“I know what hard times are like. I didn’t grow up with a silver spoon in my mouth. I’ve had struggles.”
“I refuse to be outworked, and I consider myself to have the heart of a lion.”
“You learn from adversity more than anything because it allows you to see so much. It really allows you to see things in a different way.”
“You don’t contest shots without expending energy. You don’t get deflections – unless you walk into one every now and then – without expending energy. These are the things in basketball you have to really want to do.”
“That’s one of my strengths, that I can adjust, and I can play with anyone.”
“I just go out and play my game. Just making sure I keep doing those little things, like playing with toughness, that’s just me.”
“When the ball isn’t in my hands, I’m already scanning for where the next pass is going.”
“It just doesn’t go with my story to be a first round pick, because I had to grind my whole life.”
“My fire is my gift and my curse. I harness it 95% of the time, but the 5% I don’t, it works against me.”
“A guy that’s going to do all of the dirty work, that guy that is willing to defend anyone and do the little things and not really care about all of that other stuff. I think every championship team needs that.”
“You see the guys sign the big contract, you see everybody on TV, but you don’t see all the work that goes into that. It’s a grind. And a lot of people don’t see that grind.”
“I think complacency is what you allow it to be.”
“My mom. Growing up with her, she always taught us to say whatever. Like, ‘You think something, say it. Don’t bite your tongue for people.’ I think there’s a fine line with that, but at the same time, I’m a firm believer in speaking your mind.”
“Think about the deflections. The offense can’t score every play. They’re just trying to get a good shot. If I can deflect a pass, even if it doesn’t cause a turnover, it will throw their timing off half-a-second. That half-a-second might mess up their shot.”
“When I came out in the draft, people kept asking me, ‘So are you a small forward or a power forward?’ and I was like, ‘I’m a basketball player.’ Period.”
“So many times, I watch games and think, ‘Man, why is that guy trying to score like that? He can’t do it.’ But he’s been told his whole life, ‘You have to go get 40 if you want to be one of the top dogs.’ It’s my goal to build a lane where you can be a top dog, and you don’t gotta go get that 40. You can go get four and still be a top dog.”
“My uncle, my dad always made sure I had guard skills. But as far as defending everybody, that wasn’t really my mindset until my rookie year.”
“There is no chip coming off of my shoulder because, at the end of the day, you’re still going to continue to be doubted.”
“I was always taught, even as a kid, playing against grown men, you get better.”
“I’m blessed, and… all the time, I sit and think, ‘Wow.’”
“There’s still nothing like a home-cooked meal. Absolutely not.”
“If you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse.”
“Everything can’t be sweet. Everything can’t be peaches and cream.”
“In the NBA, there’s always a guy who is only around because he can jump. He doesn’t have a clue about the fundamentals. I learn more from the WNBA. They know how to dribble, how to pivot, how to use the shot fake.”
“I may not be the most athletic, but I understand the game.”
“I’m not going to worry about proving people wrong. My goal isn’t to prove people wrong. You can’t worry about what other people say.”
“Become a good all-around human being.”
“I think Coach Kerr and his staff have done a great job with what they bring to the table.”
“I was a great help-side defender in college, but as far as really wanting to lock somebody up, that was never really my focus.”
“Are you going to back down to somebody? If not, you’re giving yourself a chance.”
“I know when I need to be pushing it full speed; I know when I got to probe and allow the flow to open up, because, at the end of the day, on the basketball court, something’s going to open up.”
“Just because it’s a break doesn’t mean it has to be fast all the time. It can be a secondary break, but you’ve got to allow the defense to break down.”
“When you play against people that’s better than you, you get better.”
“I can throw all the good passes I want, but if they don’t make shots, it’s not an assist.”
“What’s my status? I’m just a guy from Saginaw, Michigan, trying to make it. But you know, pretty nice crib.”
“It’s the way of life in Saginaw. If you’re not tough, you don’t survive.”
“You couldn’t play if you weren’t tough. You’d get bullied. Everybody who comes through the Civitan Recreation Center has to be tough. It’s what we breed.”
“My whole life, I’ve guarded guys bigger than me.”
“Playing point guard is someone’s instincts. They’re used to that. That’s my instincts.”
“I have a great smile. A lot of people don’t know that.”
“A guy who’s not a champion can’t talk too much about championships, can he?”
“Everyone wonders why I talk junk, but I was doomed from the beginning.”
“I wouldn’t necessarily say I’m arrogant. I’m just confident.”
“You’ve just got to earn my respect.”
“I’ve gotten to the point where I’m comfortable guarding any position on the floor. It just didn’t happen overnight. It came with a lot of work, a lot of film study and everything.”
“My heart is bigger than most guys who have size over me.”
“I put my heart into this. Like, winning to me is, I make it life or death.”
“I tell guys all the time, you see me messing up, get at me. I want you to get at me.”
“I can’t worry about techs. I’ve got to play my game.”
“If you put junk into your body, your body is going to give you junk results.”
“When you’re 250 pounds, you can push more people around, but you can’t move as fast or jump as high.”
“At the end of the day, before basketball, before anything, I’m a man.”
