GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 30, 2024

De'Anthony Melton

Media Conference

Q. How was your off-season just in terms of what you worked on and how are you feeling health-wise?

DE'ANTHONY MELTON: My off-season was pretty good. I spent most of my time honestly up here, Monday through Friday, working through everything in terms of what I've got to do to stay healthy, what I've got to do to stay strong, just on the court, off the court. I spent a lot of time with the organization this summer.

Q. What was the free agency process like, and how surprised were you where that they suddenly have money available where you were an option for them?

DE'ANTHONY MELTON: They kind of came out early when free agency first started. Came, had a meeting with me and my agency, and it was a really good meeting. They made it real clear as to the terms of what they needed on their team, and I felt like all the things that they needed is what I provided.

I think it was both a mutual agreement, and they brought up the whole money situation too, understanding this is one of the first few times they've had, I guess money to spend on free agents. It was good. It was nice to show their excitement towards me, and it was nice to show their interest early.

Q. Talked to Kerr, and he mentioned watching you in a pickup game here and you're getting the ball up fast. It's not sticking in your hands. Is that something that's natural to you? Is it something they're emphasizing? How do you think your game fits with what they do?

DE'ANTHONY MELTON: I think that comes kind of natural for me. I think pushing the ball up, pushing the pace, keeping the tempo high, I think it's tough for defenses to stop. Especially with this team and the movement and the indecisiveness in this team, I think that's what we need.

I remember seeing a clip of Steph saying how it's point five basketball and just keep the ball moving and keep moving around. I've already played like that and just implemented that here.

Q. What do you like about your fit here within this group? You kind of touched on it a little bit, what was your perception of playing against the Warriors throughout the first year of your career?

DE'ANTHONY MELTON: Playing against the Warriors, you know you're going to have a track meet that day. You'd better get some good sleep, get your stretches in because you'll be running. Matchup style, I usually guard Steph and other guys recent years, top players. Playing against guys like that and playing against teams like that is tough always.

I love it out here. I'm loving my time so far.

Q. How tough was last year for you physically? I guess where were you? It seemed like you were basically about to get back towards the end of the year. I guess how are you feeling off of that injury?

DE'ANTHONY MELTON: I'm feeling way better. I feel like I'm feeling way better. Last year was definitely tough coming in then coming out, all that stuff, going back and forth, trying to figure out my injury, trying to figure out what it was and why it kind of lingered.

Like I said earlier, spending the whole summer here pretty much Monday through Fridays, it definitely helped speed up my recovery, and they helped me build a strong foundation.

Q. When people talk about you, one of the first things that tends to come up is defense. Is that your mentality? Is defense first and the other stuff will come? What's your mentality there?

DE'ANTHONY MELTON: That's definitely my mentality. I love defense. I love playing defense. I love getting steals. I love getting stops. I feel like defense wins championships too. It's always been my mantra. That's who I am.

Q. What did you do to get your back where you need it to be to play games, to play?

DE'ANTHONY MELTON: Just understanding that I needed a strong core, strong glue system to help me fire all that type stuff. So just staying up here, working on that, strengthening that stuff really helped.

Q. Knowing that you have on this team, in Draymond and GP II, two guys that have that same defensive mentality, what's that like?

DE'ANTHONY MELTON: It's going to fun. We've just got to probably not gamble as much and stay solid with each other. It's going to be fun. Its going to be intense, it's what we need.

Q. What are your early impressions of Coach Stack?

DE'ANTHONY MELTON: That's my dog. I ain't going to lie, he beat me in a shooting competition like the first day. I'm kind of mad about that still. I'm waiting to get my rematch in. We've had a great conversation so far about defense, about his life, his game, and everything like that.

Q. De'Anthony, sticking on the theme of defense, have you gotten a chance to kind of pick the mind of a Draymond Green, Kevon Looney, guys that have done this at a high level for many years, championship caliber basketball, is that kind of a chance to test this out for training camp and get this big learning curve?

DE'ANTHONY MELTON: That's definitely what I plan on doing in training camp, understanding where he gets his ideas, his knacks from, all that type stuff, tendencies from other players.

I got to spend some time with Loon recently just playing pickup and stuff like that. With Draymond, I'm definitely planning on picking his brain, everything like that. And my locker is right next to GP, so he's going to talk a lot to me.

Q. You're a So Cal guy. How do you like being back in California? How do you like the Bay compared to So Cal?

DE'ANTHONY MELTON: I'm excited. I love the weather. I love the people here, the whole vibe, the culture. San Fran is different. I didn't realize how cold it was up here. I feel like I should know more. Yeah, I didn't realize how cold it was up here, and I'm still trying to explore the city, you know what I mean?

I got a whole year to figure out what I like and what I don't like about the city, but I'm excited, though.

Q. Kevon says that he's going to be shooting threes this year. Can you give us an update on what that's looking like?

DE'ANTHONY MELTON: He's been shooting it in pickup. Him shooting the three ball, I'm with it, I'm with it all. As long as you shoot with confidence, as long as you keep firing, don't get gun shy, that's what I care about. I'm excited for him. I like to see the evolution of people's game. If he's with it, I'm with it.

Q. How does he look?

DE'ANTHONY MELTON: He look good. He looks a lot slimmer. You remember his high school mix tape? He looking like that type slim, yeah.

(Laughter).

Q. How's the shot?

DE'ANTHONY MELTON: His? It looked solid. It looked like it can work. That's all that matters.

Mine -- I mean, mine don't leave me. She don't go nowhere. That's what I love.