Nick Nurse

I know, when I'm walking out on the court before for the game, it's like, man, if you wanna compete, here it is. It's coming. That's something I really enjoy.

We've gotta be trying to think of what's coming next before it comes next.

We've got to be innovative. We've got to think about what's coming next.

People asked me, 'Why aren't you doing something more important?' When I was doing well in the D-League, they were like, 'Why can't you get an NBA job? Or a college job?' I don't think people thought much of what I was doing. That's fine. I was learning. Not just X's and O's, but team dynamics.

My goal early in becoming a head coach so young was to find out if I could do it. I just wanted to see if I could be a good head coach and then start learning from head coaching.

If you ask what my philosophy is, my philosophy is kind of like an entrepreneurial philosophy.

I'm getting older and mellower in my old age.

I think I jumped the gun a bit on head coaching. I got named a head coach at 23, and I really didn't know what I was doing. I remember getting that job and going, 'Oh my God, they gave me the job.'

I said it when I got hired. I said, for five years, I had a 1,000 people telling me I was going to be a head coach in the NBA. And when I got the job, those same 1,000 people were shocked.

I've known Adrian Griffin for quite awhile now and always had him as my 'when I get a job, I want to hire him if he isn't already a head coach and I can get him' list.

My job is to coach the team and get them to try to play the best they can come April, May, and June.

I loved every job I had.