JERIAN GRANT

“I’m here. I’m here right now. I can get better and I’m going to get better. That’s why I’m putting in the work, putting in the time, because I know there’s a great opportunity here. I want to be that guy and I think I can be that guy. It’s just going to take a lot of work. I look back on when I was struggling or when I wasn’t playing. How did I get back on that top, top level? It was staying in the gym. That’s what helps me to realize I’m going to get there as long as I keep putting in the work. I’m a player that gets better every year. I’ve proven that. With my work ethic, I’m going to get better.”

 

LeBRON JAMES

On new assistant coach Mike Longabardi:

“Well, Coach Lue, he wants us to defend but he’s not the voice of our defense. Coach Longo (Mike Longabardi), he’s our defensive coordinator. He gives us the game plan. Coach Lue definitely makes his inputs throughout the course of the game, if he wants to change on a game-to-game basis or throughout the game, but our game plan comes from our defensive coordinator and whatever he wants to do, we’re able to learn on the fly. He’s very detailed and we’re happy to have him.

MIKE MALONE

“When you’re a coach, you wear so many hats. You have to be a coach, have to be a motivator, you have to be a psychologist, you have to find how to connect with these guys, you have to be an ear to listen to them, so there’s a lot of things you have to do. I never try to be any of these guys’ boys. My job is to help them become the best player they can be.”

PHIL JACKSON

“You do need great players to win the championship, but having to always chase the best talent in free agency eventually becomes a mind-set of, well, the best talent wins as opposed to who plays the best team basketball. We’re not going to punch all the right buttons in the process of doing this. But we’re looking for multiple talents, drive, intelligence, guys that will play defense.”

BOBBIE KELSEY

Women’s basketball at Wisconsin:

You gotta get your butt in the gym. Steph Curry shows you that. I saw him in high school. He looked like a 2-year-old out there — but the boy could shoot. And so what’d he do? He kept shooting. So, if people they’re going to get on the pillowcase, it’s not going to happen. You can’t nap your way to being a great shooter, and Facebooking it, and all these things teenagers do. You need to put the phone down, stop Face-timing, stop tweeting, and get your butt in the gym.

And it don’t have to be an hour, two hours. Twenty minutes every day — that’s what (Bauman) does, and ten minutes after practice every day. That’s it. There’s no magic formula. There’s no secret potion you rub on your hands. Get your butt in the gym and practice. Period. End of story. And you can shoot like that, too.

 

Women’s basketball, can you hear me? Get your butt in the gym. You’ve got people throwing the ball over the basket. Nobody wants to watch that. I don’t. I enjoy watching good solid basketball if people make their shots, whether I’m coaching against them or it’s my team doing it.

 

Women’s basketball players need to get their butt in the gym and get shots up because we can’t dunk. Brittney Griner’s graduated. I don’t see nobody else dunking out here. Candace Parker? She was gone a long time ago. People need to get in the gym — that’s where our game needs to grow. We need to be shooting the ball and making it, and then people will come out and watch us play.

KEVIN DURANT

“I’m not really into how many points I score anymore. I try to play winning and consistent basketball. If I play a good brand of basketball, if I play the right way, that stuff will come.”

SAM MITCHELL

“We went to the basics because what we realized is because they haven’t gotten it. I’ve been doing slide drills since the eighth grade. AAU don’t do slide drills because the guy that owns the hardware store, he runs the team.”

MANU GINOBILI

Following the Spurs loss to Golden State:

“They outplayed us in every single aspect of the game. Aggression was one.”

KAWHI LEONARD

What they’re saying:

“He’s tenacious. It starts with a level of pride and intensity.” -Quin Snyder

“He’s just trying to be the best basketball player he can be. That encompasses playing both ends of the floor.” -Gregg Popovich

“He’s probably the best two-way player in the league now. You have to deal with him in all kinds of different ways.” -Steve Kerr

“He’s tough, ready for any challenge. He has that competitiveness about him, which is really good. You don’t see that as much in new-age players. They’re more concerned with their image or anything else surrounding the game.

He’s just all about playing ball, doesn’t really care what’s going on outside.”

-Andre Iguodala

JEFF VAN GUNDY

On Saturday night, Jeff Van Gundy made a few comments on ABC before and during the Cavaliers-Bulls game:

“David Blatt can leave Cleveland with his head held high. He did a masterful job.”

“Coachability is on the player not on the coach. Either you are coachable or you’re not coachable.” 

“If you wanna win you’re coachable.”

“When you win, everyone runs to get the credit. But when you struggle most people run away from blame.”

“There’s gonna be some guys happy after a win and there’s gonna be guys disappointed.”