	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER MEDIA CONFERENCE

April 26, 2017

Josh Huestis

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Q. What are you going to do to work on your Twitter defense next year?
JOSH HUESTIS: Oh, yeah, absolutely. I've been keeping track of things he's been saying here, and the past couple days has been bad. I've just been occupied. But now I'm going to have a lot more free time to fight that battle.

Q. In all seriousness, what's your summer going to look like?
JOSH HUESTIS: Just work. I mean, obviously I'm getting married this summer, which is -- I mean, depends who you ask. It's kind of big. But other than that, yeah, it's just going to be work, getting ready for next season. Obviously as soon as one season ends, it feels like there's a lot of time until the next one begins, but really it's kind of a blink of an eye type of thing. Yeah, it's just going to be take a couple days here, then get back to it and get ready.

Q. You mentioned the Thunder and you having a lot of communication in terms of what you need to improve on. What's been things that you need to improve on in the off-season this time around?
JOSH HUESTIS: I think the biggest thing is just continuing to develop as a perimeter player. That's something that's an ongoing process for me. This is really only my like third year that I've really worked at becoming a perimeter player, so continuing to work on that and develop those skills and try to become as good of an all-around player as I can be, improve my shooting. I mean, that can always get better, ball handling, defense. I'm not trying to limit it to one or two things, just trying to get it as good as I can overall.

Q. Do you worry about your future at all? Is that something you think about?
JOSH HUESTIS: You know, I don't. I think for me, honestly, it's -- if I put the work in, it'll all work out in the long run. I mean, I feel -- I know that I have the ability and the skill to play in this league, and if I continue to put the work in, then it'll all work out. So no, it doesn't get to me very much. I mean, obviously I'm human, so I have my days, but more often than not, yeah, I'm really comfortable with my future.

Q. You discussed working on skills to become more perimeter oriented, but as you look at the league, Harrison Barnes is a guy that's playing the power forward position and more and more guys that size are playing that position. Do you feel like you can still make an impact being a forward and a center, as well?
JOSH HUESTIS: Yeah, absolutely. I think those being the positions that I've played most of my life, I have this kind of natural ability to be able to play them. I'm really confident in that ability. It's just I think along with that, the definition of what a power forward is is changing a lot, too, and I think it's definitely becoming more perimeter oriented position. Just being able to work on those skills and apply them as a power forward I think will help me a lot.

Q. When you watch tape of say like the Rockets series, do you see areas where you look at the tape and you say, I could help there, or I could do something there?
JOSH HUESTIS: I mean, you know, I look at myself first and foremost as a defensive player, and when you go against a team like the Rockets that's such a high-caliber offensive team, any time you feel like you could add some defensive help is good. I think going forward and continuing to work on my abilities defensively and even offensively, I could be somebody that could help in situations like that.

Q. When you said more perimeter oriented, do you mean that offensively or defensively in terms of the ability to guard, to switch and guard a shooting guard or a small forward? What do you mean specifically, I guess?
JOSH HUESTIS: Really both. Defensively is huge, too, though. Obviously guarding a power forward is much different than guarding a shooting guard or a point guard, and the way that we play defense, especially with the way the league is trending, you switch 1 through 4 pick-and-rolls a lot. So being somebody that not only can guard a 4 but also be able to switch onto a point guard and be able to hold my own and get stops is really important.

Q. Are you aware of kind of the swell of support that's kind of gotten going in terms of people wanting to see what you can do because you haven't had that much of an opportunity with the Thunder?
JOSH HUESTIS: Yeah, I mean, I'm aware of it. Obviously it makes you feel good knowing that there's people out there that believe in you, and there's people that have your back and want to see what you can do. It's extra motivation to keep working to get better so that when my time does come, I can go out there and show what I can do and be somebody that can help this team.

Q. You seem like you got a call up almost at every opportunity this year from the D-League. Can you say how that time spent in the D-League has developed you, and if so, in what specific areas can you say?
JOSH HUESTIS: Yeah. I think you can ask any player, like you can work on drills all day every day, but if you don't have the ability to apply them in a game setting, then it doesn't really help you. I think that's the biggest thing is that I've come in every single day and I would work with the coaches and get better in drills and do all these things in a drill practice setting. But having the opportunity to play with the Blue and apply them helped me a lot. It showed me, you know, where -- it helped me find an identity in terms of my skill set, my abilities, as well as giving me a venue to work on the things that I've been practicing and to apply them against some really good players.

