(On inserting Marco Belinelli into the starting rotation…)
“I just wanted to give Danny (Green) a different look. He was having trouble getting shots and he’s not a surprise anymore, that kind of thing. It gives (Marco) Belinelli a chance with the starting group to see what the system looks like, that kind of thing. It’s not really that big of a deal. They’re pretty similar.”
(On Marco Belinelli’s improvement since becoming a starter…)
“Whenever you’re playing with a different group of people, you have to find your niche, so to speak. How does Tony (Parker) play, how does Timmy (Duncan) play, he’s not always out there with those guys. Now he is so it’s a little different in that regard.”
(On Belinelli wanting to improve defensively…)
“He’s a good kid. He wants to win, he wants to compete, and he wants to learn the system. I think (a year under Tom Thibodeau) helps him a lot. I think Thibs helped him a lot.”
(On whether Manu Ginobili frustrates him sometimes…)
“I think frustration is too strong of a word completely. All great players are going to do things at times that you wish they would not have done, but those things are probably what makes them great. When they do those things, usually it helps you win games. Once in a while, it doesn’t. I don’t care who it was. Larry Bird probably threw some kind of pass sometime and you wonder why he threw that, but it’s because he’s Larry Bird, that’s why. You shut up and you move on. Manu (Ginobili) is the same way.”
(On having Doc Rivers with the Spurs in 95’-96’…)
“A lot of the people had been in the game a long time and didn’t need to be told too much. They understood what won and what lost, and they didn’t really need a lot of guidance so to speak. They knew what they were doing well and didn’t blow smoke at themselves. They knew what they were doing poorly, that kind of thing. It was a really mature kind of atmosphere.”