Dawn Staley
Dawn Staley
Dawn Michelle Staley is an American basketball hall of fame player and coach. Staley is a three-time Olympian and was elected to carry the United States flag at the opening ceremony of the 2004 Summer Olympics. After playing point guard for the University of Virginia under Debbie Ryan, and winning the gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics, she went to play professionally in the American Basketball League and the WNBA. In 2011, Staley was voted in by fans as...
ProfessionBasketball Player
Date of Birth4 May 1970
CityPhiladelphia, PA
beat certain compete core easy ego experience fact gold houston knew maybe minutes needed olympic played playing relish somewhere treating understand veteran won
I'm treating it as an Olympic experience where for the most part we were going to beat teams, ... I knew I'd be needed somewhere between the quarterfinals and gold medal. With this Houston team, their core is intact. I'm here for plays, certain situations. It's easy for me because I understand it. I don't think any other veteran that has played this long or won as many gold medals, I don't think their ego could stand playing maybe 15, 20 minutes a night. I relish the fact that I get to compete for a championship. I just got to do my part.
effort gave minutes played
They played harder, they gave more effort for 40 minutes and they won. We just didn't have it today. We had our moments, but we didn't have it for 40 minutes.
clear players ready until
Until the trainers clear her, then I can only play the players that are ready to play.
team games play
We were rattled. A team like Rutgers, they play in spurts, and they didn't have a large spurt. We certainly knew we had it in us to get back in the game if we stayed focused.
far player ride tremendous
Candice is a tremendous player and we'll go as far as she'll take us. We'll ride her coattails as far as we can.
gave played
I didn't think we played well. Offensively, we rushed. We gave a lot away.
basket beat drive exploit good inability needed players stop team until
Our players needed a wakeup call. They can't know how good they can be until they beat a team of this caliber. We had to drive to the basket and we had to exploit their (Rutgers) inability to stop us.
brings coaching egos game high instant level maintain played players playing
I think most of the players who have jumped from playing to coaching have their egos in check. You played the game at a high level and that brings instant respect, but what you do to maintain that credibility is the key.
chancellor coach foresight knew last playing
We made it dramatic. But that's why Coach (Van) Chancellor and Coach (Bill) Laimbeer made the moves. They knew it wasn't going to be easy. They had the foresight to look at who they were going to be playing the last 10 games.
listen ride searching team
I told Candice our team is searching for a leader. We are searching for someone to listen to, searching for someone to ride her coattail. It had to be her.
achieve although half longer people pulling takes took year
It took her a year and a half to do it, although it could have been just one semester. It's hard. She's from Philadelphia. You've got different people and things pulling at you, but sometimes it takes people just a little longer to achieve something. She's resilient.
amount given handled lines opened time trade
They could have handled the trade differently, opened the lines of communication, especially with the amount of time and professionalism that I've given to that organization and to that city, ... It's a business, but I don't have to like it.
against australia competition extra olympic savvy type
They can play in that type of game. Come Monday, the competition is going to be different. It's going to take a little experience, and a little Olympic savvy to win. We shouldn't have had 27 turnovers against New Zealand. You give Australia 27 extra possessions, it's a different outcome.
slowly surely team
This team is the most undisciplined team that we've had. They're just really undisciplined. They're not a team. This is the first team that's not a team, so we're going to get to the problem. We'll slowly but surely get to it, but we'll get to it.