Isaiah Thomas Quotes

Isaiah Thomas

Profession : Athlete

Birth : April 30, 1961

The biggest difference is in the leadership. It was better for us. We had more coaches and mentors to help us. A lot of the younger players today suffer from a lack of direction.

Isaiah Thomas

If all I'm remembered for is being a good basketball player, then I've done a bad job with the rest of my life.

Isaiah Thomas

It was important to me to believe, because if I don't believe, how can I expect them to believe?

Isaiah Thomas

You have to develop your whole game to completion.

Isaiah Thomas

My thought has always been completion. Maybe you have to rebound better, shoot better, hit free throws, handle the ball, defend better. You have to do all those things in the course of a game.

Isaiah Thomas

I believe in the players and what I've put together and we'll make it work.

Isaiah Thomas

It's hard to get people to overcome the thought that they have to take care of themselves first. It's hard to get players to give in to the group and become selfless as opposed to selfish.

Isaiah Thomas

How can I tell the eighth or ninth man on the team that I want you to work hard every day and I want you to improve and get better, but while you're doing that you're not going to get any minutes?

Isaiah Thomas

I've been in pressure situations before. All my life it's been about pressure and having to get it done. Just because you say it publicly, it does not make me afraid of it or make me shy away from it.

Isaiah Thomas

You're always at war with the guy on the other bench. You pick up their patterns. That's what I got the most out of this year. I know what other coaches like to do.

Isaiah Thomas

We were going to have to experiment, and we needed to develop our younger players. And a lot of the changes were because of injuries. But that's where I give a lot of credit to the group in terms of being able to maintain things.

Isaiah Thomas

We decided to go the way of trading and getting younger players.

Isaiah Thomas

We decided to either try trades or just go with older players. If you do that and let contracts expire you can be in the lottery for about four or five years and expect your fans to be patient.

Isaiah Thomas

The type of athletes we draft still need types of versatility on the defense side of the ball, run the offense. You should still be concerned on the offense side of the ball.

Isaiah Thomas

My first choice was to work it out with Larry Brown. I needed Larry and I gave him 50 million bucks. This is a situation that I'm in and I'll handle it and I'll make it work.

Isaiah Thomas

Most players in this league say they want consistency.

Isaiah Thomas

Larry Brown thought Steve Francis was a Larry Brown type of player.

Isaiah Thomas

It wasn't about the X's and the O's and the strategy; it was more about keeping 12 guys focused and committed to a task. That group dynamic, and then helping them to grow as people and basketball players.

Isaiah Thomas

Instead of me telling them what they need to work on, I wanted to hear from them what they needed to work on.

Isaiah Thomas

I'll continue to try to make changes to better improve the team.

Isaiah Thomas