Rick Carlisle Quotes on Opportunity (11 Quotes)

Opportunity is available for everybody. I think it's pretty clear that the coaching staff doesn't care who gets the minutes. We have to find guys that are opportunistic, that take advantage when they get a chance and can do it over a period of time. It was great for David to have a great game now he has to do it again and keep doing it. That's where it's going to get tougher.

He played well. He has an opportunity if he keeps developing and working to be a factor in our rotation next season.

It was clear to me he knew the situation. He knew to spread the floor and look for an opportunity to break down the defense. He made a great play.

Right now, he's a guy who's going to have to step to the forefront. It'll be an opportunity for him, and we're counting on him to come through for us.

That's a tough one. It was a tough way to get a lead then lose it. They kept playing. They kept coming. I thought we tried. We just didn't capitalize on our opportunities.

It's bad news that we had an opportunity to move up and didn't, but it's good news that everybody lost. Right now, that stuff isn't as important as how we're playing over a course of 48 minutes. We have to tighten some areas to give ourselves a chance to win against anybody.

We're in a tough deal and we've got to fight our way out of a tough situation. We're celebrating tonight, but we've got to play Detroit in two days. That's not going to be much fun either, but it's an opportunity and you've got to feel that these games are opportunities.

It was a special experience, and I am grateful that I was given the opportunity to come to Virginia. They took a chance on me because I was a guy who played at a mid-major level in a very obscure conference.

A.J. is playing with great awareness and great savvy. He looks like a guy that understands the pulse of the team he's running. The majority of the game, he's making our calls and directing us into things. He's a guy that really knows this team, as well as any player that I've had the opportunity to work with as a coach.

It's been tough for Fred this year because of the thumb he's been in and out of it. He played great in the first two games, and I wanted to give him the opportunity to start and play a real significant stretch of minutes. We struggled to get him the ball (Saturday). I have to do a better job of putting him in a position where he can attack the basket and make plays. He wasn't able to do that, that's his game.

His approach to the season has been so diligent, so professional, that we knew at some point we were going to have to give him an opportunity to play.