Flip Saunders Layer Quotations

Players in that league are trying to get here. So a guy that is up here and goes down, they want a chance to see how hungry he really is.

He seems to be pretty effective and I think that he's a guy that has a chance to be an impact player in this league. He's still pretty young, learning things. But he plays with a lot of aggressiveness, which is something I love, guys who are aggressive as far as defensively. And he can make plays not only for himself but for other people.

You have to have players that really accept challenges, that like to compete and really like to play on the road more than they do at home. It is more challenging. It's tough to win on the road, no matter who you play.

You have to have a lot of character to win on the road. You have to have players who love to accept challenges and are extremely competitive. It's almost like they enjoy playing on the road more than playing at home.

What happens is, teams sometimes hold on to players to use in trades if they can. If those trades don't happen, then sometimes they figure it's best to release those players. Every team will know more of where their roster stands by next Tuesday.

The first time I talked about that, we went out and turned it over the first four times we touched the ball. That mark I credit to players who are extremely disciplined and players who know their roles. They don't play out of character and that goes back to what I've talked about all year -- this team has a very high basketball intelligence.

We'd like to mix our young kids with our veteran players if we can, to have them play with our veterans. But every night, we still want to go out and win.

Ben is our energy. I would be amazed if he wasn't the defensive player of the year again just from everything he does. He's our lock-down guy. When we have energy, we are tough to beat and tough to score on. When we don't, we can be pretty ordinary. And Ben is usually the catalyst for that energy.

Ben was great. He showed tonight why I keep saying he's the best defensive player in our league.

I think what it does do is let players who, in the past, have been on the IRE all year, those guys will probably have chances of being activated more. You can use more of your depth, and it keeps guys hungry.

They might as well take the Defensive Player of the Year trophy and send it. When you look at all the things he's doing as far as rebounding, blocking shots and steals, he's been phenomenal.

They might as well take the defensive player of the year award and send it to Ben. He's been on a mission in the last three weeks, and when you look at all of the things he's doing - rebounding, blocking shots and making steals - he's phenomenal.

I got to know him when he was a player and he had season tickets right next to our bench. I didn't know him just as a season-ticket holder but as a friend. It's a great loss to the sports world and Minnesota. He always had a smile on his face and cared about kids. He always took time to sign autographs and talk to kids and try to help them.

I think everyone thought he had the opportunity to be a good player. I thought he was a good player when I came here, but I never understood how good he was until I saw him day in and day out. His commitment to the game, his commitment to the team, and just how versatile he is.

From what I read and hear, as a team and with Shaq, they feel like they are going to be able to turn it on when they need to. Veteran players have that belief. We go through that here in some games But I expect them to come with a great deal of energy.

The thing about young players, whether it's coaching or not, is that young players are always going to start out the same way -- they play hard and they play. That's who they are. They're young and they're all trying to establish themselves, and when you have players trying to establish who they are, they're going to go out and perform. Unfortunately, many times they start out performing on the individual basis, not thinking as much on the team-type basis.

The thing you have to watch out for is if you sit a guy, and his leg gets weaker. We're not going to put him in a position where he's going to hurt his ankle more. People out there, they don't know how bad the ankle is. It's way too easy for everyone to say, ?Just sit him and not have him play.' But players work 82 games to get into a rhythm, to play well in the playoffs.

It's going to be a great challenging game for both teams. They are a great defensive team, but the reason we had some success in Minnesota was because of offensive ball movement and player movement. They want to lock you down on one side of the floor. If you can get the defense moving, you can have some success against them.

When you get up 15 in your division through 45 games, what you're trying to do is you're focusing on what you have ahead and that's the playoffs. I think the players are going to be very focused and very excited about coming here Sunday night and playing in front of a great crowd in a great atmosphere.

The players have been more than I probably expected, as far as being receptive,

We have players we are trying to get rest over the next 11 games. But you get into the heat of the battle sometimes and you need a billy club to get them out of the game sometimes because they are so competitive. We might have a few tangles coming down the stretch.

The last three weeks, they might as well take the Defensive Player of the Year trophy and send it for the fourth time, or whatever, because when you look at all the things he's doing, as far as from defensive rebounding, blocking shots, steals, he's doing everything. He has been phenomenal.

