Jeff Malone Quotations

When we have these camps, one thing we're trying to do is give people opportunities. We want to test these kids against some high-level, borderline NBA players. It's a tough scenario.

We didn't tough it out and make enough plays down the stretch. We'll regroup, and go home for four straight games.

If I pull this off and get in the playoffs, I should get Coach of the Year. I'm going to play that 'Rocky' song in the locker room. We're going to watch 'Hoosiers,' and 'Rudy.' We're going to be scrappy.

He had to. I challenged him. I said, 'We need a game out of you.' And he did just that. He's a tough guy, and that's what we needed.

Some of these new teams coming in have three-to-four thousand seat arenas. It's more basketball-friendly.

We're a little soft right now. Guys who play that way will not play for me. We need toughness.

We played real well in the first half, but then I think we got bored in the second half. Next week, we've gotta be ready.

We'll make a decision in the next couple of days.

You know you can't go in the stands unless you see an all-out brawl. You can't assume. But he's a good guy and I'm sure he understands that.

We played well. Defense was the key. Tomorrow, we have to be a little bit smarter and a little bit tougher, and I think we can get another win.

We're excited about it. We played at a high level.

You have to be on top of your game, be prepared and guys have to compete. It's one of the most exciting things in sports.

We moved the ball better tonight than we did with that 20-10 team.

You can't count on just one person. We need different guys to get in the lane and make plays. It's going to have to be everybody.

You hope these guys understand that they're coming down because the coaches want them to get playing time and want them to develop. I hope they're receptive to it, but we may run into some problems with guys feeling, 'Hey, man, I was in the NBA on the charter flights. Now, I'm flying commercial.' That's the one side that we can be concerned about, but I'm excited about it as a coach.

Dorrell Wright, he's a young guy. I hear he's a good defender.

There's not enough heart on this team. I knew it was going to come to this even when we were winning. We have to start over.

I've been watching that for a while. Another player on another team gets called and it goes to guys' egos. 'How'd he get a call-up?' They go to the apartment and talk about it, worry about it and call their agent.

I wanted to get more athletic. We need to get back to defending, and I really want to get the ball down the court. We really need to do that more.

I wanted to bring in another point guard, just in case Andre would get called up. I didn't want to be left empty handed.

The way we came out was key. How you approach the game means something. We hit them before they hit us.

It's hard to get better just in practice. There's nothing like the experience of the game.

The battle is trying to make these guys believe you're trying to make them better, not just being hard on them. I wish everyone on this level got a five-day contract ? not a 10-day ? to go up and see how beautiful it is and appreciate it. You have to earn it. Some guys want to take shortcuts. You have to beg them to play hard, to compete.

I had some guys yelling at me on the court tonight. We joked about it afterwards. I like that. Sometimes, these guys are too nice. I think we need a little more fire. If we had that all year, I think we would've won 25 games.

I'll probably reach out to those guys this week. I like to know things instead of just speculating. I'll make some contacts with those guys.

I know Earl Barron. He'll help out tremendously.

Hiram can do that, but he needs to be more consistent. Hiram had a great night, but he has to be able to do that on three consecutive nights.