DeAndre Yedlin Quotes

My Italian adventure was positive because I improved a lot in tactical terms, most of all defensively, which is something I hadn't worked on quite so much.

I'm not worried about offense. I've always had that, but I can get better defensively and that in turn will make my offense better.

I realize I have to continue to work on defense. I think a lot of people have to work on defense.

I think I'm a great defender, to be honest.

I need to work on defensive play and being consistent.

I think as a central defender you grow as a player.

The role I play is defending, so you've got to be doing that first and foremost. The better you can get it will help the team and help you progress, and I work on that every day.

I've always been fast, it's God-given talent. I just try and use that to my advantage, but I'm learning more and more positionally so I don't have to rely on my pace so much.

That's how you get better on defense; not just 'oh, man, my guy beat me,' but you have to think about, 'okay, my man beat me, so I either have to pick up the next man, or I'm going to give somebody a foul.

It's just always been a knack for me to play defense.

I know, personally, people said a lot about what kind of defender I was. So I wanted to get better at it.

Especially going from an attacking player to a defensive player, your whole mindset has to change. You have to work on one-v-one defending versus one-v-one attacking.

Coach K was fine with the way I played defense.

I really wasn't a good defensive player at all.

I've always liked taking the ball out of defence and I will carry on doing that but at the end of the day I'm a defender, and that's what I want to be known as - a defender, getting in the blocks and the headers that people don't recognise I do, the dirty stuff that every defender should do and should be good at.

Defending is not only done by the defenders, just as attacking is not only down to the forwards.

I think every game in the NBA, I'm a lot better than I was before just by learning a lot.

My main improvement on defense has just been my coaches. They've been teaching me defensive schemes, how to guard guys, and how to use my length.

I think positionally I've improved. One vs. one I feel more comfortable. I knew that was going to come - obviously that's the kind of thing that comes with experience.

My goal is to protect the basket. Most of the time, I won't block the shot but I'm going to affect the shot or I'm going to affect the way they think.

Tactically, Italians are very strong. They are a lot into tactics: how to defend, when you lose the ball, where will you be?

Anyone who wants to be a centre-half would have to say that John Terry is a role model. Every centre-half in the game would agree with that. It is the way he leads the team and the way he reads the game.

Defending is easy. You just have to want to defend. It's not like defending is hard. It's just, like, more of an attitude.

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.

My shot-blocking ability, it's really second to none.