not driving a Porsche after three matches in the first team.

I've spent a lot of time in the United States and Canada and I am grateful for the opportunities that I've been given by people, and the game of basketball, and the NBA.

Since I've been in the NBA, I've showed what I can do on the court.

Here I am, playing with Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Jason Kidd is my coach, I'm in Brooklyn, New York, they lobbied for me to be here... Regardless of my circumstances, I'm here.