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OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER MEDIA CONFERENCE

April 25, 2019

Raymond Felton

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Q. You got in the rotation late, then stayed that way throughout the playoffs. Did you know that was going to be part of the plan and you wouldn't get a lot of minutes during the season, but when crunch time got here, that you were going to be a bigger part of the equation?
RAYMOND FELTON: Somewhat. Somewhat I knew about that. But whatever it takes, man, to do whatever I got to do for this team. I was on board with that no matter what.

Q. Raymond, you've been in the league for a long time. What do you think of the criticism of (indiscernible)?
RAYMOND FELTON: I think it's stupid, and I don't like it. When you're in a position like him, it comes with critics. It comes with people who like you, people who hate you, people who love you. It comes with a little bit of everything. Sometimes it sucks to be the man.

Just knowing him personally over these last two years, things that I hear about him, things that I see people say, it's not true. You just have to know the guy personally. He's a passionate person. He's an emotional person when it comes to playing basketball. Plays with a chip. And I think a lot of that gets reflected on who he is as a person and just two different people.

I don't like it. I don't like it at all because I know him personally. He's like a brother, and it's not fair, to be honest.

Q. What to you -- you guys have some talent, some experience. What's the next step? What's kind of holding this team back?
RAYMOND FELTON: I don't think it's really anything holding us back. Things happen. You have a great season. I've seen teams come out and play great and lose in the first round. That's what happens. Just got to figure it out. It's a different type of basketball when it's playoff basketball. It's a different type of lock in. It's a different type of focus. It's different, man. I've seen teams, like I said, just kill all year, and playoffs come, you know, couldn't quite get it done. It's just what happens. It's not about what you're going to do differently.

What we're going to do differently is win and continue to win and continue to move on and try to win. What everybody's trying to do is win a championship. That's the ultimate goal.

Q. Ray, you guys had over 82 games during the regular season, had some pretty wild swings. There were some awesome moments and successes, and then there were some valleys. When you think about being consistent and developing habits over the course of the regular season, what needs to change? I know injuries come into it, and all of that stuff changes the equation, but just to develop more of a consistent habit during the regular season, how do you do that?
RAYMOND FELTON: Well, when you have injuries, things hurt, guys go out, especially if it's key guys. That changes a lot. Now you're asking somebody who had a lesser role to step his role up. Sometimes it's hard for a guy to go back to that role when that person comes back. There's a lot of stuff that mix into that, and it's difficult. It's not easy. Game of basketball is not an easy thing to do. It's not an easy game to play. It's a lot of mental that comes with the game. Some people can handle it. Some people don't have the experience, and I think a lot of that ties into it too.

Sometimes you have young guys. Sometimes you have older guys, and older guys handle things differently than maybe a younger guy. Sometimes all that stuff ties in. Consistency, yeah, it's always key. If you have everybody on the same page and one guy steps out, other guy steps in, and then he understands that, when that guy steps back, you've got to take that step back as well. Sometimes that's difficult. Sometimes that's hard, especially when you're dealing with young guys who want to be good, who want to establish a name for themselves and just play. It's hard. That's a part of it, though.

Q. It seems that you've been on teams that have done a good job of being consistent in the past. Are there any hallmarks of those teams? Is it about having more veteran guys? Is it something those teams have that has enabled or helped that along the way?
RAYMOND FELTON: Not necessarily that. I've been on a good team in Dallas. I've been on a good team in New York. It's no different here. This team is just as good, if not better. Both of those teams I was on, it's just like I said, it's one of those situations where things just didn't fall our way when it got into the postseason. It's unfortunate, but it just didn't go the way we wanted.

Q. Ray, last year you guys started 8-0 and finished (indiscernible). This year you guys are 38-20. You had that regression that kind of ruined your season. What goes into fixing that consistency so you guys are winning on a similar basis as you guys are through three-fourths of the year?
RAYMOND FELTON: You can say a lot of things, man. You can say things can be done differently by players. Things can be done differently by trainers, coaches. At the end of the day, we've got to go out there and play. It isn't about Xs and Os. It isn't about what play should be called, what defense should be covered against the team. This is all about going out and playing at a certain level, playing hard, playing with a certain sense of urgency, and I think just performing at a high level.

Sometimes playing in a long season, it don't always happen that way. I don't think nobody goes the whole season and plays perfect for all 82, or even have stretches where they lose four or five in a row or lose -- or win four, five, six in a row. It's all about having 82 games in a season. It's a long stretch. We have ups and downs. It's all about how you bounce back, though, from the lows, and the downs.

