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OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER MEDIA CONFERENCEApril 26, 2017Jerami GrantOklahoma City, Oklahoma Q. What are your plans this summer, basketball wise, what are you working on, what are you concentrating on? What's your workout regimen like? JERAMI GRANT: Work on overall game, just get back in the gym, work on my jump shot. A bunch of different things, gain a little weight, something. Q. What's your off-season philosophy? Some guys say they like working on the same stuff every summer and hoping that gets better over time. There are other guys who like adding an element or two to their game. How do you deal about that? JERAMI GRANT: Probably more about adding things to my game, just working on things, sharpening up a lot of things that I'm already good at. Just being in the gym a lot. Q. What are those things that you think you're going to try to add; do you know yet? JERAMI GRANT: Not sure yet. Still got to go to the drawing board. Q. Do you see -- you seem like you play all five positions pretty much. What do you classify yourself as? JERAMI GRANT: Just a basketball player, I think. Whatever position he puts me at. Just got to be ready. I think I did a good job of doing that this year. Q. Did this Playoffs, though, maybe help you solidify maybe a vision of this is what I look like in this NBA? These are the areas I can make an impact? And if so, maybe what did you see or what did you gain from the playoff experience? JERAMI GRANT: I think it was a good first experience, just being able to get here and experience a different type of basketball. I think just being able to be out there definitely helped moving forward. Q. Did you ever think in your wildest dreams that you'd be playing alongside Vic on an NBA team? JERAMI GRANT: No, I never thought that was possible. Just so happened that I got traded here and got to play with my brother. Q. Having him on the court and on the team with you at times, how has that helped you throughout this season? JERAMI GRANT: It's helped a lot, just coming to a new team, not knowing anybody really except for him. But he just kind of introduced me to everybody, just kind of helped the team chemistry overall. Q. How did you feel about your comfort in your offense as the season went on? It seemed like as the season went on you got more comfortable on drives, looked like you were more fluid there. How did you feel about your progress offensively? JERAMI GRANT: I think I did a good job of progressing, just staying in the gym just working on different aspects of the game, even during the season. I think it definitely helped. Q. Everybody knows how talented you are athletically. People talk about how high you can jump. How can you tap into that even more and use that athletic skill to your ability next year? JERAMI GRANT: Just go to the gym, just work on how I can use it, just getting back with the coaches and things like that, just watching film and figuring out where I can use it. Q. You ended up being one of the top guys on the team in terms of three-point percentage. Did you surprise yourself there? JERAMI GRANT: No, I think I took good shots. I think just being able to take good shots, having the players on this team to create for you makes it a lot easier to raise your percentage and just make threes. Q. Victor talked about the summer before his last year at Indiana being kind of a transformational summer for him. Do you remember talking to him at that time or do you remember anything about what he did and what he went through that summer? JERAMI GRANT: Yeah, he was just in the gym all day. I remember talking to him a little bit during -- not really during because he was focused, but just knowing that it was brutal, but he knew he had to go through it. Q. He said that he wants to do that again this summer. Are you willing to -- are you going to join him for the ride? JERAMI GRANT: Yeah, most definitely, yeah, me, him and my brother Jerian. We always work out together in the summer, so we'll figure something out. Q. I think your dad was in the stands the last game of the peak where you had probably about four dunks in five shots. What was the conversation like after the game, after you had that pretty good offensive game? JERAMI GRANT: He was happy for me. He was happy that I had a good team, but we still lost. We just had to figure out kind of what I could do better to help the team next game. Q. Does he ever talk to you about expanding your game and the need for guys of your size and your positional versatility in terms of being a forward to be able to shoot that outside shot? JERAMI GRANT: Definitely. His game was -- he could hit a lot of the mid-range shots, and now going forward you've got to be able to shoot the three. Yeah, he definitely talks to me about it every once in a while. Q. Are there spots on the floor that are best for you to be in or to catch the ball, receive the ball in, and if so, what are they? JERAMI GRANT: Yeah, everybody has their spots. I like mine at the elbow, left block, and in the corner shooting threes. Q. Was it a challenge for you being a young player not really having a training camp here and then having to mesh and mold yourself with a new team, and at the same time continue your development and progression, and then talk about what the advantage would be if you had a training camp with this team. JERAMI GRANT: I think it was definitely different coming to this team. I think just having Victor here, like I said, just did a great job of just bringing me in and kind of getting to know everybody and figure out the schemes and things like that. I think not having a training camp with them was a little difficult. I think being able to have a training camp with them next year is definitely going to help me going forward. Q. What was your first interaction with Russell like, when you get traded for -- I think you met the team out in California, right? JERAMI GRANT: Mm-hmm. Q. What was that like, and can you describe that? JERAMI GRANT: It was cool. Everybody was loving. Everybody just kind of brought me in. It was easy. I really didn't have to do too much to just mold. Q. What was it like seeing Russell this season? You're on the inside; what is that experience for you? We're all watching kind of from a distance. Is it different for you when you're up close watching that kind of season from a guy like that? JERAMI GRANT: It's definitely amazing just being able to see that historic season. Just watching it, being on the court with him, it was an honor. Q. Do you have a favorite type of dunk? JERAMI GRANT: Not really. Q. At this point, what feels more satisfying, blocking a shot or dunking or a corner three? JERAMI GRANT: It's hard to say. They're all different feelings. So I'd say all of them. Q. This isn't something that most people talk about working on, but if you have to play more power forward or even center like you did this year, will you have to maybe work on screening, how you slip screens, how you roll out of screens, that type of thing? Is that something you might focus on this summer? JERAMI GRANT: Definitely. Definitely being able to play in the pick-and-roll as a screener. It's definitely something I will work on this summer. Q. Who's your favorite dunker ever aside from you? JERAMI GRANT: Vince Carter. Q. Would you like to be in the dunk contest? JERAMI GRANT: No, they didn't ask me, but yeah, if they ask me. Q. Victor said he would only do it if you did it. JERAMI GRANT: Yeah, that would be nice. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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