Coaching Is Salesmanship. Coaching Is

I Think People Forgot That There Are Still Ways You Can Get The Ball Inside Rather Than Just Standing There And Throwing The Ball In. You Have To Have A System That Makes All Things Work.

Kobe Was Hell-bent On Surpassing Jordan As The Greatest Player In The Game. His Obsession With Michael Was Striking. When We Played In Chicago That Season, I Orchestrated A Meeting Between The Two Of Them, Thinking That Michael Might Help Shift Kobe’s Attitude Toward Selfless Teamwork. After They Shook Hands, The First Words Out Of Kobe’s Mouth Were, ‘you Know I Can Kick Your Ass One On One.’

And Yet As A Coach, I Know That Being Fixated On Winning (or More Likely, Not Losing) Is Counterproductive, Especially When It Causes You To Lose Control Of Your Emotions. What’s More, Obsessing About Winning Is A Loser’s Game: The Most We Can Hope For Is To Create The Best Possible Conditions For Success, Then Let Go Of The Outcome. The Ride Is A Lot More Fun That Way.

I Know What It Takes To Be A Coach. I've Gone Through That. I Think I Came Up Short My Last Season. Lots Of Things Were Happening Physically To Me, And Emotionally, Perhaps Mentally, Too. I Thought It Was Time To Tend To More Important Things, Like Health And Like Family. I Still Enjoy That, And I Don't Think I Have Any Need To Go Back To Coach.

Everybody Has An Opportunity To Play A Role, A Playmaking Role, So It Makes It Harder To Coach. It Takes A Little More Time.