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OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER MEDIA CONFERENCE

June 1, 2016

Nazr Mohammed

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Q. What's the growth you've seen when you joined the team, from when you started with them to right now? What have you seen?
NAZR MOHAMMED: I mean, I saw guys mature. You know, from things -- of course I was watching a lot of games while I was at home, and just knowing the guys and talking to Nick and KD before I even got here, I got a chance to see guys surpass what I expected coming into, as far as their growth and just -- just when I first got here, you know, the young guys were coming in and getting their work in, staying after, but it's almost like as the season went on, they were coming in at night. They were getting more work in. Guys were staying longer. Guys were paying more attention to detail. Guys were learning how to control themselves emotionally a little bit more, so it was just a lot of growth in that sense.

Q. How about Steven in particular? What did you see in his growth in just the month you were here?
NAZR MOHAMMED: At first I honestly just found out about two weeks ago that he's 22. For the longest time I was wondering what is wrong with this kid, he's always yelling, we're doing drills and he's yelling, and I'm like, what is wrong with this guy, and then they told me he was 22, and I was shocked, because he's far more mature for a 22 year old than what I thought he was. I thought he was 27, 28, like hey, what is this kid doing. But from a basketball standpoint, this sky is the limit for that kid. I mean, he is the prototypical center of what the NBA wants to become, a guy who can roll, catch lobs, finish in the paint, has good footwork, defend 1 through 5 so you can keep a seven-footer on the floor, switching all positions. His athleticism is as good or better than every center in the league with the exception of like a DeAndre Jordan. His touch is far better than most of you guys probably know. You guys don't get a chance to see the work that he puts in. He has the opportunity to really be the best big man in this league, I mean, at the center position.

Q. You mentioned his touch. Do you think two years from now he'll be shooting 12-, 14-footers?
NAZR MOHAMMED: You know, I don't think he would need to. I mean, I don't think we're going to have stretch 5s, so I mean, I think he will be able to knock down a shot like that, but I don't think he would really need to. It's more just about seeing more hook shots, seeing his little floater, which he's been displaying throughout the series. A couple floaters, he just -- I think as he develops more confidence -- there's some guys out there who should be really scared they're going to have to compete against him.

Q. You've seen a lot of different coaches, been in a lot of different situations. Did it strike you at all, Billy's creativity as the Playoffs unfolded, to see him go with Steven and Enes at the same time, use Andre as basically his center?
NAZR MOHAMMED: Billy surprised me after Game 1. This is when I knew -- we have a connection through Coach Pitino. Coach Pitino coached both of us, and it's almost like we've known each other because of our basketball family, but where he surprised me was after Game 1, when the whole world -- I had former coaches, I had ex-teammates, I had people calling me going, what are y'all doing. I had people -- everybody was telling us we need to show -- nine out of my ten texts were telling me we need to show hard and rotate and all this stuff, and Billy walked in the next practice, and he said, no. He said, we're going to do the exact same coverage but do it harder. He was like, you know, and at first I thought, oh, man, he just killed us. We just got blown out because I was listening to the outside. But he watched the film and then he said, no, we're going to do this and we're going to do it harder and we came back and we did it and we did it harder, and we realized, like, okay, LaMarcus is going to score where he has to score. He's going to knock down some shots. But for us to win this series and for us to win, this is what he has to do. But he had that confidence like, hey, I know what I'm doing, I've watched the tape, you guys just listen and do it harder and we'll win, and he was right. So that's when I'm like -- I definitely knew he had a grasp of what was going on and he knew what would work to win the series.

