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NBA DRAFT 2016June 23, 2016Denzel ValentineBrooklyn, New York THE MODERATOR: If you would start off with an opening statement about what you'll bring to your new team. DENZEL VALENTINE: I'm just very excited to be a part of the Chicago Bulls organization, and ready to get started. I know they've got a lot of good players already there, but I'm just ready to go in and contribute the best I can and try to get as many wins for the organization. Q. Being an older player in this draft, some would said you have less potential or room to grow compared to 19, 20-year olds. Is there any validity to those statements? DENZEL VALENTINE: I mean, you can never win I feel like in my place, being a senior. I just got better every year, and why is that going to stop now? You know, I feel like when I get to the next level I'm just going to keep on getting better. You just keep on getting better, those guys that have more potential than me, they're supposed to keep getting better, so I will keep getting better. Q. What are some other advantages that you have as an older player? DENZEL VALENTINE: I mean, I was able to grow as a person off the court and on the court. I developed skills. My shooting percentage got better. I got more comfortable playing ball screens, learning the game. Just everything that college brings to you as far as being NBA ready, and when you're NBA ready, you can come in and contribute right away. Q. What's something that Coach Izzo taught you that will stick with you and help you at this level? DENZEL VALENTINE: Definitely just being passionate and having that goal every single day you come to practice or every single day you wake up just having one goal in mind and letting nothing get in the way of it, and that's how I'm going to be and that's how I was raised. So that's how I'm going to be for the rest of my life. Q. I know you were sitting there with your arm around your mom. Sum up what you were feeling with your brother there, your dad -- DENZEL VALENTINE: It was like -- at the start of the draft, let's face it, I knew I wasn't going to go No. 1, and then by like 7, 8, 9, I was like, all right, now it's draft time for me. 11, 12, you know, I'm like, oh, keeps going five minutes, five minutes. And then after 13 I get really nervous, dang, when am I going to get my name called? It's been an hour, so I got really nervous. Once they said my name, it just came out. I didn't even plan what to shout out. It just came out. I'm just very happy to be part of the Bulls. Q. There were a lot of things being said in and around the draft, knees, concerns, how durable you could be. You tried to answer a lot of that. Do you feel like that contributed to you not going as high as you thought you were going to go? DENZEL VALENTINE: I really didn't know how high I was going to go. I was somewhere in the first-round range. I didn't know exactly where I was going to go. But I definitely think my knee was definitely false because I've been healthy my whole career pretty much, and I'm healthy right now. I may have a little bit of wear and tear just like everybody else will, so I'm just excited to get going, and happy to be with the Bulls. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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