PTRW #354 AARON AFFLALO

“For me, it’s about team play, it’s about winning and it’s about the growth of my game. I’m more of a basketball purist. I love the game”

PTRW #353 BO RYAN

“I recruit hungry kids who love the game and want to get better and feel they have more questions than answers.”

PTRW #352 KEVIN DURANT

“I’m not one of those guys that can turn it on or turn it off. It’s going to be good nights and bad nights. I just want to keep the same intensity level and try to do what I can for my team. There are certain ways you talk to your teammates. Sometimes you have to get after them. Sometimes you have to encourage them. I just try to enlighten them and let them know I’m with them.”

A Western Conference scout said there’s a noticeable difference between how Durant is approaching his initial games without Westbrook the past few days. “He thought he needed to win games by scoring every point last year after Westbrook got hurt, but that made them easier to key on, although scoring is what Durant does easily. You can just watch how he brings the ball up the court. You can see he’s looking to make plays. His passes are like lasers. He’s pointing out openings and is directing guys. He’s seeing plays develop.”

“Kevin is one of the best players in the world. That’s not an earth-shattering statement there. I don’t think I have to explain the confidence he has in himself, but he has confidence in his teammates. He loves competing and he loves inspiring his teammates. He could probably score 35, 40 points every night on demand. But he wants to share the ball, he wants to defend, he wants to rebound.”
-Scott Brooks

“He’s continuing to evolve in terms of his all-around play — not just leading the league in scoring, but defending, facilitating, rebounding, being a leader, everything you need and want your best player to be. Kevin is one of those guys. He’s a quieter spirit. He’s not a guy that thumps his chest a lot and wants everybody to even notice what he’s doing.”
-Derek Fisher

PTRW #351 DAVID SHAW

“You don’t make kids tough, you recruit tough kids. That’s the bottom line. That shows up on game day. That shows up in the classroom. It shows up after school when these young men are successful. Toughness is the underlying factor because they don’t falter when games get tough. They don’t falter when life gets tough. They’re tough, intelligent kids that can be successful.”

PTRW #350 MONTY WILLIAMS

“I don’t buy into this idea of tanking and teams who quit when things don’t go their way. To me, that’s what is bad about the NBA. Guys are still getting paid, guys are still getting shoe contract money, all those things are still in play. So when things don’t go your way, you can’t tuck tail and run. And we just don’t bring in guys who are susceptible to that. We have competitive guys on our team who have a lot of pride. That’s why we bring in character guys, so that when you have those situations, they’re going to do the right thing.”

PTRW #349 MIKE BROWN

“We’ve got 14 guys in that locker room who are very focused and determined and ready to take on any challenge that’s in front of them. They’re great guys, they’re focused guys and they know how to play the game the right way and that’s what I’m focused on, just helping those guys win.”

PTRW #348 GREG GARD

“There is not this secret magic wand that we wave. You follow the system. You work the plan…people get caught up in the flash and the glitter, those types of plays.”

PTRW #347 DICK DEVENZIO

“If you’re not contributing, you’re contaminating.”

PTRW #346 SCOTT BROOKS

“One of the things that we do, we don’t talk about the youth of our team.  We never have.  I’ve always felt that you’re an NBA player, you have to act and perform like an NBA player every night. It’s tough. It’s a grind. But you have to focus on improving every day. We have great leaders in our locker room. They understand that how they perform and how they work trickles down to the rest of the team. Kevin and Russell have done a great job with that. We take pride [in our development]. That’s the only way I could have made it as a player, by the work that I put in on the floor. I take pride in guys getting better every year because I think it’s a reflection of our staff.”

PTRW #345 TAJ GIBSON

On Tom Thibodeau:

“If you want to be coached & pushed, he’s the coach for you. If you don’t want to get better, this isn’t the team for you.”