“I know things that I need to work on in my life, things that I can be better at.”
“I’m going to be more critical of myself than anyone could ever be.”
“Wherever you go in Michigan, you find that toughness. I don’t know if it’s the weather or the hard times. It’s like, if I can make it out of here, I had to be super tough.”
“Michigan State means so much to my life and me.”
“I always loved playing basketball. That was never a problem for me. You want to go to the park or the gym, I’ll play with you all day, but working out, I didn’t love. I hated it.”
“Four-men aren’t used to picking up guys pushing the ball in transition. Let alone, somebody getting the rebound and just busting.”
“A person who can go out and get 40 is going to get a lot more respect than somebody who goes out and holds somebody to two points. It’s just the nature of the game. It doesn’t bother me.”
“No matter what, no matter how I feel, always bring effort.”
“No one is going to tell me I’m too small to do whatever, to do anything. That’s not up to them, and I’ll never give anyone that power to say that.”
“I know what I’m capable of, and I try to go out and prove that.”
“At the end of the day, I continue to think I can get better, and that’s always my focus.”
“I love playing basketball. And to be able to continue to play as a job, that’s the best to me.”
“I don’t really mind any scrutiny. It doesn’t bother me. I’m going to still live my life and do everything I do the same way and not lose any sleep.”
“I’m blessed. I get to play the game I love for a living and make a lot of money doing it.”
“I have the mindset of a mid-level guy or a minimum guy. My path here wasn’t expected: my path wasn’t that I was going to the NBA and making $16 million a year. So I identify more with those guys, and I want to be a voice for them. I want to help them elevate their status in the league. That’s my goal.”
“I grew up in a household where my mom made $16,000 a year. I know the struggle. I know how to keep those things in perspective, and I do keep it into perspective.”
“I’ve never been a guy who has said ‘OK’ about stuff. That’s not me. That’s not my personality. If I think something’s wrong, I express that.”
“After a game, I really just relax with the family.”
“I’m a huge fan of basketball. Any time you get a chance to watch basketball, I do it.”
“If you’ve got to second-guess talking to a teammate, what you have will never work.”
“Let me get my money’s worth if I’m going to get some techs.”
“The goal is to win a championship. Every team enters the season with the goal to win the championship, but realistically, there are five or six teams with a realistic shot at winning a championship.”
“When I do things, I’m all-in.”
“There’s the Draymond Green you see out on the floor. But that’s not me. I mean, it is, but there’s more. People see the fiery guy, the competitive guy, the trash talk and everything. But they don’t see the love and compassion. They don’t see the person. They don’t see the real me, who values his friends and puts people first.”
“I’m human, and I make mistakes.”
“The more time you spend with somebody, the more your relationship grows.”
“I watch basketball all day every day. So when I’m watching the games, I watch it – I just enjoy watching basketball – but when I’m watching other people play, I’m really just watching as a student trying to figure different things out.”
“Sometimes it’s tougher against bad teams because you can’t really get a read on them.”
“Bogut – I wouldn’t be the defender I am without Bogut. He taught me a ton. Angles. How to guard the post. You name it, he taught me a ton.”
“Every year, I strive to be the best defensive player in the league.”
“I’m trying to make the Hall of Fame.”
“People will always try to change you. They will always want you to be who they want you to be. That’s fine because I’ll always be exactly who I want to be.”
“The fans at Quicken Loans Arena are pretty hostile. They say nasty things.”
“All ‘potential’ means to me is that you haven’t proved anything.”
“Every decision I make is, ‘How is this helping me become a billionaire?’”
“There are certain guys in the league that get their rhythm off their dribble.”
“One thing I’ve always been taught at the defensive end is you hit first. In life, you throw the first punch; you don’t get punched first. It’s the same on defense: You’ve got to hit first. Do your work early. That’s what I was always taught. If you don’t do your work early, you’re done.”
“I’ve been pretty broke my entire life. I’m not going to live that same life, but I’m going to keep those same principles.”
“I’m not as athletic as some guys, so I have to counter that with a tremendous brain that thinks the game.”
“I see the game differently than some guys. I’m always reading the next move.”
“I can see things before they happen on the court.”
“I will not feel like I’ve made it until the day I retire from basketball because there’s something that I can always get better at, and there’s always somebody better, and that’s what drives me.”
“Every time you make a jump, whether it’s from high school to college or college to the NBA, you’re going to hear questions about your athletic ability.”
“I have friends in prison. I send them money. I send them food. They say, ‘Bro, get me out of here.’ There’s nothing I can do. They’re five years in on a 20-year sentence. They went in at 16, they’ll get out at 36. That’s a lifetime.”
“Be remembered for the right things.”
“I had a great time at Michigan State, but no four years will compare to Saginaw High.”
“I think it’s cool to read that Draymond Green is transcending the NBA. I also think it’s cool to read that Draymond Green is terrible.”
“I think when you look around this league, so much is scripted. And not scripted in a sense that the league is scripted, but when guys talk, it’s like, ‘Say this. Yeah, come out and say that.’ Like, nah, I’m not doing that. I’m going to say what’s on my mind. I’m going to say what’s on my heart. It’s just genuine speaking.”
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