Tex Winter Quotations

New Jersey plays the same way we do. It's a team concept. Everybody touches the ball. The principles are the same.

Basketball has been my life. There are trials and tribulations, it's time-consuming. But there's glory and the thrill of competition. I've never emphasized winning or losing. It's giving your best and the glory of competition - that's what keeps me in it.

Basketball can really burst your bubble. There are moments you want to walk away from it and never come back. Somehow, I'v always gotten over those moments.

I'm amazed that we have the kind of record we've got.

I think there's an awful lot of ball players with great skills, but whether or not they're going to be on winning teams is not going to be answered until you see how they fit in to a team or a program. If they don't, it may be their fault or it may be their coaches.

Neither criticism nor praise should be highly regarded.

The main thing is, too many players feel like they're complete players when they're not, so rather than acknowledge their limitations and play within their ability, they overreach.

Probably the most important aspect of individual defensive play is the 'close-out.' This approach to the ball should be made in a 'step-drag action' with advanced foot moving forward first and then the back foot in a boxer's type shuffling of the feet.

Good defensive play is as much a matter of hustle, desire and pride as it is anything else.

There is no substitution for hustle, and if you don't hustle there will be substitution

The coaches who enjoy life are those who have remained young at heart, have faith in God, have cultivated a sense of humor, have learned to like people and to get along harmoniously and pleasantly with them.