NBA FINALS: HEAT VS. NUGGETS

June 11, 2023

Jeff Green

Denver Nuggets

Practice Day

Q. You've played with some of the best players in NBA history. How do you contextualize Jokic as a teammate? How does he compare to some of those greats?

JEFF GREEN: He's definitely up there. His personality is humble, thoughtful. He's overall a great human being, very down to earth. So he's definitely up there in that top tier of favorite teammates for sure.

Q. What about as a player?

JEFF GREEN: Oh, as a player, he's still up there in that top tier of teammates. I've played with a lot of legends in my time, and he's definitely up there skill-wise, IQ, ability with what he's able to do on the floor. He cracks the top 5.

Q. What can you say about his defense throughout the series and really all season long?

JEFF GREEN: I mean, I already knew he could play defense. I think the media kind of just ran with this theory that he's not a good defensive player based on probably I guess he's not blocking shots I guess. I'm not even sure.

But he has elite hands. You seen that last game, the way he's able to impact as far as his hands. His IQ of knowing where to be. Being in the right spaces. Obviously his rebounding is top tier. He's somebody who can rebound at a high level.

I think defensively he is definitely one of the best defenders out there. I credit that to his IQ but also his activeness with his hands.

Q. You all seem very loose yet focused. What's the mood?

JEFF GREEN: We've always been like that. We're out here just shooting. We go through what we need to go through upstairs. That's the mental preparation where we're locked in, we're focused.

But up here we're just getting shots in, getting ready to do media. I think we understand what we have to do tomorrow in order to close this thing out, and I think everybody is focused.

Q. I think all postseason long you guys have been saying four more, five more, job not done. There's one more left for you guys, one more win. Does that feel different heading into tomorrow?

JEFF GREEN: No. We understand it's one more win. Before anything else happens, we understand that 48 minutes is what it's going to take for us to win a championship. We're focused on that.

Q. I know last week Nikola was asked about getting to this stage. The first thing he said was you, DJ, sort of the vets have had a chance to be here, maybe not win, you don't know when you'll get here again. What does that say about Nikola that when he's asked about being here he's talking about the vets and trying to get one for you guys?

JEFF GREEN: That just shows the type of person he is. I think just the big stage, people are starting to realize how he is. Now the media are coming from everywhere. Everybody is getting an up close and personal look at who he truly is and his personality.

I've always seen it. Now it's you guys' turn. Just the local media, I don't think anybody paid attention to it. Now, bigger scale, biggest stage, everybody is focusing on more than just the basketball aspect of what Nikola brings. I've always seen that side of him.

Q. How do you keep the staying power? I don't know how many guys are around from the 2007 draft --

JEFF GREEN: It's like four or five.

Q. How do you keep that staying power? How are you lasting so long?

JEFF GREEN: Grace of God, man. I've just been coming in, doing my work, coming in every day, preparing myself to go to battle for my teammates. I've been blessed enough to have this opportunity to play 16 years, 15 years.

I can't take no credit for that. I'm just out here doing my job on this side and trying to prepare myself each night to be there for my team.

Q. What's the mental adjustment to staying around when you might not play as much as you would like?

JEFF GREEN: It's all about just being positive, I think. I think it's having that positive mindset every day, of the everyday grind of repetition and routine, having fun.

I think that's what it's all about. I've had great teammates this year, alongside Ish, DJ. We have fun with the whole process of getting to this point, and I think it makes it joyful to wake up every day and do this.

It can get repetitive. It can get stressful because there are some bad days if you don't play well, you might not feel well.

But if you don't have a positive outlook on the bigger picture, the everyday grind, like I said, I think that is what makes it worthwhile coming in here every day and just having fun.