Top 66 Tom Thibodeau Quotes

Your core beliefs of what it takes to win, I don’t think those change.

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.

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

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.

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

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

The biggest thing is chemistry on the floor and winning.

‘Throw the losses away.’ The family mantra.

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

As you prepare for the draft, the first thing you do is evaluate the players you think will be coming out. Then you explore the possibility of either moving up or moving back.

We’re all going to get criticized for something. I’ve always been comfortable with that.

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

If you don’t control the ball, you’re dead.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

I never look at a clock. When the work’s done, the work’s done.

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

Sometimes you think you know someone as a player, but then you spend six weeks together, and you really get to know them as people.

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.

Sometimes to make up ground, if you’re in a big hole, you might add more 3-point shooting.

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

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

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

I never work backwards.

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

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

You never know how a season will unfold.

The offseason is critical for any young player.

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

Every game reveals exactly where you are. We should have a good understanding after every game why we either won or lost that game.

I was in Philadelphia when Kobe was a senior in high school and he used to come to all our practices and I would work him out.

You’re going to always play your main guys more minutes.

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

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

The way you execute in this league is through repetition, and that’s both offensively and defensively.

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.

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

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 know what New York is like when the Knicks are successful and there is nothing comparable.

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 think that when you sort of look at what’s gone on where players are familiar with each other – it starts in high school with AAU. When they get to the pros there’s All-Star Games, they share agents and then there’s Team U.S.A. stuff. They build relationships.

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.

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.

You are only wrong if you don’t communicate.

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.

Normally a summer league is a dry run for training camp, gives the guys an idea what training camp looks like, and then summer league, you’re not really playing against NBA rotation type players, so not a good example of the talent level you’ll be facing, but the fall practices give you a good head start.

The game never stays the game – it’s always evolving.

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.

Whether you’re talking about the 70s Knicks or the 90s Knicks, the championship-caliber teams, it all starts with your defense, your rebounding, your willingness to play for each other.

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

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

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

I know where confidence comes from: Work and preparation.

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

Some guys are quiet, and that works for them. Some guys are loud, and like to talk, and that’s fine. Just get the job done.

I think when you look at Jimmy Butler when he came in, he hardly played as a rookie. He played more each year and then would become a top-10 player in the league. It’s a testament to his work ethic and how he approached things.

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

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

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.

I actually grew up a Knick fan – my dad was a Knick fan.

Most players, they want to be coached, they want discipline, and they want an environment in which they can play their best.