Josh Smith, put in the right spots, is an outstanding player. You put Josh down on the right block, in the low post or even on a short isolation - 12 feet, 15 feet from the basket - he can get to the rim. He's outstanding. He's not only a very willing passer but an outstanding passer. I think it's the best part of Josh's game.
I've always believed that. I'm not a guy who comes in with an offensive system, and we try to fit guys to it. I think it goes the other way. 'Here's who we've got. Let's put them in the right spots where they can be productive.'
The league has been good to all of us in terms of what we get out of all these TV contracts and everything, so it would be a little disingenuous to complain too much. But if I had my way, we'd take a five-day break at Christmas. I mean it.
We've changed a lot of things to help certain groups of people. We widened the lane from 6 feet to 12 feet to 16 feet to make it so the big guys aren't as dominant. Well, why didn't we just say, 'You've got to learn to play against them in the post?'
I've argued for a long time here... that I think that one of the things that is absolutely killing parity is the individual maximum salary.
The NCAA is one of the worst organizations - maybe the worst organization - in sports. They certainly don't care about the athlete.
I'm pretty sure that every player who's ever played for me doesn't hate me. Now, we'd have to do a survey, but I've coached a lot of guys, and I'm pretty sure there's one or two that don't hate me. I don't know that any liked me. But I'm pretty sure there's one or two who don't hate me.
One of the things I've said to teams and players from time to time - especially when things are going well like we had them going in Orlando - is that you better appreciate it and enjoy it because things change quickly in this game. You know, it's tough for guys to really think it will change on them, but it does.
My dad has coached a long time, so there aren't too many conversations in my family that haven't centered around basketball.
People with advantages don't tend to want to give them up. If you see it as a zero-sum game, then it will never change. If only the people who are disadvantaged speak out, then it's not enough. I don't want to overshadow their voices, but I want to support.
Obviously, race is the elephant in the room, and we all understand that. Unless it is talked about constantly, it's not going to get better... people have to be made to feel uncomfortable, and especially white people, because we're comfortable. We still have no clue what being born white means.