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.
I place a lot of value on pace of the game, going after people... always be the aggressor and forcing the issue a little bit when we have the ball, and when we don't have it, we want to come at you, too.
As an assistant, you are grinding it out and churning out work like there are not enough hours in the day, really. As a head coach, you are doing similar.
It used to be every single time you got the rebound, you handed it to the point guard, or you outlet it to the point guard, or everyone cleared, and you waited until the point guard brought the ball up the floor.
In the regular season, they all only count for one win or one loss. But for a team or coaching staff, these are tests, and you want to see where you're at.
Try to put our guys in different positions, try some different combinations, et cetera, to prepare us for the playoffs, which is what matters.
I call Kawhi the best team player in the league. He really does everything: he defends. He scores. He has been grabbing huge rebounds. He is a leader. His competitive spirit to win rubs off on everybody.
I didn't think reaching the NBA was a possibility when I coached Derby in 1990. I was right out of college when I went there and was more concerned about playing a bit and getting that out of my system.
When I came back to England after my stint with Derby in 1995, I really wanted more time to study coaching.
It's pretty draining, the amount of games I watch on a daily basis. It's pretty much non-stop.
It's about what the players are doing. My job is facilitate that. My job is to put them in positions to succeed. My job is to listen to their ideas, take them if they're good, quietly push them to the side if they're not. My job is to help them grow.
It's really an organizational job with a football team to watch them go through their day.
I think switching is like a lot of things. You can do it - it's a game plan - but you better do it well. You better practise it.
You look at any roster and you say, 'Geez, he's pretty good. He's pretty good. He's talented. He comes off the bench?' All of a sudden, it's, 'Geez, that's a pretty good roster they got right there.'
I think it's all machismo - 'Come on, you've got to guard your guy, man. If you can't guard your guy, then you can't play defence.' A lot of it is accountability, where you say, 'Hey, you're matched up with him. Go do your job.' The zone kind of sometimes moves a lot of pieces around.
The gym in Milton Keynes or wooden backboards at Chester - maybe it didn't feel that glamorous at the time, but it was fun.
We want to always play with pace on offence.
That's playoff basketball. Can you not get too happy after a win? Can you understand how determined the team is going to be after a loss and bring the energy you need to bring?
I think there's some certain attitudes and certain guys that can feed some positive energy, and that keeps you going through an 82-game schedule.
I'm a guy that, when there's something rolling out there, the predetermined rotations might go right in the garbage can.
