Transition Play Quotes

When teams are crowded in the paint, it's very hard to get in there and penetrate, but you got to find ways to get into transition and get into your strengths. It's a lot of thinking out there, you got to make sure you think and strategize.

I always tried to defend high up the pitch, to be in the opposition's half and play the game there.

When teams train now, it is about what they do with the ball and, if they lose it, how quickly they press to win it back.

If you look at Barcelona and the way they press high, or Bayern Munich, the way they press high... that's what makes them the best teams, because when they lose the ball, in the first three seconds, that's when they get the ball back, really, really high.

A 7-footer who hits a step-back jumper - that's a pretty unicorn-like thing. Or someone who blocks a shot off the top of the backboard, pushes it in transition, and finds a shooter in the corner - that's pretty unicorn-like.

United are capable of setting up a low block and making it difficult, but they're also capable of coming out and pressing high.

I'm never going to be a point guard, but you always have guards that get the rebound and take it coast-to-coast.

When we're able to get stops, get the ball off the glass and run, you never know who's going to get the ball. Everyone takes off, runs to their spots, and the ball just finds the open man.

When I've watched teams that play with five at the back and wing-backs, I've looked at their starting positions and positions out of possession because that comes a little bit more unnaturally to me.

At the end of 2003, my game was complete. Shooting, defense, using the dribble, transition, midrange stuff was all there. Then it was about fine-tuning and trying to improve in each area.

Little things that I've emphasized are turning in pockets and looking to penetrate and finding these spaces and playing at a good tempo when we're in the middle third.

It is vital to maintain possession and to win it back as soon as possible, because if we win it high up, then the opposition has to run 70 metres.

I don't want just pure roll out of the back four. I want productive mixed play... how many ways can you affect a game?

I like to get the ball in transition and go and everything, but I'm also not as dependent on having the ball all the time as I was maybe in college and when I first got to the NBA.

I started in a 4-3-3 formation at Ajax, playing in left midfield. There, you need to be just as involved defensively as you are going forward. You attack and you defend, and that allows you to be a complete player.

Pace is just how fast we can get the ball from one end to the other. It's not necessarily how fast we can shoot. It's just a tempo thing.

To me, the make-up of a modern defenseman, the No. 1 thing is the processing skills.

When you are a coach, you are watching how the team is positioning itself on the field - if your team is in possession of the ball, you are already anticipating what could happen if you lose the ball.

When you're running next to a guy who's about to lay it up in transition, you just get out of the way because you know Giannis is coming to block it.

Running in transition and scoring in transition, prevents you from setting your defense up on the other side.

I like to win the ball back for the team and I can contribute going forward.

Once the referee throws the ball in the air, it's either your ball or their ball and you have to just take your shot.

A lot of teams get a lot of offense off the rush.

I would prefer to play for and against an attacking team, but I am now used to playing against defensive teams.

The manager might like it sometimes when I play up front because I can cause trouble for the defenders, but for me, my best position is defensive midfield, stopping the opposition, and then looking to impose myself on a game.