Quotes from Andre Drummond

As a younger guy, no one wants to be on a highlight or somebody's mix tape for their best plays of the year. For me, earlier in my career, that was something where 'I'm not sure if I should go for this,' not trying to get dunked on.

I think, for me, I'm making the right plays and finding my teammates if I'm not open and finishing strong around the rim.

The way I play is not to prove anybody wrong. It's to help my teammates win games.

Working with coach Sweeney has really been beneficial to my career. I've never watched so much film in my life, the constant communication between he and I. He'll send me clips every day, just different things to look at, ask what I think about it and we'll communicate and have different dialogues about it.

Basketball will always be my first love.

If I'm contested, I'm not going to shoot the pull-up 3. But if I'm wide open and someone backs up off me, I'm gonna shoot it.

Even if I do miss a shot, I found something to keep me calm and not get myself rattled. Once I missed one, I'd tense up and I'd miss the next one, too. So I found a peace within myself.

I think when I came into the league, I had to find something that would keep me around. I knew I wasn't going to get the ball a lot, being the younger guy on my team. I knew I wasn't going to play a lot unless I made some sort of impact on the floor. I wasn't the best shot blocker, so I said, 'Let's be the best rebounder the league has ever seen.'

I like to eat a lot of fruit and starchy things to give myself more energy before games.

I was never brought up to be a quitter.

I'm just really just continuing to work on back-to-the-basket stuff and working on getting better from the foul line.

I always tell the kids, basketball is not going to be there forever, get a good education and make good choices.

I do all the dirty work: play defense, grab rebounds, block shots and finish strong around the rim.

LeBron - he's LeBron. He just won't be denied, he's the best player in the league and also a great person.

I'm not going to play with a filter anymore; I'm going to play the game I need to play to be a great player for my team.

Just hearing somebody's voice in center field, it helps our guards out to know where they need to go, when the screen is coming, when the back door is coming, when the flare is coming. When different things like that happen and we're talking, it helps us all out in the long run.

Everybody knows the struggles I went through coming into my career with the free throws and how much work I put into it, how many people made fun of me for not being able to stay in games, this and that.

The more times you go after it the more times you'll get the ball. So every chance I get I try to chase down the rebound.

I want it more. That's all it really is. Nobody wants to get hit every possession to get a rebound, and I want to.

I feel like I can run the floor well, rebound and block shots and let the offense come.

I am a hard worker, and there's nothing wrong with my motor.

You know, I'm really known for being an energy guy and working hard on the floor, grabbing a lot of rebounds.

I don't worry about what the critics say.

Obviously I'm not the greatest scorer in the world or the greatest shooter in the world, but I'm tough and rebounding is something that not too many people want to put the effort into doing.