I think it means something because in this league confidence means so much. You never want a player to have so much confidence that he feels he can take over a game at any time. The positive thing about this is that he's not going to think he can walk out on the floor and score 17 straight against us.

They're playing better now than when they had those guys. What they're doing right now, they're not as predictable. They have a lot more perimeter movement, a lot more player and ball movement. They're not as stagnant offensively when they're looking to just throw it into Jermaine and play off him, so they're more difficult to defend right now.

When I came here, a lot of the players told me it'd be like that. We float under the radar a lot. So I think that's fine with us.

He's been a solid player in all 29 games we've played.

I think people will understand that when we go in together, they will understand what it really is all about. A few years ago ... there were rule changes that were made to make the game aesthetically better and to make the game more team oriented, not as individually oriented. I think the reward that the coaches gave our players kind of signified a little bit maybe that's the way our league is going.

I think if a guy gets in the game and he's productive, then he's going to get more minutes. That's what it's about. And it's that fine line: Do you become productive when you get minutes, or do you get minutes and then become productive? That's always the fine line between players and coaches.

I noticed the same thing you noticed. I told him and I have told all of our players -- nothing is given. You earn your minutes. You earn what you get. What we're going to do is put guys on the floor that are going to compete on a daily basis.

Right now, they're not as predictable. With Jermaine a lot, they came down, they threw it in the post, they played off him a lot. Here, they go to different people, they have a lot more ball movement, player movement. It's an offense geared toward everybody. I think Rick (Carlisle) has done a really good job with that group since they made that move.

Same thing. We don't want to get anybody hurt. Just let guys get a sweat and give some of our young players an opportunity.

Kelly Clarkson will be replacing Rasheed Wallace at power forward, ... She brings a burst of energy - and a special knack for making the players around her better.

I have been impressed with him from Day One. He always seems to be pretty effective for us. He has a chance to be an impact player in this league. He's still young and he's still learning, but he plays with a lot of aggressiveness.

It was intense. The players love to compete. The Spurs love to compete against big teams just like us. It was a good game to watch.

The character that we have as a team is directly reflected because of him. The reason he was a Hall of Fame player was because of that character.

The guy that has been on a mission here is Ben. They might as well take the Defensive Player of the Year trophy and send it here for the fourth time, because when you look at all the things he's doing - defensive rebounding, blocking shots, steals - he's just doing everything.

In the back of their minds, there's a little bit of a mental letdown. The other team, when they're missing a player they always get a little more juiced up to play because they know they have to play at a higher level.

We surrounded (Kevin). We brought in two veteran players in Sam Mitchell and Terry Porter that we thought were two very professional type individuals that would show him how to handle practice situations, what it was to be professionals, to prepare for practice, to prepare for games, how to deal as far as off the floor, not to put yourself in any awkward-type situations. And then we tried to communicate with him. Our biggest thing was we gave him enough responsibility on the court that he was able to perform, yet still improve.

When we're taking shots from the corners and we did a lot tonight, that shows we are playing a lot of ball movement, a lot of player movement and making the extra pass. That's pretty much how you'd want to play offensively.

We can still get stops and we can score 67 in a half, ... That shows the players that they can get it done at both ends of the floor, which is going to be big for their confidence as we go through the season.

Like I said, I think a coach is as good as the players he has. You do have to drive them. You've got to make sure to put them in the right situations. And we have a group that's very committed as far as what we're doing.

It's one of those things, if you put him out there for 10 minutes, he wants 15. If you put him out there for 15, he wants 20. That's the toughest thing about young players coming to championship-caliber teams.

That I liken to players that are extremely disciplined and players who know their roles. They don't try to play out of character. That shows something from Day One about the basketball intelligence of the whole team.

Because what teams, coaches, players try to do is set the tone for referees when they come in.

They all bring something to the table. Bryan got the players there. Mike put the players in a situation to be successful. Nash implemented the situation to be successful. They all bring something, and that's what team is all about.

It really helps any time you have it. The coach is the authority figure, and you've got to be able to communicate with players. Over the course of seven months, things are going to happen, and you've got to deal with those situations. The main thing is the players know that I respect them. It's because of that mutual respect that we're able to deal with any kind of situation.

You never want to have a player that has so much confidence against you that he thinks he can just take the game over at any time. At least he's not going to think he can walk on the floor and score 17 straight on us.