Q. What else are you up to this summer? What's the plan?
JOSH HUESTIS: Not much, man. Just policing you, mostly. It's a full-time job.

Q. So is getting married.
JOSH HUESTIS: That too. That too. Yeah, seriously. It's in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, way up north. It's beautiful. Yeah, busy.

Q. What about the honeymoon?
JOSH HUESTIS: Honeymoon, TBD right now. I know, it's --

Q. What's the weirdest detail about planning a wedding you didn't think you'd have to stress over?
JOSH HUESTIS: Oh, geez. There's honestly so much. Drapery, whatever that is.

Q. I don't know.
JOSH HUESTIS: It's like, I guess, lighting on the ceiling or like flowers hanging -- see, I try to stay back. I have so little opinion on so many things other than as long as I leave there married and everybody has a good time. But there's so much to it that I had no idea. I did pick the DJ, though. I will take -- I picked the DJ, and I think I did a good job. Fingers crossed on that one.

Q. Not a band?
JOSH HUESTIS: Not a band. No, I'm a DJ guy. I'm a millenial.

Q. How encouraging is it to see what happened with Christon this year, the way things worked out, being able to be called up from the D-League team, get a shot, a roster spot opened up at the right time. How encouraging is that to you to see that knowing where you are and he eventually got that call and stayed?
JOSH HUESTIS: Yeah, it's very encouraging. I think first of all, a lot of credit to Semaj. The work he's put in and how talented he is really showed, and he got an opportunity, and he didn't waste it. And it just shows that when you do put that work in and get that opportunity, you'll be ready and you'll be able to make an impact and you can stick in this league. He's helped make a name for himself and show that he can be here. I hope to do the same thing.

Q. You wrote something for your blog about the differences between a lifestyle and performance athlete. If you do get kind of a crack in the NBA, might not be 36 minutes a night kind of deal, in some ways is that what you're referencing, that if you're a performance athlete you make the best out of your eight minutes, 10 minutes, 12 minutes, and how do you do that?
JOSH HUESTIS: Absolutely. I think that's crucial. I think whatever you're given, you need the make the most out of it. I think that a lot of times people get caught up worrying more about exactly how many minutes they get rather than what they do with those, whether it's two minutes, four minutes, 10, 20, whatever it is. I think whatever you're given, if it's on the low end of the spectrum, and if you take full advantage of that and make the most out of it, it's inevitable that that'll increase. So I think it's really important to not look forward too much, think about where you are, stay in the moment, stay -- and be happy with what you have right there. Don't be satisfied. There's a difference between being happy and being satisfied. But taking advantage of what you have and using it to the best of your ability and maximizing your opportunity.

Q. Even in that specific moment, like on that specific possession, three minutes' worth of possession, how do you physically, mentally turn the switch to be able to impact the game in such a brief amount of time?
JOSH HUESTIS: It's tough. It's a skill that you have to -- I mean, I'm not perfect at it. I don't think there are very many people that are. It's just the ability to place like the utmost importance on every single second. Every second is the most important second there is because it's the only one you have; know what I mean? It's a skill. It's really difficult. But I think if you're able to do that, then that helps you maximize everything you have, maximize your time, and get the most out of every situation.

Q. You've seen D-League NBA from both sides of the line, but the two-way contracts, the higher salaries in the D-League, how do you think that's going to affect the D-League, and then in the NBA, as well, what kind of effects do you think you're going to see there?
JOSH HUESTIS: I think we're going to see a lot of improvement. I think obviously there being an increase in salary, inevitably it's going to attract players that may usually opt to go overseas for more money. It may draw them back in because of the fact that they can have a bigger salary here, and then the competition -- obviously then with that the competition level rises, and I think you're going to get -- because of that, players are going to get a lot better because they go against better competition every single night. I'm really looking forward to seeing how it goes.

Q. Do you think it would be a possibility for a high school kid to just jump -- you can jump to the D-League now. Do you think that's something that we could potentially see?
JOSH HUESTIS: I mean, I really wouldn't be surprised. I think 15 years ago if somebody had asked if you'd ever see a guy go from high school to overseas, people probably would have been pretty skeptical and not imagined it happening, so I don't want to count it out. I could definitely see it happening with the way everything is trending and the way that the G-League is developing now. I definitely can see that happening in the future.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297