NBA FINALS: HEAT VS. NUGGETS

June 8, 2023

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope

Denver Nuggets

Practice Day

Q. You guys could say if things work out for you that the dinner at Jeff Green's house was perhaps the greatest dinner in Denver sports history. What do you think about that?

KENTAVIOUS CALDWELL-POPE: I believe it. Great team bonding. Just relax, get away from basketball a little bit, even though you talk about basketball, which is fine. Just have all the guys there and like so much respect for Jeff who just invited us to his home, which is a beautiful home, by the way. I loved it.

Yeah, just great team bonding, talking, whatever it was, having some wine, great food, just enjoying ourselves.

Q. Who's got the best table manners on the entire team?

KENTAVIOUS CALDWELL-POPE: I don't know. I haven't sat down with everybody yet. Save that question. I'll get to you.

Q. Have you given Christian any kind of words of wisdom, and how have you seen him grow during this season?

KENTAVIOUS CALDWELL-POPE: I mean, my words of wisdom is just keep doing what you're doing, keep playing hard, keep going out there and just showing everybody what you can do and earn that respect.

But yeah, he's grown since training camp. He's just continuing to be himself and play his game at his own pace.

Q. How impressive is what he's doing? This is the NBA Finals. This isn't some pickup game.

KENTAVIOUS CALDWELL-POPE: Yeah, you're right, no pickup game. It's very impressive, like I've said before, just how composed and like how poised he is in these moments. It's great for us, just being a rookie, young, and being in this moment, he's taking it very well.

Q. Can you describe how it is to live the dream playing in the NBA Finals and the fine line between pressure and enjoying these moments?

KENTAVIOUS CALDWELL-POPE: I mean, there's always pressure. Each game is going to be a lot of pressure no matter where it's coming from. But yeah, you've got to try to -- you don't reach this moment as much as you want to, so you've got to try to enjoy, try to come out with wins by any means. But I feel like just being here, this is an exciting moment. You're playing for a championship, to be crowned world champions. I think that's a great moment in itself.

Q. Can you describe Nikola's leadership and how he's changing the game of basketball, being a big man who also can score threes and direct the game?

KENTAVIOUS CALDWELL-POPE: Man, he's amazing. Playing with him -- also playing against him when I was on other teams, his IQ, his level of just playing the game, not much of a vocal leader, but he shows it a lot on the court, and just how professional he is off the court, it's amazing just to watch him.

Q. More and more international players are successful in the NBA right now. What does it say about the world of basketball?

KENTAVIOUS CALDWELL-POPE: It's changing. It's becoming a world -- it's been a worldwide sport, and I'm excited just to see what's next.

Q. You've seen so much basketball throughout your career. Can you put into perspective what we saw last night between Jokic and Murray?

KENTAVIOUS CALDWELL-POPE: Just an amazing duo. They've been together for the longest, and just how comfortable they are with each other and how they know each other's tendencies and what works for them and us as a team. It was just truly amazing to watch.

Q. You've been in the league for a number of years. How do you avoid distractions in this beautiful city?

KENTAVIOUS CALDWELL-POPE: Stay in your hotel room. It's all about being professional. We've got something ahead of us that's waiting. We set a goal for training camp, that we wanted to be champions. I feel like that's enough to keep everybody focused and pretty much not do anything.

Q. Is it different, though, in the regular season?

KENTAVIOUS CALDWELL-POPE: It's different, but here, it's crunch time. We've got two more games if we want to be champions. We've got to be professional and stay locked in.