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OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER MEDIA CONFERENCE

April 28, 2018

Nick Collison

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Q. How much thought have you given to your future and whether or not it's still with the Oklahoma City Thunder?
NICK COLLISON: I've thought about it a lot. I think I've decided today is not the time to make any of those decisions final. But I'll just take a short amount of time, I think, and we just got back late last night. There's a lot going on. Just today is not the day for me to make that final decision.

Q. Looking at the guys, everybody is talking about consistency and everything, finding that. What did you see that could help find it, and why is that such a tough thing to find offensively?
NICK COLLISON: Yeah, it was frustrating at times this year. I think we kept waiting for us to really hit our stride, and it wouldn't happen really for long enough stretches that we needed it to. First thing is it's a tough league. I mean, Western Conference, incredibly tough, and we got home-court advantage. It's not easy to do. But I think everybody would have liked for us to have things go a little bit better. You know, there's a lot of new players. It does take time.

I don't know, it just seemed like we could never really get that consistency on either end of the court.

Q. You said today is not the day to make this process final. What is your process kind of from here? Where do you go from here in terms of making those decisions?
NICK COLLISON: I'll probably just take some time, talk to my family, talk to my agent, talk to the team a little bit, and go from there. It's more just about getting home at 5:00 a.m. and we're right here the next day, and everybody has got stuff going on. I think I'd really just want to take a little bit of time. But I've thought about it. There's no question I'm coming up on the end. It's close. But I just -- I think that's all I'm going to say for today.

Q. What would be the determining factors to come back or not come back?
NICK COLLISON: I think just what I want to be doing with my time, with my life, with my family, if there's -- just how I want to spend the future, the next year, and go from there.

Q. I think you kind of had a good idea of what your role would be this season coming into it. As you look back on it, maybe it's too early, did you enjoy the season? Did it go the way you hoped it would go?
NICK COLLISON: Yeah, it did. I enjoyed being with the guys. I enjoyed being on a team and practicing, trying to help out. The few cameos I got were fun, in the games. We would have all liked to continue to be playing and had a year where we could compete for a championship. It didn't happen, but it's a blessing to play in the NBA and to be on a team. So yeah, I definitely enjoyed the year.

Q. What have you thought about the way that Steven has been able to make adjustments throughout his career? I think at the beginning of the series we were talking about the foul situation. By the end of the series Steven finishes with a dominant game.
NICK COLLISON: He's really impressive, and I think he's played a ton of basketball and a ton of competitive basketball in a lot of big games, but he's still a really young guy, and he's learning, and he's getting more comfortable. He's getting more confidence. He was great for us this year, consistent, and he's a force in the middle, but he's also very versatile. He's smart, and he's got -- he's a great teammate. He's got, I think, like -- there's very few guys that are just totally -- just want to do what's best for the team, no matter what. There's no agenda. He's one of my favorite teammates of all time, and he's going to be one of the best players that I play with in my career as he gets even more confident and more experienced as his career goes on.

Q. What will you do if you're not playing basketball?
NICK COLLISON: I don't know, I think with me, my family is important, figuring out the right life balance I think is the biggest thing, and I think there might be something in basketball I can do, but I'm not going to do that and not spend enough time with my child and stuff with my family. I've been playing for a long time, and it's taken a lot of my time and energy and focus for a long time. So I think getting that stuff in order is the most important thing and then go from there, figuring out kind of what would be good for me.

Q. What's your sense, particularly given kind of the roster turnover, the job that Billy has done?
NICK COLLISON: I think he's done a really good job. I think he's had a tough job. He's had high expectations from day one. He's had to learn an entire new league. College basketball and the NBA, it's really almost a different sport. There's so many differences. You know, he's had huge changeover in roster, but the expectations haven't gone away. I think he's done a good job. I think he works incredibly hard at it, and he's very smart, and he doesn't have a huge ego. He's willing to change, listen, try to find out just what's the best thing to do for the team, so I've always appreciated that about him.