Q. Raymond, do you plan to be back next year? You're a free agent. Talked about coming back.
RAYMOND FELTON: Yeah, no question. I love it here. I love this organization. I love this team, love this city. I'm a guy at a point in my career, like I want to be just settled and just enjoy playing the game that I love and enjoy being in the city that loves me back and loves their team, and there's no better place than here really. So, yeah, I would love to come back, but free agency hits, and we'll see what happens.

Q. Did you deal with -- this first year Nick wasn't on the team, did that open up space for you? I'm sure you're already a leader in many respects, but did that open up space for you that you were able to take advantage of?
RAYMOND FELTON: It opened up a lot of more being a big brother, being an uncle, as most of these guys call me Unc because they're so young. I've known a lot of these guys when they were in high school, when they were kids, you know what I'm saying. Just being that guy, being that voice that Nick was in the locker room, just that leader, that voice, and person that guys could go to, I feel like I needed to feel that void, yeah, sure.

Q. Ray, Paul had some interesting comments about Terrance. I want to make sure I read it so I'm not completely wrong about what it said, but he was talking about he needs to essentially put pressure on Billy to have more of a role in the offense going into that next year. Just wanted to get your thoughts on that, on young guys taking more of an emphasis personally and taking an ownership of being more part of an offense as they mature in their career.
RAYMOND FELTON: No question. I mean, I told Terrance myself that this summer we're going to get together because he pretty much lives in Texas for the most part, back and forth, just like I do from here and Oklahoma. I said we're going to get together, do a lot of ball handling, a lot of stuff off the dribble, to make you a more all around scorer. We all know he's athletic and can jump out of the gym and shoot the three, but as a two guard, you've got to be able to put the ball on the floor and do a lot of things. That's things that he can do, but that's also things he can improve at as well.

I think that's more so what Paul was saying, that he needs to put pressure on Coach, like I'm a guy that can score the ball as well. I'm a guy that can put this ball on the floor and make plays too. So I need you to put me more into the offense. I think that's what Paul was saying more about he need to put pressure on Coach that way.

I think that's something that he listened to us, and he heard us loud and clear, and he's going to put that work in this summer.

Q. Ray, you're close with Paul. When he was in here, he didn't tell us everything about the shoulder situation he's dealing with, but it sounds like it may have been even more severe and long term that we even knew. What you saw him go through and the performances that we saw him command out there, how would you sort of characterize what he was dealing with and what we saw on a lot of nights?
RAYMOND FELTON: For a guy to just fight through things that he was fighting through just to be that tough and they're resilient and just give up his body for the team and for us, that just shows the type of character and the type of player he is. That's why Paul George gets paid the money that he gets paid and why he's having the successful career that he's having thus far. He's a great player. He's a great guy, different, and he just -- he's just all around good person and a good dude, man. Just to fight through that stuff and still be out there and be in the trenches with us, it's just a tip-off to him.

Q. Is there a sense that there was a lot left on the table simply because he wasn't at 100 percent the last half of the year?
RAYMOND FELTON: There was a lot left on the table, period. We feel like we definitely underachieved, and we feel like we should be playing right now. With him not being 100 percent or not, we feel like we still should be playing. We still should be in this fight right now, but it didn't happen that way.

Q. Ray, I remember you saying earlier in your career, when you were out of the rotation, it really infuriated you and it was hard to deal with. There was a stretch you weren't in the rotation and then come playoff time, and you're fully in it. Was there something about the way you approached it this year that you're really proud of, the way that you kind of handled those moments through the course of the season?
RAYMOND FELTON: I think I can finally say I've become a man. Oh, man, it's tough. It just shows the maturity level of myself, where I've grown from being a young man into a man, and just staying professional, staying ready, and just understanding what my role was and understanding what was needed from me for this team this year, whatever I needed to do. If that's me not playing 20 games and all of a sudden I've got to play the next 4, then that's what it is. I had to make sure I stay ready no matter what at all times because my number could be called. It could have been called in the fourth quarter and I haven't played all game and I haven't played in 20 games, and all of a sudden it's Raymond. I'm like who? I've got to go out there, and I've got to be ready to go. I've got to be ready to play.

I really found myself as a person even more this year, just staying ready and just staying professional, staying focused, and not letting things like that, looking at the better side of it because I could be out of the league. I could be one of the guys who are not playing, who look in and who wants to be here, and I'm here. So I've got to look at the positive side of things too when you feel like things aren't going your way. You've got to look at the positives too.

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