A question: what makes a sports anime good to you?
The answer will probably leave you unsatisfied because the problem is that I don't specially like sports anime in general. Compare it with me being a mecha anime fan which means I have a very high tolerance for it and I will watch even the vilest ones (being a mecha fan is blight on me that I can do nothing about, everyone has their defects).
In contrast, because I'm not a sports anime fan, it means that I tend to enjoy only the ones that go beyond the staples of the genre. Therefore, I recognise that there is sports anime that is good but I simply happen not to enjoy. If this doesn't make it obvious, my "cold take" was me being hyperbolic, maybe needlessly so.
There is, however, stuff that makes me not enjoy sports anime that is unfortunately common: e.g. repeating detailed explanations for game rules unnecessarily often (I'm fine with being told once, thanks); displaying the same actions over and over, that the sport does include, as if it were a live broadcast (I don't need that in fiction, it adds nothing of value to me); overused bloated time-dilation that makes the last 5 seconds of a match last three episodes (this can be judiciously used in moderation but it's often not the case); characters that are too much of an archetype, which is a general anime thing but it feels exacerbated in sport anime (I'm tired of overly passionate genki guy with fiery red/orange hair and cool mannered blue/black hair guy despite knowing that red oni/blue oni has been a thing since forever; aloof white hair guy and overweight guy that is the butt of the jokes don't help either).
Trying to end in a less negative tone, I appreciate it when sports anime introduces me to a sport I didn't know anything about as long as it does it in a manner that isn't too grating (see previous comment on repetition but also not being explained it as if I were 5 years old unless the series is explicitly aimed at 5 year old children and I decided to watch anyways despite me being an old fart).