Sublime

I have been flattered when people say I always helped my teammates play taller. What I tried to do was to make the adjustments to ensure they all could play their games better.

He immediately brought calm to a frenzied scene, presenting each player with a book (the first he gave Jordan was Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison), lowering expectations, cutting back on Collins’s intensity, letting the men express themselves as individuals.

Mario Bennett, a backup center with Hakeem Olajuwon’s physique, Spencer Dunkley’s skill set, and a cucumber sponge’s intellect,

As I see it, leaders like Walter Brown and Red Auerbach were infinitely more effective because they had this unexpected side to them. But why tenderness should be effective rather than merely decorative is interesting.

What I found with the Celtics was a set of other players who were brilliant and accomplished. I needed to know who the different players were, what their tendencies were, their habits, their preferences. I had to learn about their thinking, their temperaments. For me to play my best game, I had to discover theirs.