Monty Williams Quotes

I’m not going to sit here and complain about a team that is aggressive.

Growing up in colonial Virginia, if you know anything about that part of the country, there was a number of tensions there. Because of that, you heard the family members talk about Dr. King and many others who were not just speaking out, but sacrificing a ton so that our world, our country could be a better place.

I’m not going to get into complaining publicly about fouls. Just not going to do that.

So many reporters ask a lot of crazy questions. The answers to most of these questions are so obvious, but they ask them anyway just to see what kind of reaction they can get out of you.

I get vested in my guys. I want to know who their family members are, I want to know their interests, I want to know what makes them tick. I want them to also know I care about the other side of them, their personal character and growth as men, because I think we all sharpen each other that way.

The reality is we live in a world that’s filled with stuff, but quitting is not an option.

I pray for those we have lost but more personally for those who have lost – the families of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and so many before you. I know how it feels to get that call that someone you love isn’t coming home.

I think facts remove assumptions.

Even though I’ve been diagnosed with a heart condition, I’ve had no symptoms and have been cleared to play by the National Institute of Health. The health issue was never a factor in contract negotiations.

I think when people say stuff about you, you want to prove them wrong.

We’re not going to ride on Space Mountain and do the Disney thing. Forget Mickey. This is freaking ‘Braveheart’ and ‘Gladiator’ stuff that we are trying to will onto other teams.

In our case, my children and I couldn’t have made it through the tough times without the grace of God and the wonderful support we received from family and friends.

I tend to state the facts.

The essence of my coaching is to serve.

If I do have a strength, it probably is adaptability.

Just, sometimes your faith and your feelings don’t line up.

Sometimes in a huddle I don’t say anything, the guys will run the huddle. But I try to be an encourager in huddles, especially when I see a guy down or the team is not at the level where they should be mentally.

Everyone playing in the NBA likes to have pressure. If you didn’t like pressure, you wouldn’t be playing.

I want to help guys get better. I want to help them get paid. I want to help them win games, but I want to do it in a way that allows for them to think, ‘That guy cares about me. He cares about my family. He cares about me as a person.’

I would like to be the kind of coach who gets text messages and phone calls from players years after I coach them, because we had something that is bigger than just being on the floor.

We got to figure out or define what is a legal guarding position because there are times where he can move his hands out of the way, but it’s hard to tell a guy what to do when somebody is running into you, you know what I mean? I don’t know what a legal guarding position is at times.

We all just want to see action, we all just want to see change and we all understand that we can play a part in that by being part of the solution in our local communities.

Unfortunately, everything we do, somebody is going to have a cell phone. And you’ve got to be careful.

I was just trying to coach and that was the only thing I knew. Coach the team. I think for me, ten years later and a lot of life experiences later, I’m more aware of the partnership that has to take place.

I work in a business where you just can’t say anything you want to say.

I am overjoyed to receive the Michael H. Goldberg Coach of the Year Award from the National Basketball Coaches Association.

It’s just life. You have to be able to get up, face your flaws, and just, whatever it is, a step, an inch, you just got to keep moving forward.

Well, head space, mental stamina, all that stuff, like it boils down to getting it done.

To some degree, it seems like around the country people are just living life like there is no virus. And that’s scary.

I’ve been blessed to coach alongside and play for some of the best coaches in the NBA, and consider it a privilege to once again be a head coach with an excellent organization like the Suns.

In this league, the truth helps guys out.

Everybody is beatable.

God knocks the ball out of the park and I get to run the bases.

I want to have something substantial to say or I’m just not going to say anything.

I just try to be authentic and speak from the heart. Sometimes it requires me to shut up and not say anything.

It just comes from my faith as a Christian, to not just do a job, collect a check and go home.

How can you stay in touch with what’s going on if you don’t read everything?

It’s so easy to go the route of thinking about all the situations we’ve seen and they hurt us all deeply, but I think it’s also a time to make sure we rally around the good policemen in our society that do their jobs every day, put their lives on the line.

We talk about touching our guys in a personal way, knowing that we all want to play basketball and coach basketball, but our guys are dealing with stuff and we want to make sure we are sensitive to that.

I’m distraught as I look at my boys – two are African American and one is Caucasian – because too many people see them differently. None of them should have to think about how law enforcement will treat them if pulled over for rolling through a stop sign.

I try to be respectful.

I just hope that we get to a day where we all feel like we feel protected and served by our police force.

We cannot serve the Lord if we don’t have a heart of forgiveness.

A lot of young guys nowadays, when you start talking about guys wanting to get paid or what’s best for them, they tend to think about themselves.

It doesn’t have to be stats all the time. Go dominate the game with force.

You can’t play like that in any conference, where bigs just continually get offensive rebounds and get fouled and get to the free throw line.

I get how you have to marinate your bigs. They take longer.

A lot of guys talk like they want to do it, and they think it would be cool to be in a nice suit on the sidelines, but I’m not afraid in dealing with the success and failures that goes with being a head coach.

I just don’t look at jobs and say, ‘Well, I’d rather coach here and not there.’

I was so focused on winning and coaching; there were times players felt like I was really tough on them and hard on them. Now, I try to be more considerate with how I get my message across.

I don’t have any bitterness in my heart, man.

You can either be a quitter, a camper or a climber. I don’t want to quit, and I certainly don’t want to camp.

Your natural tendency, human nature, is to always look and see if there’s an opportunity. But that’s something that I don’t spend a ton of time doing because I’m pretty meat and potatoes when it comes to approaching the day.

Well sometimes, culture can stifle talent, so you have to be careful.

I’m a man who has failed in many areas, but the one thing I don’t want to do is quit.

Every team goes through segments of the season where things get a bit loose, from time to time.

I’ve learned I would rather be effective over right.

Just because you have a lead in the series doesn’t mean you can show up and they’re going to give it to you.

I learned a long time ago, it’s my job to help guys in any area, whether it’s on the court, off the court.

Well done is better than well said.

When I came into the NBA, to be around Patrick Ewing and Derek Harper and Doc Rivers and Charles Oakley and Pat Riley and Jeff Van Gundy every day had a huge effect on me.

Herb Williams was a guy that took me in and taught me how to eat, taught me how to take care of my body.

I want to continue to climb up the mountain of life and try to get everything that God has for me.

You do feel a level of excitement because winning in the NBA is really hard as it relates to one game, but to win a series, you have to enjoy that.

I have to be real with my kids. Life is precious. They know that. Yet, I have to remind them that they’re blessed beyond what most people on the face of the Earth could imagine.