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OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER MEDIA CONFERENCEApril 26, 2017Enes KanterOklahoma City, Oklahoma Q. Looking back on this year, how would you evaluate the season that you had now that you've had some time to reflect? ENES KANTER: I think I learned a lot this year. I think it was a really good season because when we started the season, nobody was really expecting us to even make the Playoffs. I think we just showed all the haters that we could do that, and I think we did our job. Everybody was focused during the season, and everybody gave 100 percent and played with the edge. That was the most important thing. And then everybody had fun. Q. Steven was here earlier talking about how much he expects from you and can see you grow in the future. How much do him and Russell push you, and how do they push you? ENES KANTER: Oh, they push me every day. Sometimes it's like, you've got ups and downs, and sometimes they were coming and talking to me on the bench, especially after I broke my arm. It was a really tough time because like you want to be out there with your teammates. When you see them losing, you're just blaming yourself. You're like, man, I can't believe I did this. But like every day, I was talking to those guys, just -- they were giving me positive energy. That was the most important thing for me, because the most important thing was mind, and they were just doing an unbelievable job. Not just the players, the whole organization was giving me positive energy. It was amazing. Q. When you came here, I remember you said Russell was a different kind of guy than what you thought when you were in Utah playing against him. ENES KANTER: Yes. Q. From last year to this year did you learn even more about him? ENES KANTER: Definitely. I mean, I said this in an article, too. After what happened last year, he felt like he was the -- he had to put a lot every night. He didn't take any night off. And then one thing about him, he just didn't make himself better, he made everybody else better around him. Not just the players, the whole organization, the whole Oklahoma. He made everybody a little bit better. He was just an amazing guy. Man. He's just a fun guy to be around, and I'm just happy to have a teammate like this. Q. What do you think you learned from this playoff series? Obviously minutes were down a little bit, but what do you think you got from it? ENES KANTER: You know, that was the decision Coach was making. I think one thing I learned from it, you know, just -- of course everybody wants to play big minutes, especially in the Playoffs, whatever, but you can still always cheer for your teammates, for your coaches, everybody on the bench. That's what I was doing. I was talk, talk, talking there, everybody, talking to Steven and everything. I think it was a good learning experience for me, and it was -- the playoff experience definitely was good for us. Q. Do you feel like that means that you've learned how to channel your emotions and the pride you play with in kind of different avenues as you've gone through that learning experience? ENES KANTER: Yeah, definitely. You're not going to have always -- you're not going to play 48 minutes every night. Just sometimes you play 10 minutes, sometimes you play 30, 40 minutes. One thing you always have to be the same. You always have to be -- one thing you can do again, just always cheer for your teammates, support them, and just try to do the best you can to just give them positive energy. Q. What do you want to work on this off-season? ENES KANTER: This off-season, mostly just my face-up shots offensively and three-putt shot maybe more, and then just leg stuff more, lower body lifting. Q. Do you feel like you're starting to recognize those pick-and-roll situations when you're on defense a little bit quicker? ENES KANTER: We were in a different coverage in the Houston series, so we were up the whole season. Now we changed the pick-and-roll coverages, and we're playing a drop. It was a little different for me because I never played in a drop before. But one thing you can do, just you can always learn and just go from there. Q. The article that you wrote for Russ, how did that come about? ENES KANTER: Well, I think -- I feel like he deserves everything I said in that article. I mean, he's an amazing guy. I just wanted to just speak out at how amazing he is. Of course everybody knows that already, but like when I was in Utah, because you see this guy always yelling and screaming on the court, always getting in people's heads, whenever he's out there just trying to kill people, you know, he's trying to bury people. So some people don't know how good of a guy he is in other teams, other fans, but I just wanted the whole of America and the whole world to know what a humble guy he is. He's always helping others. Always trying to make everybody else better around him. Q. Were you approached by someone on the team, someone with the -- ENES KANTER: They called me. They called me. Players Tribune called me. Q. Do you feel like that's something you would want to do more, writing for the Players Tribune? ENES KANTER: I mean, if they called, I would talk to them. OKC, the PR guy has the first say, okay, you can do it, then I'll do it. I've got no problem to speak up with anybody because I think we have an amazing group of guys and just keep talking about it. Q. It was well-received. Did you enjoy the experience? ENES KANTER: Definitely. I mean, I didn't think it was going to be that good. Everybody was talking about it on social media. Even though organizationally, a lot of people come in and say, I read it, it was a really good article. It was really good for me. Q. You said at the end of that article that this team was more Russell. What does that mean, and how is that a good thing for you guys? ENES KANTER: Well, I mean, he's just -- like I said, he's got a lot on his shoulders. If you look at him, like he's got -- he cannot play bad; know what I mean? He