Rasheed Wallace Quotes

I like playing size per position defensively.

You don't cut anywhere, don't pick down anywhere, don't double screen, no weak side picking. All these things that should happen in a game of basketball don't happen anymore.

Defense is one man guarding the ball and four others helping him

Defense is a definite part of the game, and a great part of defense is learning to play it without fouling.

A lot of times getting double- or triple-teamed, like triangle-and-two, it just made me be more of an all-around player.

I think it's all machismo - 'Come on, you've got to guard your guy, man. If you can't guard your guy, then you can't play defence.' A lot of it is accountability, where you say, 'Hey, you're matched up with him. Go do your job.' The zone kind of sometimes moves a lot of pieces around.

If you've got a big man who scores the ball, you've got to defend, and if you've got a shooter, you've got to pick and choose who you're going to defend.

Basketball has turned into an offensive-minded situation. They don't play on both ends. They don't play defense.

You have to defend the perimeter guys otherwise you're going to struggle getting playing time or staying on the court.

New York basketball is about defense.

I mean, defense to me is something that when you watch a game you don't really pay attention to defense unless you're very - unless you're a specialist.

Good basketball always starts with good defense!

Back when I played, basketball was all about fundamentals, about hustling, getting those loose balls, all those rebounds under the basket. That equals up to 12, 14, 16 points. You can lose a game with that much. It's different watching basketball now. People don't play the same way. It doesn't matter if you score, if you can't stop the other team from scoring. Our coach used to kick our ass if we didn't. I was told if you saw more of the other team color under the basket than your own team color, you ain't doing your job. Everybody should be under the board, trying to get that ball.

Rex Ryan does a lot of the same kind of stuff that we do in terms of how they play in the secondary and what they do.

I had a vision of how basketball should be played. And the vision was the Knicks teams that won the championship in 1970 and 1973. I wanted a team that emphasized defense. I wanted a team that on offense had a system where players moved off the ball, and the ball moved.

I'd never switch to man-to-man unless we were able to play good man-to-man. Ever.

Street basketball is all about shakes and fakes, crossing your defender up. The NBA is more strategic.

Well, I tried to play defense. But when they did call a foul on Shaq, I tried to make sure they called a foul.

When someone's playing you man-to-man coverage, they're basically saying that guy's better than you. So that's why a lot of receivers feed off of that.

My position in football was cornerback, and what your job is as a cornerback is to read the person that's in front of you - read their body language and anticipate what's going to happen next.

The bigs are there on the help-side if the guy goes by me, and I'm able to switch to other offensive players.

In high school, I figured I'd get a few extra baskets by getting steals. I would just pressure up the ball.

Tony Allen is a good defender, very smart.

Defensively, I think I'm very versatile, I can guard different positions.

It's how I've been playing my whole life, guarding the best player on the other team.