Q. You played a pretty prominent role in trying to get Kevin to come back. Obviously the relationship is quite a bit different, but you garner a lot of respect from people around the league. Whether you're back or not, do you see yourself as an ambassador to kind of jump in there?
NICK COLLISON: Well, I think as a teammate, I always just want to help out and tell the truth. So if Paul wanted to come to me for advice or anything, I would just tell him what I thought. I know enough guys make their own decisions. They're adults, and it's their careers, and they're going to do what's best for them. But that's all I can do. It's not about trying to convince somebody of something or sell somebody something, it's just what you think. If he ever came to me, I would try to do my best to just tell him what I thought and then be helpful, I guess.

Q. How do you feel about some of the narratives that are out there about Russell, like when guys leave, they get better when they get away from Russell?
NICK COLLISON: Russell has been great to play with. You know, when he got here, we were a bad basketball team, and we got better, and we've become a really good team for a really long time, and he's got a huge part. He has a lot to do with that, as much as anybody does. I love playing with him, and he's an all-time great to me. I don't care what anybody else says. I think he's been huge for the city, this organization and all the guys I play with, and myself.

Q. What about the idea that he's tough to coach?
NICK COLLISON: I don't think so. I think because when you coach, you want to win games. We've won a lot of games here. We've had a lot of success here. So I think you want a guy like that that can play and who's going to compete, and I think the success speaks for itself. I think most coaches would love to coach him.

Q. You've seen him play on so many different types of teams, rosters, just everything from construction to style of play and everything. What did you think of the the season he ended up having?
NICK COLLISON: I think he -- it was a challenge for him also like it was for Billy. The question was necessarily about Billy and all the new guys. I think it was for him trying to figure out his way. He's an aggressive player and that's what makes him great, but he also knew that he had other guys that he needed to try to incorporate, and I think he did a good job. I think his leadership was really good, and it continues to -- he continues to evolve as a leader, and I think he definitely was the leader of the team. He shows up every night, and he's consistent with his effort, and you know he's going to show up and compete. He'll make mistakes like all players do, but as a player, you just want someone that's going to show up and battle, and we'll figure out the basketball stuff later, and that's not always perfect, and he would tell you that. But I think he had a good year. I think as a team, we didn't play as well as we wanted, but that was -- that was as a collective group of 15 guys, didn't get it done.

Q. People say that Russell is the leader of the team. We're on the outside. We don't get to see those leadership moments. Maybe this is a little abstract, but you just said he's a great leader. What is it that makes him that? What are some examples or characteristics or whatever?
NICK COLLISON: I think just the voice he has with the team. He has a good pulse for the team, what the team needs, and he addresses it vocally, and then also as an example he's ready to go, ready to play every night, and he holds everybody to a high standard.

Q. Nick, how did Carmelo fit in this year?
NICK COLLISON: He did a good job. Again, it was an adjustment for him, too. He's played his whole career getting a lot of shots, playing a lot of minutes, and it was different for him this year. I think he did the best he could. I think if he gets more time, I think when he gets more time with the group, I think he'll figure out where he fits in and be even better. I really enjoy my time playing with him, and I think all the guys love him, and he just wants everybody to do well, and he's a good teammate. I think everybody likes playing with him.

Q. Russell said that Melo mellows him out. Have you seen that, the way he has affected Russell?
NICK COLLISON: Yeah, I think he can talk to Russell, and if Russell is upset or frustrated like all players get at different times, he can talk to him and maybe get him to calm down or get back on track or whatever it is, whatever the right phrase is for that. He's an experienced guy, and he understands people. He understands teammates. Carmelo has played a lot of basketball in this league, too. He knows a lot. He's an experienced guy.

Q. When you first came into the league, did you expect to still be in it a decade and a half later?
NICK COLLISON: When I first came into the league, I just wanted to be able to stick and make a career out of it, so no, I don't think I ever thought I'd be able to be playing with partially gray hair. I'm starting to get some. At 37 years old, no, I wouldn't think I'd still be playing at 37. I've been really blessed. I've had a lot of really good people around me. I've worked hard at it, too, and things have gone my way. I'm very thankful for the career I've had.

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