Q. Do you think the city should be nervous about Kevin's decision over the next two months?
NAZR MOHAMMED: I don't know why the city should be nervous. I mean, it's one of those things, you have a right to be a free agent. I mean, you have a right to see what's out there. You want to take a look. I mean, if it wasn't basketball and it was just a guy taking -- if he was a lawyer, people would think, hey, you do what's best for you and your family, but at the same time, I wouldn't say nervous because Kevin is a loyal guy, he basically grew up here, and I think he's going to make the best decision for him and his family, but at the same time, I think he sees this as number one on his list. It's not like someone has to do something or convince him or whatever. This is number one. This is home for him. This team and organization and this city fits his personality more so than some of these other organizations. I wouldn't say they should be worried. I mean, sit back, relax and see what happens. There's nothing they can do about it.

Q. Do you think you'll reach out? Will you give him space?
NAZR MOHAMMED: One thing, I learned this in '05 -- actually, no, in '06 when I was a free agent. Best thing to do is to let a guy know you're going to support his decision either way, let him know that he's loved and welcome back, but he has to go through that process on his own because you never know what the future holds, and you don't want to put yourself in a situation where you've convinced someone to do what they feel wasn't best for them. So you've got to kind of -- that's a one-man decision because when I made my decision back then and I had a teammate say something that I really didn't appreciate at the time and we talked about out, and it's so far under the bridge, but I think that it's your personal decision and nobody else can really -- as far as teammates, can get you to go a certain route or not.

Q. What's next for you?
NAZR MOHAMMED: I don't know. I have absolutely no idea. Coming into this, my frame of thought was that this was it. But after talking to Nick and sitting around, he asked me, hey, so that was the last game? I was like, I think so. So I really don't know. I think that's the last game. I'm not going to be actively kind of pursuing to play. I might be sitting over there with two guys next time, you never know, but I'm not going to actively pursue to play, but I've been playing basketball -- I'm 38, been in the NBA 18 years, college. All I know is how to prepare for next season, so right now I'm going to prepare for next season, but I'm hoping that something takes me away from preparing for next season that's not part of basketball, and if that doesn't happen, y'all may see me playing somewhere, you may not. I'm not going to make that decision today. I'm just going to let things kind of happen as they may.

Q. Interested in going over to media or coaching?
NAZR MOHAMMED: My ultimate goal is to one day be a general manager of a team. That's my five-, 10-year plan, to one day own my own organization. During the process, giving some time back to my family. So being on that side, not working as hard as you guys, of course, but on that side giving me a little bit more time with the family until I jump back in on the business part of basketball, trying to learn how the business works. That's the plan for now.

Q. How much have you learned from Sam?
NAZR MOHAMMED: Everything I do, I'm stealing from here and what I learned in San Antonio and a touch or two out of Chicago. But you're going to see something like this somewhere else. I'm writing stuff down, taking notes. I have a lot of respect for Sam, and I like the way he's built this team, organization, and so he's definitely somebody that I look up to.

Q. In that same way, something Kevin referenced in terms of what's important to him is he talked about culture and the people around him, people he's around every day and the basketball environment. You've been around this place now two different times. What is this culture like? What makes this place different?
NAZR MOHAMMED: I mean, first, it fits the personality of the city. I mean, as far as you guys are good people, but the coach is about winning and working hard, but it all starts with the people. Like when I did this leadership development seminar a couple years in a row, a couple years back, and one question they asked us is what's more important, a culture or talent, and I feel the culture is more important than talent, the type of people you put in an organization, because you have the right culture, the right people, they will work hard enough and improve, and who knows where that will lead. So the culture here is just unbelievable. The people here have just made it amazing and continued to grow, and I believe it's going to result in a championship at one point.

Q. You talked about the 18 years you spent in the league, and now you came on board and talked about spending the time with Steven Adams. What about Enes Kanter? What have you learned about him and his development? I see you all the time, we all see you working after practice every day.
NAZR MOHAMMED: What I learned about Enes is that he's a great guy. What I learned the most is that some people -- when you look at Enes, you're going to think of his defense or his outspokenness about the Turkey government. That's his two things, as far as when people talk about him. But I learned there was situations where I saw things that I thought he needed to improve on in games, and when I told him that, he did it. Hands down, he did what he was supposed to do.

