A biography for Tom Thibodeauhasn’t been written yet.
“You never know how a season will unfold.”
“I think every team is different. If you have younger players, you're going to play them a little bit more. If you have guys in their mid-30s, you're probably going to pull back on it.”
“All my coaches growing up, they were teachers, coaches, and I always had an appreciation for the most demanding teachers because I thought they got the most out of you.”
“Injuries are part of the game for everybody. You have to manage those circumstances as best you can.”
“A player is not going to get minutes just to get minutes. You have to impact winning, you have to put the team first.”
“You can't shortcut your way to success.”
“When you don't have your own team and you're not worried about who you are playing next, you have a much broader view on everything.”
“I think people sometimes get caught up in the wrong stuff. The most important thing is the winning.”
“When you look at coaching in the pros 25-plus years, I have been with rebuilding teams and I have been with championship teams, and so I know all the steps in-between.”
“What I look at is, OK, this is our team. How can we get better? What gives us the best chance to win?'”
“I think the playoffs heighten everything, you're fighting the same opponent over and over again.”
“You work every day with your player development, try to improve through the draft, you have free agency and you have trades. I think you have to be very aggressive in each area. Sitting back and waiting sometimes is not a good thing.”
“Some guys are quiet, and that works for them. Some guys are loud, and like to talk, and that's fine. Just get the job done.”
“The game never stays the game - it's always evolving.”
“I think when you look at Jimmy Butler when he came in, he hardly played as a rookie. He played more each year and then would become a top-10 player in the league. It's a testament to his work ethic and how he approached things.”
“Sometimes to make up ground, if you're in a big hole, you might add more 3-point shooting.”
“At Team U.S.A., I've worked with Doc Rivers, Jeff Van Gundy, Brendan Malone, not just great head coaches but assistants and great college coaches.”
“There's some nights you shoot the ball better than others. When you don't shoot it well, you have to have an understanding you can play well by doing other things.”
“The way you execute in this league is through repetition, and that's both offensively and defensively.”
“As a head coach, you're always concerned how you pace the team.”