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OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 25, 2017

Paul George

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Q. Well, Paul, the team is quite a bit different from even when you got traded July 1st. What do you think of adding Carmelo?
PAUL GEORGE: Oh, Carmelo. I think we definitely felt great about what we had previous to Carmelo being traded. But now adding someone like Carmelo takes this team to another level. In my eyes, he's one of the best players that this league has ever seen, and it's a luxury to play alongside him instead of having to deal with a cold tub right after the game and playing him.

So looking forward to his addition and what he's going to bring.

Q. He's been around a long time and still an effective scorer. I assume you guarded him most games, what's he like to play against.
PAUL GEORGE: It's been tough. The competitive nature that goes alongside with him being a bruiser. You know, just his mindset; he's one of the most skilled. It's not even his ability to score but just the skill that he has to do other things as well is going to make him a very, very great piece for coach and for Russ and I to be able to use.

Q. You do some similar things, how do you see his game and your game working together?
PAUL GEORGE: Hopefully Russ and I both make the game as easy as possible for Melo. I think I can take alongside the role with Roberson to leave Melo to do what Melo does, and that's to put points on the board and that's to be a mismatch, matchup problems on the offensive end. But, really, it's to take that pressure off him defensively to where he doesn't have to exhaust himself chasing the smaller guys, or have to defend the primary guys on most nights.

So I think we'll work well together. We're completely different players in my eyes. But we both have one common goal and that is to win. He's ready to win and wants to win now, so we've definitely got that in common.

Q. This is a question even before Melo arrived, but just the divvying up of the shots. You, Carmelo and Russell are the guys used to taking the bulk of the shots. How do you think that's going to work in the offense this year with you guys working?
PAUL GEORGE: It should work. It's not something that's new. It's not something new where three guys have been paired up and they haven't found ways to win. It's not going to be about who is getting shots. All of us talked about this. It's whoever has the flow, whoever has it going, and then I've always played the game as you let the game dictate who shoots, you know. Those guys play the game the same way. So I'm not worried about shots, neither are those two guys. We want to win, and that's it.

Q. Paul, what does this tell you about this new organization you've come into, the Oklahoma City Thunder and their commitment to winning adding pieces like you and Carmelo?
PAUL GEORGE: It means a lot, it means a lot. The front office is that active in the summer and free agency, and not only acquiring players, but acquiring superstar players. It says a lot about the front office, it says a lot to Russ they're committed to bringing guys and putting guys around him that is going to give them the best chance to win. That's what you want to see out of the front office.

Q. Most people agree the shorter preseason they like that. Not just working with your new teammates, but you've got a short time to get that together. How do you deal with that and how long do you think it will take before you guys can get there?
PAUL GEORGE: That would be realistic to us, I think we, myself with Melo, we have some chemistry to an extent playing with USA together. Russ and Carmelo played together with USA. So to some extent and degree we have a level to start off at, we have a base, I think. But it's going to take some time. We want to get going as soon as possible and get used to one another as soon as possible.

But I think we take the approach day to day and focus on something to get better at day to day, we'll be all right.

Q. Your versatility is remarkable and at a really high level. Is there any particular thing that you feel is not a weakness, but something you can improve on or is there something on the other end that you feel is just your biggest strength?
PAUL GEORGE: I think the strength is that ability to do multiple things. I think being versatile at the small forward position offensively and defensively is what I think makes me unique in this league.

I think the biggest thing I can work on and I'll have tremendous help in that is the leadership part. I think it's the greatest chapter for me in my career and in my life is to have other guys I can look up to as well who can help me on the leadership and accountability. I think all of that will play a part in this process for myself.

Q. Obviously Carmelo had a choice in where he went. He had to waive a no-trade clause to come here. How much did you converse with him about being here?
PAUL GEORGE: We sold it. We sold the heck out of it. I told him about the ponds that I've been on. The fish I've been catching out here. No, we've talked. We've had long conversations. Not even knowing this would be the destination we end up, but just speaking or talking about the possibility of playing alongside one another in the NBA. We've had these conversations being on the Olympic team of playing alongside one another.

So when I got traded here and found out that he wanted to change his destination, and, you know, we reached out to one another. We started talking and trying to figure out how we can make this work to get him here.

You know, it's awesome to have guys that want to play along side you and team up with you and share a mission with you. So we got right to it. The same for Russ. Those two are pretty close. We all were kind of in the loop on what was going on and we made it possible.

Q. Speaking of that recruitment, there's been sources saying you've been talking to D-Wade. You guys were trying to recruit him too. Can you just talk about that a little bit and what's going on with that?
PAUL GEORGE: That's between Sam and D-Wade. You know, it would be great. It would be great to get D-Wade back. I got a chance to work out with him a little bit ago late in the summer, and, man, he looks really good. So, it would be great to get D-Wade here. If he's bought out, he's a free agent, sure. I'm in his phone text, I'm in his DMs, his Snapchat, whatever I've got to do to try to get this dude here.

Q. In today's NBA, is it realistic that this is what it takes to win a championship to assemble this kind of talent with yourself, Russell and Carmelo?
PAUL GEORGE: Absolutely. Absolutely. We get criticized a lot for being friendly and not being able to do it alone. Honestly, in this league, it's hard to do it alone. You know, Russ averages a triple-double, and, you know, he couldn't get out of the first round. That's a special talent and a guy that did everything he could to win.

But you just need, you know, you need guys of that stature and that level to be able to help and create something special. It's just that era where you've got to face teams that are going to have two or three guys that can take over games and be iconic to this league. So, I do. I do think you have to have that to compete in this league.

Q. There's been a lot of reaction yesterday in stadiums, Paul, and then today around the league in media days of the NBA in regard to Donald Trump's Friday comment. What do you expect -- there is the league rule that specifies you've got to set the lineup for the anthem. But what do you anticipate in the NBA in regard to the first month of the season or the season as a whole or whatever in regard to a statement?
PAUL GEORGE: I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I can't speak for other organizations or other teams or the locker rooms. Hopefully whatever we do as a unit, as a union and as a fraternity, we do it and everyone takes a part in doing something. Hopefully we do something as a league. That gives us strength.

I thought what the NFL is doing right now is beautiful. They're showing a lot of power, not only from the players but the front office making statements that they're going to back their players up in whatever they do. I thought that was very powerful. So hopefully we can approach it the same way the NFL's doing it.

I saw MLB guys taking part into it. If we can just realize what's at hand, where the face of a lot of things, we're the face of a lot of brands, if we can use that platform to kind of catapult what's going on, that's where we can make our mark on.

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