I think the biggest thing for him is of course playing and working and continuing to develop, but he's a walking double-double. So just holding him more accountable and not only just telling him what to do but showing him what to do, that he will continue to improve, and he's accepted a role of coming off the bench and playing some, but we saw him and Steven playing together, which is great, against San Antonio. I think it's a great fit, and I've got a lot of respect for E. What he did the last game of the season, he had like 38 and 17 or something crazy, shooting a high percentage. And he's 23 or 24, it's crazy. I mean, this team is built to compete for a championship for at least the next five, six years. I mean, if it stays intact as it is, or close to it. Some nice young talent who can really play.

Q. You guys played great this last month, but what do you need to do better? What do you need, whether it's what skill set, kind of player, improvement from the guys you've got? What does this team need?
NAZR MOHAMMED: See, man, I never look outside for the help as far as thinking what this team needs to do as far as pulling from the outside. I think everything that's here is enough to win a championship. I know some people may kind of not feel that way considering we just lost, but I still feel that we could have beat that team, and we could be in The Finals, and we could have won a championship, and it didn't have anything to do with talent. I think the biggest thing is just growth as leaders, growth as followers. It's going to be more just emotional growth, getting better, guys getting in the gym, working on their games. Everything is here. Dre is going to come back a better shooter because he's going to practice on it. Every year of his career he's going to improve. You know, his defense, how he played against Kawhi Leonard was just amazing, even when Kawhi scored. I was like, I don't know how he stopped him or turned him three or four times. I said, after this, I said, Kawhi will remember Dre, just from -- he made him work. So there's so many guys like that on this team. I mean, Dion's development, from when I got here to the end of the year, when I first got here, he was in love with his step back to the left jump shot. We told him, hey, we told him Downhill Dion, is unstoppable. He became Downhill Dion, attacking guys, getting to the rim, finding guys, so I just saw the growth. I mean, this team is in a good situation. Kevin has to do what he has to do, but it's a great point.

Q. Russell Westbrook, compare him to your first stint when you left here and then what you came back to?
NAZR MOHAMMED: I left almost four years ago now. I mean, he's a man. I mean, he's First-Team All-NBA. I mean, he's as good of an athlete now as he was then. His decision making is better. I mean, he's still developing as a leader. He's still developing, just controlling himself emotionally, but at the same time how much of this emotion do you really want him to control. Some of the things are your gift and your curse. If you can tone it down once or twice a game, that would be cool, but at the same time, I like Russell going out there, being pumped, I mean, what's the game when we were playing against -- I hate to mention his name, when we were playing against Detroit. It was nice to see a game where sometimes they expect you to sit out, but I love to see Russ like, sit out against Reggie? I want to play. I love seeing stuff like that, and then go out there -- I love how Russ looks at the opposing point guard and he wants to kill everybody. I love it. That's the type of guys you like to go to war with. He wants to kill everybody, so you have to deal with whatever lows to get those amazing highs. That's my thoughts.

Q. Did they ask Russell to sit out that game?
NAZR MOHAMMED: I can't tell you what they asked Russell. I don't know. From the outside -- I'm sitting over there like you, and you had Kevin sit out and you had Serge sit out, I assumed Russell was going to sit out, and then I looked over and he's putting on his uniform. This is just my assumption. I'm looking over and thinking to myself, this is nothing he said, but I'm thinking to myself, this is all my thought, I'm thinking like, oh, that's Russ right there. Russ like sit out? He wants to play against the best players. We're playing against Reggie. I mean, they've had their words, it's not like I'm bringing up something. He's playing against Reggie. Russ wants to go out there, like okay, he was here, you're gone, you said some things, I want to play. This is just my assumption. Russ didn't tell me this, but this is just me looking over at him putting on a jersey when I thought he was going to sit out, and he was like, no, I'm ready to go. I love it, though. That's what it's all about.

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