NBA ALL-STAR RISING STARS PRACTICE

February 16, 2024

Paolo Banchero

Team Pau

Press Conference

Q. Is there anything that stuck out in the NBA, whether it's the physicality or just the grind of an NBA game season? Has anything stuck out to you?

PAOLO BANCHERO: Definitely the grind of the season with all the travel and the games, and the competition level doesn't drop off. Every game is a high-level game. You're playing against the best players in the world.

So it's definitely grueling when you are playing all these games against the best players in the world. You have to be strong, and not just physically but also mentally. There's a lot on your mind too.

So it's definitely something I've been learning and just trying to manage as the season goes on.

Q. Any part of your game you are trying to improve on the last stretch of the season and going into the offseason?

PAOLO BANCHERO: Everything. Everything. Literally everything. So definitely going to finish out the season strong and then take a nice break. Definitely look back at this year, and I can set some main focus points to work on over the offseason and just grind those out to become a much better player.

Q. Last 30-plus games you guys have played like a playoff team. Does it feel like that in the locker room each night, that you guys have a chance to, like -- I don't know if you are going to make the playoffs, but that you guys are really coming together and building something?

PAOLO BANCHERO: Yeah, yeah. We feel like we can beat anybody on any given night. We're talented enough to do it, and it's just up to us bringing that same mentality. Yeah, it's encouraging when you know that you can compete with any team in the NBA.

I think that's what we're starting to realize. I think that's why we've been able to put together the last two, three months of basketball that we have.

Q. Did you get down early when you guys were losing a lot early? Was it tough to kind of fight through that, or it's so new you were just I'm going to play and see what happens?

PAOLO BANCHERO: It definitely was tough for me and I think the whole team. A lot of those games, we weren't getting blown out as well. We were still competing. We were down a lot of players because of injuries, and we just had to fight it out. A lot of those games were losses, so it was tough just racking those up.

But we knew that once we got healthy, we were going to be much better, and that's been the case. So it's definitely encouraging.

Q. Are you satisfied about how that first part of the season went?

PAOLO BANCHERO: Considering the circumstances of the injuries and what we went through as a team, I think we were able to fight through it. We started off 5-20. I don't know what our record is since then, but I'm pretty sure it's a winning record. So it just shows how much we came together and bought into what we were trying to do.

Q. How did you all do that to come together?

PAOLO BANCHERO: It's just the guys we have in the locker room. I think we just all get along. We all want to see each other win. Nobody is out there with a personal agenda. Everyone is just trying to do what's best for the team. And I think when we have guys with that mindset and everybody is talented like we are, it results in wins.