Jeff Van Gundy

Stop the nonsense about 'student-athlete.'

I don't like comparing people or teams.

There have been people who said I was a Pat Riley clone. But I don't think that's true. While I did learn a lot from him, I could never be him. I mean, we even dress so differently.

To be successful in anything, you have to have a passion for it, and that leads to being enthusiastic and demanding. I didn't have it for history. So I wouldn't have been a good teacher in that area. But I had it for basketball. And that's what coaching is at every level: it's about teaching.

My father and mother have given me so much love, so much support, that it would trivialize their parenthood if I would reduce it just to basketball. But my dad does call me before and after every game. And when we lost a game we shouldn't have, he told me it wasn't my fault. And I appreciated that, because he was trying to pick me up.

I don't know about any others, but coaching basketball is the only thing I can do.

I was asked to do something and represent my country. That's a great honor. This isn't about what it could do for me but what I could do for U.S.A. Basketball.

I miss coaching - certain elements of coaching.

Providence had a graduate assistant job opening. They asked me if I wanted to apply, and I applied. That break right there put me in position to learn from great coaches. It really jump-started every other good break I ever had in coaching.

I don't ever remember wanting to do anything but coach. My dad obviously influenced me. But it wasn't because he sat there and drilled coaching stuff into our heads. We were on the bench keeping the scorebook and traveling with the team on weekends. It was such a great upbringing.

The beauty of growing up in a coaching family, particularly one that isn't at the very highest level, is that you get to be in the gym - that's where you grow up.

All the fascination with numbers conspires to make you forget the beauty of the game sometimes.

In one era, it's hard enough to compare people. But comparing people of different eras... that's next to impossible.

I think the beautiful part about Yao is that his main legacy won't be about the game. His legacy will be about helping people. His legacy will be taking on important world causes to better his world.

Why is UCLA and Georgia Tech in China to play a basketball game? Missing all that school, and then force-feeding their fans the idea of 'student-athletes.'

Life sort of works out the way it works out.

I love Joe Ingles. I think Joe Ingles is a tremendous glue player, terrific shooter, passer, defender.

Everyone wants to focus on what Ben Simmons can't do, which is shoot and try to rush him into being a range shooter. I think Simmons in Philadelphia has done a good job in focusing what he does great versus what he doesn't do as well.

Among the hardest-working players I've ever been associated, Yao stands at the very top of the list. Beyond that, though, here's what truly separated him from everyone else: His ability to enjoy other people's successes.

There is a goodness about Yao that is unique, that never left him through all the pain and injuries and disappointments that accompanied his unprecedented accomplishments and successes.

As great of a player as Yao was, he was kind and patient with everybody. He wasn't trying to feed an image or cultivate a brand or manipulate a public persona.

The public Yao was the private Yao: To his core, there was an unmistakable peace to him.

I broadcast games. I think there is a huge difference between print journalism and broadcasting. I don't have to say, 'sources close to LeBron James,' five times a game. I can just put my name to it. I say what I believe. It doesn't mean it's right. It's what I believe.

I had a great job with the Knicks.

You start comparing people, and ultimately, somebody feels diminished.

Are you playing for your teammates and coaches? That's how it should be.

I grew up dreaming about being an Olympic basketball player: Doug Collins getting smashed into the stanchion, making two free throws. Phil Ford and Mike O'Koren in 1976.

If your best offensive players go down, all you can do is hang on.

I have known Marbury since he was in seventh grade, and I have always felt he is a hell of an NBA player.

I enjoy watching Gregg Popovich-coached teams.

Manu Ginobili - I like to watch him. I would pay to watch him play the game. He will try things that will drive a coach crazy, like a full-court bounce pass, but he has such a flair for the game. I love his energy and his spirit and his unpredictability.

I like to watch anyone who has great competitive spirit and will: passionate teams.

Whenever you are coaching, you are trying to get the most balanced team that you can: balance between defense, offense, and rebounding.

Goaltending was brought in because of Mikan and Chamberlain. So rules do change for specific players, in concert with a need to stay up to date on how coaches are taking advantage of the rules.

It can get good quickly in this league, and it can get bad quickly.

Only once did someone talking about my appearance bother me.

I think everyone talks about talent. It's really one of the most overused terms. It comes down to, do you play, and do you win? Talent is one factor, but certainly not the only one.

While a guy may not be totally happy, he can be effective and do well for the team.

Sometimes you try to change, and you go backwards.

If sports science really has a beat on what's healthy for the players, then they need to tell the league how many games that is healthy for players to play and then only play that many games.

You don't know a player until you coach him.

There are a lot of young teams that all they are is young. That doesn't mean they have a chance to be good.

I quit the Knicks, so I know what quitting is. I did. I quit. And it's something I regret to this day. I live with it every day, and I regret it. And I let my emotions come into it. And I was just emotionally spent. I made a bad decision, and I quit.

My one suggestion going forward is, any felony committed against a woman should be a full-season suspension.

Every team has leadership. The leadership is the best players. But there's positive leadership, and there's negative leadership.

One of my college roommates was into The Police, and I got to like them. But I hear one of the guys left the band.

I'm not a positive guy.

My intensity is my greatest strength. It's also my greatest weakness.

There are franchise players to build around that have championship-level talent, skill, basketball IQ, and character - it's hard to find those guys. Those guys are rare.

People talk about Kobe's 81-point game, the second-highest scoring game in NBA history. I saw the game. I don't care if it was 79, 81 - I just remember the game. I remember the moves. I remember the shots. I remember the beauty of it. The numbers? What he shot from the field? I don't care.