Maurice Cheeks
Maurice Cheeks
Maurice Edward "Mo" Cheeksis an American retired professional basketball player and currently an assistant coach for the Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association. He was the head coach of the Detroit Pistons from June 10, 2013, to February 9, 2014 and has also served as head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers and Philadelphia 76ers...
ProfessionBasketball Player
Date of Birth8 September 1956
CityChicago, IL
accomplish bad basketball coaches evaluate happen looked overall possible season sit
When you have a bad season and things don't go the way you want, I think you have to look at it overall. All things are possible when you fail. As a team, we failed. We didn't accomplish what we looked to do. When those things happen you have to look and see if you make changes. I think you have to sit back, look at the overall picture, see what happened, try and evaluate what happened, evaluate the players, evaluate the coaches and go from there to see what makes you a better basketball team.
advantage example guy guys michael opportunity prime sit steps taken whatever
When a guy has to sit for whatever reason, another guys steps in. Michael Bradley's a prime example. He's been impressive. He has pretty much taken advantage of an opportunity with guys being out.
capable certain chris example guys help hurt leading night perfect situations taking
Chris is very capable of taking our troops, as all our guys are. Chris is our veteran. He's been around certain situations a while, so he understands about guys getting hurt and how to help other players. (Sunday) night was a perfect example of Chris leading us.
eight game minutes plays points seven situations turn turned
We've been there, where we've been up 18 or 19 points. We've been there, where we've been up seven or eight points with two minutes to go in the game. So we've been in a lot of situations where we know the game could turn around. We had plays that turned the game around for us.
figure reason reasons sit work wrong
We had a lot of disappointment in the season. We thought we'd be a little better, but you just have to sit back and see it what it is and see how we get better at it. When things go wrong, there's a reason why they go wrong and you look and see and try to figure out what the reasons were and you work on them.
knows situations veteran
Webber's a veteran who knows how to play. We try to put him in the same situations he had while he was here. He understands how to play this game.
afford coming focused knew realizing situation win wins
Any win is big. Realizing where we are and the situation that we're in, we can't afford any let downs. We knew coming in that we had to have these two wins and I just think that we focused on them.
belt game guys rather ready regular sit wrong
If there's anything wrong with him at all, I'd rather him sit out and play in a regular-season game than a preseason one, ... But I think guys need to get a game or two under their belt to get ready for the regular season. It's not (that) they have to, but I'd like to see it.
ask beat coming either guy happened missed played reason sad situation time
For me, it's a pretty sad moment, because I played for Jimmy. He's always been a part of my coaching, the reason being he's a guy who has been through every situation imaginable. Any time something happened on or off the court, he would either beat me to coming to ask him what I should do, or I'd be going to him anyway. That's the reason why he's going to be missed so much.
effort example fought game hard heck lose prime team
This was a heck of a win. Everyone fought hard for us all game. This game was a prime example of a team effort to not lose a game.
game
When you have two 7-footers in the game like that, it does a lot for your defense.
beat fashion form games mind team time
When you play a team that has come back and beat you each time in some form or fashion, it can play little mind games on you.
bad basketball certainly hoped life team
When you have a bad season, everything is possible. As a team we failed. It certainly wasn't what I hoped or wanted, but that's the way life is sometimes. I'm going to try to make myself better and this basketball team better.
eighth
We're out of the eighth spot, we're not out of the hunt. It's how you respond.