doesn't have any -- just whenever he's going out there, he has one thing, that I need to lead this team, and I cannot play bad because always -- we always look up to him. Like man, just if he's like yelling and screaming, he's pumping us up on the bench. Even when I was not playing, I was watching Russ, and he was just talking and doing everything. He was just pumping us up, even when I was there with a suit on. He's an amazing guy, just making everybody better. Q. This year you did a lot of random things around Oklahoma City. You went and surprised a girls' basketball team. What do you remember about that, and why do you do that kind of thing? ENES KANTER: Because I feel, look, some teams, some cities, when you start losing, they don't even come to games. But when you look at Thunder fans, Thunder Nation, sometimes if you lost some games, bad, sometimes we win some games -- we have good games, bad games, but they're always there to support us. They're always there to cheer for us. I just feel like whenever I have free time, I just want to give back to the community, give back to them. They've been unbelievable, man. Even when I go to Wal-Mart or like when I go to Target or whatever, they're like really shy asking for a picture. Can I take a picture -- I'm asking them sometimes, do you want to take a picture? They're respectful, and they're amazing fans. Q. You spend a lot of time on the floor with European players. ENES KANTER: Yes. Q. How is that connection, and what did you learn from it, and what's your experience been? ENES KANTER: It's always just work with the European players. Especially like this year we have Domas, or the beginning of the year we had (indiscernible). Working with those guys is really good because you feel a little closer to them because they're from Europe, and then they kind of play like I do. I think they're -- it's pretty fun. Q. How many countries do you go into this summer? ENES KANTER: This summer? Ooh, so I will go to seven or eight countries this summer. Q. Where? ENES KANTER: In 20 whatever days, so after this, tomorrow, I'm going to go to London, Japan, I'm going to go to Korea - the good one, not the other one - and then I'm going to go to the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, then I'm going to go to China. Q. Not New Zealand? ENES KANTER: New Zealand after, because Steven's camp is in August. I don't want to go there earlier and miss him. I'm going to go to seven or eight countries this off-season, just go to do some charity work, just hang out there, hang out with some people and do some basketball camps. Q. When you ask a fan if they want a picture, has anybody ever said, no, I'm good? ENES KANTER: No. Even when they don't want to, they're being polite and just saying yes, okay, we'll take a picture. Q. Has there been any talk among the team about maybe going to support Russ on June 26 for that awards show in case he wins any big -- ENES KANTER: Well, we haven't talked about it, but I mean, if they do, I'll definitely go. I'll definitely go to support him, because I mean, he's got our support -- he's got our back every game. We want him to know that we've got his back. We'll go to support him, definitely. Q. Coach Donovan mentioned that if you wouldn't have injured your arm, you would be one of the favorites -- was that fun for you? ENES KANTER: Definitely, man. First of all, it was really fun because we're doing it for Russell, and I feel like he deserves everything, what we said on that tape, whatever. And I think it was just fun, and especially with Steven it's always fun. We bring in Domas and Alex and 'Dre, it was a really good -- I'll never forget that ever. Q. Coach Donovan mentioned that you were one of the favorites to win the Sixth Man of the Year award before you injured your arm. What are your thoughts on that, and what do you think that award really means? ENES KANTER: Well, first of all, I mean, I came back from injury pretty well, I think. Of course injury wasn't a good thing, and then first I remember I took an X-ray that we saw it was broken, and I mean, I was like numb. I couldn't believe -- feel anything. It was just really bad mentally. Not physically because I knew it was going to get better, but just mentally I was so -- felt really bad. And it's just because of -- I was going to play because of my teammates, too. I felt like I left them alone out there. You know, but I think I came back in pretty good shape. I was running with the cast and everything, working with the cast. But I think of course that word means a lot, but if you keep winning, it means a lot, and if you -- it doesn't really matter, like if we lost in the first round of the series. Who cares if you win it right now; know what I mean? It's all about the team. Of course individual awards means a lot, but like I feel like it's all about the team, and I don't want to really separate myself from the team because we are one, and we just don't want to be like, oh, and just try to win that award or whatever. If it happens, it happens. Q. Do you ever check or think about like the rumors, whether they're trade rumors or your teammates who are free agents or stuff about you, do you follow that stuff in the off-season? ENES KANTER: Well, first of all, it's out of my hands, and everybody knows that I love -- from the first day, not just this organization, this whole state opened their arms, and then they made me feel like I'm at home. Like seriously, all the people, my teammates, I see this organization as my family. They've been doing an amazing job just keeping everybody happy. If it happens, it happens. I can't really control it. It's not in my hands. But everybody knows that I love this organization. They're a perfect organization. They've been doing everything professionally. And then I can't say enough about the fact that they've been amazing. That's just one thing, I cannot control it; it's out of my hands. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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