Dwane Casey Team Quotations

Right now, Marcus is our point guard. Marko continues to work. I think that competition makes your team better. Right now, Marcus is doing a good job and has done nothing wrong to lose his position.

He's done a good job of going in there and keeping it together and continuing to train - which is hard to do sometimes. Especially when you have a veteran team like that . . . that's used to doing things their way.

I watched him work out right before his rookie year and I remember how raw he was when he first came out of Alabama. Just to see him now, how polished of a player he is, how smart a defender he is, how he plays the passing lane, how he kind of lays in the cut and surprises the defense - he's just come such a long way and he's the heart and soul of his team with the way he plays.

Marko is a big guard who can see over the defense, and he can defend both the point guard and shooting guard position. We feel we've really upgraded our defense and our team with the addition of Marko.

I saw he got into some scraps with the national team and I like that, as long as you use it in the right way.

I thought it was great for our confidence in close games, to come out and close the game, and win a game when a team is making a hard run at you like that. We're excited about it. The guys are excited about it.

We have to put together 48 minutes and that has been our story the whole year. That is a growing process. That is the next evolution. When a team makes a run at us we have to go right back at them.

When Kevin went out, the team pulled together. Our young guys did well. It was almost like the youngsters wanting to do well for their big brother.

We'd like to be an up-tempo team at the right opportunity. We want to make sure we know our roles, know our alleys, know our rules in running. It's very difficult to be a running team. That's something that you grow into, work on in training camp.

I see the difference in our team -- the speed, the quickness, the guys in attack mode. I liked our scrap, I liked our fight.

Avalanche. Offensively, our execution was bad. That's one problem you have against a team defense like that. They turned up the juice, and we couldn't execute.

Anytime you have a playoff team on the ropes and (lose), it's disappointing. We came out in the second half and started settling for jump shots and you can't do that against a team like New Jersey.

I really like the scrap by our team tonight. They've been together for 500 games, and we've been together for two days.

The incident happened. It's history. As far as I'm concerned, it's a dead issue. Our whole thoughts as a team are going to be, from here on out, the Chicago Bulls.

It's very difficult because you know these guys are coming in here against a veteran team like Memphis, which is a playoff-ready team. They are playoff tough. To come in here for our young guys and compete ... it's a tough task. This gives our young guys a taste of what playoff teams are about.

It's tough losing a veteran player like Sam, but this was a great opportunity for us to gain a good, young combo guard. Marko is a big guard who can see over the defense, and he can defend both the point guard and shooting guard position. We feel we've really upgraded our defense and our team with the addition of Marko. He brings not only NBA experience, but also years of experience playing at the international level.

I don't think he alone will let anyone on this team give up.