You lose that sacred-cow status when you lose three straight years.

We have very smart players and they've been fortunate to play for three very good coaches.

On good teams coaches hold players accountable, on great teams players hold players accountable

I didn't so much think I needed to address the shooting need. What we needed was somebody who could come in and play the two-three (shooting guard-small forward) spot. If he could've been a pure shooter, great. But if not, we still needed somebody to give us minutes there. I like the guys we've got.

Everyone is more focused on presenting the best that the league has to offer, rather than the worst.

Any coach worth his salt will take a look at that and say, 'I'll take my chances with that'

The one thing that I really want, ... is for our second group to be an energy unit. That's what we had in our championship run, and that's what I think you are starting to see with this group.