The absolute best part of that media availability:
Q. Early on, age was something that was used against you in regards to recruiting and being able to relate to today's player. Do you think that maybe because of your NBA experience and today's player seems more mentally inclined to think like a professional has been a big help in getting and reaching these guys as successfully as you have? There's also a family aspect to recruiting; how does it feel to be about to be a grandfather probably within days?
MIKE WOODSON: Well, only you guys was worrying about the age. That was never a factor when I came in the door. I've been coaching a long time, and I'm healthy enough to coach. Mentally I'm sharp enough to coach.
I didn't have a problem coming back to Indiana. That was you guys saying that I was too old and couldn't recruit. You have to recruit some in the pros, gentlemen, when you're going after free agency, and some of the same things I'm doing now, I had to do at the pro level. You just do it on a bigger scale in terms of -- as far as the money, the money makes it bigger. So you've got to make sure that you're doing your due diligence when you're recruiting a free agent or getting ready to make a trade, that you know what the hell you're doing because you can get -- it can bite you in the butt.
It's no different than coming to college and having to deal with them. You're dealing with parents in the pros. You're dealing with their handlers in the pros and their agents. It's the same shit that I'm going through now that I did in the NBA, but you guys wouldn't know that because you weren't there.
I feel good about my position coming in. My thing was just being able to sit at the table with the best players that are out there. That's how I was -- that's the only thing I was thinking about when I came here; how can I get to the best players.
My coaching staff, they gave me their opinions about it early on saying, hey, you've got to wait your turn. Well, I didn't feel as though I had to wait my turn. Just get us to the table and let's see what happens.
We've had some pretty good success being able to recruit and talk to some of the top players. We haven't gotten them all, and you're not. You're going to win some, you're going to lose some. But hell, if you never get an opportunity to talk to the best players, it's not going to work as far as I'm concerned.
As far as being a granddaddy, I'm happy as hell. That's two weeks away, and I'm looking forward to that.