88 Draymond Green Quotes On Basketball, Defense, Heart & Work Ethic
Jan 29, 2024
The top Draymond Green quotes:
Draymond Green is a professional basketball player who currently plays for the Golden State Warriors in the NBA. Draymond played at Michigan State for 4 years before being drafted in the second round as the 35th overall pick by the Warriors.
He is a 4-time NBA champion, 4-time All-Star, and winner of the Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2017.
Draymond is known for his elite defense, ability to guard every position, and his passing and playmaking ability.
His high basketball IQ was a crucial part of the Warriors championship runs. He holds the record for the most triple-doubles in Warriors franchise history.
Green plays with heart and passion every time he steps on the floor and is a vocal leader for the Warriors.
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Draymond Green Basketball Quotes
On the court, Draymond is a jack of all trades. But where he truly shines is as a defender and as a playmaker.
Draymond looks to setup teammates before looking for his own shot.
As a defender, Green is consistently one of the top defenders in the league. Even as an undersized forward, Draymond can guard all 5 positions.
1. "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."
2. "I love playing basketball. And to be able to continue to play as a job, that's the best to me."
3. "Four-men aren't used to picking up guys pushing the ball in transition. Let alone, somebody getting the rebound and just busting."
4. "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."
5. "I can't worry about techs. I've got to play my game."
6. "When you're 250 pounds, you can push more people around, but you can't move as fast or jump as high."
7. "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."
8. "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."
9. "I'm a huge fan of basketball. Any time you get a chance to watch basketball, I do it."
10. "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."
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Draymond Quotes About Defense
Draymond takes pride in his defense. He is a 4x NBA All-Defensive First Team member and won the Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2017.
Despite only being 6'6", Draymond can guard any player on the court, no matter their position.
11. "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."
12. "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."
13. "My whole life, I've guarded guys bigger than me."
14. "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."
15. "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."
16. "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."
17. "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."
18. "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."
19. "Every year, I strive to be the best defensive player in the league."
20. "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."
21. "I feel like each possession is a battle and you never want to lose a battle."
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Draymond On Passion, Heart & Effort
One thing no one can ever question is the passion and fire that Draymond plays with.
You never have to question Green's desire to win. He brings the effort every night and always plays like it's his last game.
22. "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."
23. "I put my heart into this. Like, winning to me is, I make it life or death."
24. "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."
25. "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."
26. "My heart is bigger than most guys who have size over me."
27. "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."
28. "Are you going to back down to somebody? If not, you're giving yourself a chance."
29. "I consider myself to have the heart of a lion."
30. "I tell guys all the time, you see me messing up, get at me. I want you to get at me."
31. "No matter what, no matter how I feel, I always bring effort."
32. "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."
33. "When I do things, I'm all-in."
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Draymond Green Quotes About Belief And Confidence
When asked who the best defender in the NBA is, Draymond will always say himself.
Some people may think he's being cocky, but it's that confidence that has gotten Draymond to where he is today.
34. "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."
35. "I wouldn't necessarily say I'm arrogant. I'm just confident."
36. "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."
37. "Before you can ever reach anything you have to believe it. You don’t just mistakenly become great at something."
38. "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."
39. "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."
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Draymond Green Quotes On Winning And Success
Green is a 4x NBA champion and 2x Olympic Gold Medal winner.
He understands what it takes to win and be successful and the role of adversity in those journies.
40. "A guy who's not a champion can't talk too much about championships, can he?"
41. "I'm blessed, and... all the time, I sit and think, 'Wow.'"
42. "I think Coach Kerr and his staff have done a great job with what they bring to the table."
43. "I'm blessed. I get to play the game I love for a living and make a lot of money doing it."
44. "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.
45. "I know what hard times are like. I didn't grow up with a silver spoon in my mouth. I've had struggles."
46. "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."
47. "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."
48. "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."
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Quotes From Draymond Green About Competition
49. "I was always taught, even as a kid, playing against grown men, you get better."
50. "When you play against people that's better than you, you get better."
51. "Everyone wonders why I talk junk, but I was doomed from the beginning."
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Draymond On Work Ethic
Green credits his relentless work ethic with helping him to become the player he is now and achieve all the success that he's had.
He knows that to reach the top (and stay there), you can never get complacent. You have to continue to put in the work and find ways to get better.
52. "I'm going to be more critical of myself than anyone could ever be."
53. "If you're not getting better, you're getting worse."
54. "I think complacency is what you allow it to be."
55. "I know things that I need to work on in my life, things that I can be better at."
56. "I know what I'm capable of, and I try to go out and prove that."
57. "At the end of the day, I continue to think I can get better, and that's always my focus."
58. "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."
59. "It just doesn't go with my story to be a first round pick, because I had to grind my whole life."
60. "I refuse to be outworked."
61. "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."
62. "I'm trying to make the Hall of Fame."
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Draymond Passing And Basketball IQ Quotes
Draymond has an extremely high basketball IQ. He is a gifted passer and his high IQ helps him anticipate players getting open before they actually are.
63. "When the ball isn't in my hands, I'm already scanning for where the next pass is going."
64. "I'm not as athletic as some guys, so I have to counter that with a tremendous brain that thinks the game."
65. "I can throw all the good passes I want, but if they don't make shots, it's not an assist."
66. "That's one of my strengths, that I can adjust, and I can play with anyone."
67. "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."
68. "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."
69. "Playing point guard is someone's instincts. They're used to that. That's my instincts."
70. "I may not be the most athletic, but I understand the game."
71. "I can see things before they happen on the court."
72. "I see the game differently than some guys. I'm always reading the next move."
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Draymond Green On Speaking His Mind
Draymond isn't afraid to speak his mind (sometimes to a fault).
You know that you're always going to get the truth with him and he will let you know if you aren't giving your best effort or doing things the right way.
73. "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."
74. "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."
75. "If you've got to second-guess talking to a teammate, what you have will never work."
76. "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."
77. "It's kinda ridiculous what you can't say nowadays. You really can't say anything you believe! I think it's fricking ridiculous how sensitive everyone is to everything, how much things are frowned upon. How much stuff will cost you nowadays. I think it's fricking ridiculous that we can't - there's certain topics that you can't really say how you feel about."
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Other Motivational Draymond Green Quotes
78. "Be remembered for the right things."
79. "You've just got to earn my respect."
80. "If you put junk into your body, your body is going to give you junk results."
81. "Michigan State means so much to my life and me."
82. "At the end of the day, before basketball, before anything, I'm a man."
83. "Everything can't be sweet. Everything can't be peaches and cream."
84. "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."
85. "All 'potential' means to me is that you haven't proved anything."
86. "I'm human, and I make mistakes."
87. "Become a good all-around human being."
88. "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."
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