Jaylin Williams Shootaround Media Availability | January 23, 2024 | OKC Thunder

Jaylin Williams Shootaround Media Availability | January 23, 2024 | OKC Thunder

You came home yeah yeah actually uh he was super affectionate yeah he slept right up next to me and he he hates he knows when I’m leaving in the morning so this morning when I grab as soon as I grabbed my keys he went straight to his cage and it’s

The worst thing ever but yeah I’m ready to go back and see him already yeah this is such a a short time at home uh what’s this like for you I mean I know you’re still kind of gathering new NBA experiences despite this being your

Second year uh how how do you feel like you guys have handled this uh tough month on the road uh I think we’ve handled it good um the thing that we’ve always been told is uh good teams handle tough stretches and they get the car back on the road and I

Feel like our team has done that um but we want to continue to get better there’s a lot of uh learning opportunities through every game and we want to just keep learning kenri was saying that when he came into the league teams played almost no zone defense

Teams are throwing it at you a lot uh this year what’s that been like in terms of trying to deal with that and I’m guessing it’s probably not something that was played a ton in college yeah I think when you have guys guys that are great on offense like we have like in

Shay Chad duve Lou so many guys z a great shooter you got to throw different looks at us and uh I feel like we’ve done a good job handling we just got to stay keep doing what we do and uh don’t get away from what we do well the the

Other night Shay was just talking about um you know in his time being here that and in Mark’s time being here that during like the earlier stages of the rebuild that that Mark was just a stickler for some things and I know this is only your second year here but um I’m

Just wonder what you seen Mark be a stickler about like what Shay could have been referencing uh I mean to me I mean I’m not sure I’m not sure I feel like I was wasn’t a part of the main rebuilding area so uh I didn’t really see much of

It but there he’s heavy on defense defense is a big thing and sharing the ball Jay well the last time you guys played Portland obviously walked away with a very big big victory how important is the zero and zero mentality coming into tonight’s game and what some

Of the main focuses for you guys in this game yeah uh we know that every team in NBA is can go out there and get a win so we got to go into this game z00 mindset uh they’re a good NBA team uh they have good players on their side of the ball

Too so we just got to go in there and play them like it’s just another game are there any carryovers that you guys want to bring from these last two games particularly Minnesota and Utah and the way you guys were able to kind of generate some offense and looks yeah

Just continue to share the ball play with five on the offensive and defensive side uh go out there and played the thwe from the beginning of the game when you beat a team the way you you guys have beaten them pretty handily twice do you expect they’re going to give you their

Best shot tonight um I think that we expect everybody’s best shot every given night so um we just want to go into this game just playing our way and from the jump are you guys getting used to these back to backs yet um I feel like I feel

Like we do a good job uh our staff they do a good job helping us get our bodies ready make sure that we’re in the cold tub or getting treatment or whatever we need to get ready for these next games so I feel like we’re doing good with

Those what have you seen out of Vasa just over these past few weeks when he has he starting to play a little bit more and start to look a little more comfortable yeah you from the first day that we saw vosta play basketball Back In Summer League or right before summer

League when we were scrimmaging uh we knew that he was a game manager he can go out there he can read the game uh he plays at his own pace and he lets the game come to him and I think from Summer League he sat next to me during one of

The practices and just told me like set screens this way like it it’ll help out the guards a little bit and ever since then he’s kind of just been that guy he helps everybody out if he sees something in the game he’s not going to be scared

To tell somebody and um seeing him come into come into what he’s doing and he’s going out there managing the game he’s doing a good job how much is he one of those is he one of those guys like you got to be ready all the time cuz he makes some

Passes you can’t see coming I think everybody on the team knows to be ready when Vasa has the ball um he’s going to find you regardless where you at on the court if he feels like you’re open you think you’re open the ball’s going to

Come your way and to that point like as you guys are seeing more zones just how how pivotal is his skill set in in trying to break that kind of stuff um I think it’s really good with a Zone you you can’t just Beat It oneon-one uh

There’s going to be guys everywhere so um in a Zone you need a guy like vas that can pass the ball around find open looks uh for your teammates Shay has a ton of assists to to Isaiah this year you have the second most assist to

Isaiah though uh yeah I don’t know if if that kind of registers to you but do you just know where that guy’s going to be um I kind of think that we just know like if I’m close to him he knows that he’s going to throw the ball to me a

Rifle off for I know that if I catch it up top and I know that he’s on the opposite side he’s already going to be running up towards the top to get a rifle so it’s kind of just uh a chemistry that we’ve built playing here and something that we’ve gotten good at

Jaylen you you were part of that postgame interview the other day it was like you dubb and and chat in the back and Sh I just I wonder how that type of thing started cuz this is not the first time this happened right yeah um I think

After the game I saw dub over by the scores table with Lou and he was saying hi to somebody and I told dub I was like come on let’s go mess with Shades post game and then Chad was walking from the left side and I pointed at CH and I was

Like come over here come over here and then and kind of just began just we just being ourselves out there having fun anybody else thank you Jay

Jaylin Williams speaks with media after today’s shootaround.

Follow Our Social Media!

Website: https://www.nba.com/thunder/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/okcthunder/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/okcthunder
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/okcthunder/
Snapchat: https://www.snapchat.com/add/okcthunder
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@okcthunder
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@okcthunder

#NBA #OKCThunder