Brad Stevens Quotes

Nobody has had a bigger influence on me as far as day-to-day preparation than Todd Lickliter. He was a huge, huge, huge influence.

If I was playing a game of Sorry or checkers with my nine-year-old, I hate losing. That’s just my makeup and personality.

As I’ve grown older, I appreciate what I had at Lilly even more than I did back then.

I think it’s great when you get a chance to play for your country.

Two points doesn’t seem like a lot, but there’s only 2 points that separate the best from the worst sometimes.

Basketball has given me so many opportunities, and it’s something that’s opened the world to me and allowed me to travel really all over the world.

As far as routine goes, one of the things we talk about all the time is that if you have a routine that’s great. But you can’t be like married to it because the bus could break down on the way to the arena, you could get stuck in traffic, you may be sick that day and you may feel better by game time.

I always was intrigued by the N.B.A.

My care is that we play with great effort and togetherness. That is what we’re looking for. That’s what we want to be.

I could probably go through our losses in a lot more detail than our wins, all through my career. But you have to be able to move on to what’s next, and I’m very process-oriented and next-day oriented.

You’re supposed to keep learning. You’re not supposed to stagnate.

I love Evan Turner. I think he’s a great teammate. I think he’s a hard worker. I think he loves basketball. I don’t think you can overvalue that.

One thing I’d like to do better personally is decompress. Obviously when things don’t go your way, you’ll be thinking of it all the time.

I try not to schedule too many meetings. That’s one of the things I learned in corporate America – that you can spend your days having meetings and never actually have time to work.

The longer I’ve gone on in coaching, the more I take everything as information and not as much emotional.

We want to be as routine-oriented as we can, but it’s just not always feasible.

I believe you’re either intrinsically motivated or you’re not.

I think the biggest thing in this league is how many positions can you guard and do you have a strength offensively that’s applicable?

I don’t focus well angry.

That’s the toughest part about coaching, I think, is that the longer you’re in it, the more winning becomes, ‘Phew, I’m glad we won,’ and the losing is like just the most brutal thing ever.

I’m not a big basketball book guy.

I have a pretty good idea of what makes NBA players great – especially at the different positions, and where the biggest problems lie that you have to address in defending those people.

I think you just have to work as hard as you can. Sometimes you’re going to fail, but the way I look at it is if you’re always focused on the process, you’re going to fail forward, and you’re going to keep building and growing.

I couldn’t be more proud to be in the NBA, to be with the Celtics and be surrounded by the people I get to go to work with every day.

Keeping myself motivated is not hard.

I like Kyrie, and I wish him nothing but health and success.

All 15 guys on every team want to play all 48 minutes. It’s just kind of the way that every season goes.

I don’t have the five positions anymore. It may be as simple as three positions now, where you’re either a ball-handler, a wing or a big.

That’s what the great teams do. That’s where, if you’re a good shooter, become a great one. If you’re a good ballhandler, become a great one.

Anything that we all can do to get a little bit better or think a little bit differently or use the lens of someone else in another industry to help in your own management, I think, is really important.

You have to play together and play the right way.

I’m only interested in being better than everyone else thought you could be.

I think the game will always be dependent on the players that are at its most elite level at that time.

We truly love Butler University and Indianapolis and are very thankful to have had the opportunity to celebrate so many wonderful things together.

I think the NBA’s amazing and I think our players are amazing.

I get great satisfaction from trying to get better and trying to do the next thing as well as I can.

I’m boring.

Jaylen’s greatest impact, as good as he is at basketball, won’t be at basketball. I just think he’s a special guy. He’s a special leader.

My experience at DePauw was about as beneficial as any experience I’ve had.

Your strengths have to stand out. Your strengths have to be perfected.

If somebody gives you accolades, that’s nice to hear but it’s not the end-all, be-all for me.

Jaylen’s a high achiever. You can be a high achiever in every which way. He’s a guy that – we’ve talked about several times – is gonna do bigger things off the court than on it, and he’s a special player on it.

One of my biggest regrets in coaching was my eighth or ninth game of my career. I was wound up about a conference game in December – I was wound up tight, and we ended up playing really tight. Our players were bickering with the officials, I was bickering… and then all of a sudden we lose.

The more prepared I am, the calmer I will be.

I’ve always found that in a team of 15 people, it’s a little different than in a team of 40 or 50 people. If I name two or three people captains, inevitably you’re disempowering more than you’re empowering.