NBA IN-SEASON TOURNAMENT

December 6, 2023

Willie Green

New Orleans Pelicans

Semifinal Practice Day

Q. You and LeBron, rookie years the same year. How crazy is it to see him do this in year 21?

WILLIE GREEN: It's incredible what he's doing. Right now, I'm 42, so he can't be too far behind me. To be playing at such a high level at -- is this 22 years or 21 years? Playing at such a high level, 21 years in the NBA, his impact on the game, on the younger generation has been incredible, and it's amazing to see.

Q. Do you remember any details or anything from the 10th game of your rookie season?

WILLIE GREEN: I don't. I don't remember too many details of our -- you said my 10th game my rookie season? No. No, I don't.

Q. What are your thoughts on the environment here, playing these games in Las Vegas in this city in this environment?

WILLIE GREEN: The games, they've been a lot of fun. I think the NBA has done a great job of providing a platform that allows high competitive meaningful games during the regular season, and all of our guys -- I think all of us, we didn't know what to expect, to be honest with you.

But now that we're in it and we feel it, the games have been much more competitive. Teams are getting up for them.

To have an opportunity to be here in Vegas for the final four of the In-Season Tournament is a great experience for our young group.

Q. Last time you were involved in fighting for a title was with the Suns in 2021. What did you learn from that experience and what can you apply from that experience?

WILLIE GREEN: The biggest thing going through those type of experiences is the journey, is what it takes to get there. All of the film work, the player development time, the practice time, the team dinners on the road, working with the performance staff, doing all the little things and building the relationships and camaraderie with your teammates, coaches, front office, it makes you stronger.

For us, we're having some of those experiences right now during the regular season, and we're hopeful that that pays off down the stretch for us this year.

Q. Now that you've been through the group stage, an elimination game and gotten here, what are some things you could see the league doing to improve this event for next year?

WILLIE GREEN: Well, our mentality right now is we're relishing in the positives that they've already done. Before we can even get to improvements, we want to digest what we are experiencing. It's hard to digest it right now because we're in it.

I think once we finish the season, we sit back and reevaluate, we'll probably have maybe a couple things that will pop in our minds about what we can improve, but right now, we're relishing this opportunity. It's been fantastic.

We're so excited to have this opportunity, and so we look forward to tomorrow night's game.

Q. As a guy who's obviously been around the league for a long time, it seems like this thing has picked up a lot of momentum within the league, faster than maybe anybody would have guessed. Has that been the case for you, and why do you think that's been the case?

WILLIE GREEN: It's definitely been the case for myself and our team. A lot of hard work goes into providing this type of platform, and I'm grateful for the hearts and the minds that it takes to be willing to make some changes. That's what it's about. That's what the NBA is about, and we're grateful to be a team that's a part of this.

Q. I feel like you guys are a very scary team because you guys are just now starting to get healthy. Trey Murphy is getting rolling, Herb Jones is really getting rolling offensively, too, as well. Two, I wanted to ask about your team coming together and now being healthy. I've been talking to a lot of coaches, and they bring you up as a coach that draws up a lot of good sets, circle pins. A lot of people tell me to watch your sets that you run. You being a former player, where did you get that from in terms of being able to draw up good sets and people watching your work?

WILLIE GREEN: Yeah, for sure. To answer the first part of the question, we're capable right now. We don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves. We know there's a ton of work that goes into being a really good team in the NBA and being consistent and winning consistently. Those are the things that we're working on.

As far as the plays, I have a lot of help. I have an amazing coaching staff, and I watch a ton of NBA games as a coach but also as a fan, and I steal stuff from every coach.

A lot of times it's their plays that they're praising me about.

But we do it together, and that's our mentality. We continue to work as a coaching staff, see who we have on the floor and try to put ourselves in the best possible position to get a quality shot.

Q. For Zion we don't typically see him trying to get downhill. Do you take that from seeing others or do you see what someone else does and say, I can incorporate my own way, as well?

WILLIE GREEN: A lot of it has to do with the different characteristics of our players. So we tailor most of our ATOs around who they are and how we can get them the best quality shot for sure.

Q. Do you think that the IST will become an accolade that helps define a player's personal success or a franchise when they start looking at it like, this is what the franchise has accomplished over its years?

WILLIE GREEN: I think it's going to be added to what's already here. Obviously, we have All-Star Game, All-NBA playoff experiences, Finals. I think this is going to be another component to what makes players great in the NBA.

We can already see how competitive it is, how seriously all of our players in the organizations have taken it. I think it's going to continue to trend up.

Q. A short drive here from LA; what are you expecting this environment to be like in here tomorrow night?

WILLIE GREEN: Based on what we see during Summer League, this is going to be a home game for the Lakers. They have a ton of fan support here. It's going to be a fun game. We're all excited about it. I'm sure they are, too.

It seems like NBA fans are excited. They're watching. They're tuning in. I'm getting text messages from people, let's get after it.

Q. If the Pelicans win this whole thing, would you want there to be a banner in New Orleans?

WILLIE GREEN: Absolutely.