Chet Holmgren | 2023-24 End-of-Season Interview | OKC Thunder

Chet Holmgren | 2023-24 End-of-Season Interview | OKC Thunder

y good how you doing CH just after going through this experience for the first time playing all 82 but also the the playoff experience just how valuable do you feel like everything that you’ve gone through this season is for you personally um I feel like it’s been extremely valuable uh you know I like to take all the lessons the good and the bad the wins and the losses and try to make the most of them and going into the summer that’s the plan you were talking about you know sh and a couple of other guys and they were saying just how fun this season was just how connected this group was from your perspective just how much joy was there just between this group both on and off the floor uh it’s hard to put in words um you know I haven’t been on you know a bunch of different teams in my career but uh you know you can definitely feel um even if you don’t know what the other side’s like you can definitely feel that this is uh a special special team special locker room with a lot of special guys in it um you know everybody cares for each other wants to see each other win and uh you know we’re all willing to sacrifice for for the better of of the whole team um and I think that’s a perfect recipe to you know have fun and enjoy it Mark was saying yesterday that he wanted the feeling after the loss to to kind of be like he wanted the pain to go toward the investment for the future just how much are you maybe preserving that feeling and and maybe trying to weaponize that oh yeah I mean I I don’t want to just continue to have that feeling all summer um but I’m definitely going to remember it if that makes sense um you know whenever you lose it’s definitely added motivation uh you know to work harder to be better um and if it’s not then uh you know you just don’t really have your mindset on winning what you what you learn about the the playoffs that you didn’t learn about the 82 games uh each separately yeah I mean you played all 82 now the playoffs what do you know now you didn’t know going into them um I guess uh uh I know what it’s like to go through it uh you know cuz it’s one thing for somebody to say oh it’s going to be more physical oh it’s going to be uh the game’s going to be slower uh there’s you know people can say whatever they want it to say about the playoffs until you actually playing same thing like playing in the NBA you can somebody can talk to you about it all day long but unless you’ve actually done it you don’t really know exactly you know what to expect how to you know handle it how to adjust uh you know as things are happening um and I feel like I you know have a good sense of of what that’s like now so what do you expect now for um I mean i’ I’d expect nothing less than what we saw this year uh you know extremely physical competitive games um both teams throwing punches even in in the first round when we played the Pelicans uh you know it’s it’s not going to be easy uh teams are going to you know try and throw different things at you to to you know knock you off your Rhythm or uh you know figure out different ways that uh you’re not as effective against them at um and you know we just have to be ready to weather storms and and figure things out in you know live play cuz it’s not like a team can come out a half time and and throw something at you you haven’t seen have a game plan for and it’s not like you can put the game on pause and go practice practice it and come back and execute it so um it’s just you know being ready to expect unexpected and kind of figure it out as it goes said this is the lowest level that will see you just due to your work ethic in the offseason do you agree with that assessment um yeah I mean I expect nothing less from myself than to you know work extremely hard and become a better player I don’t plan to come back next year as a worse player or an equal player I plan to come back uh you know better in in many areas M ma said that he didn’t play all 82 until his fifth year in and he said his body hurt after the season was over um what what do you say to that after playing you know 82+ 10 yeah uh 15 prec season um uh obviously there’s a lot of like bumps and bruises and you play through things here play through things there but um I’d say the biggest thing coming out of it is the fatigue uh both like mentally and physically um physically just because it it’s not as bad in the playoffs you have less travel more time between games um but the fatigue in the season is you know especially like that January month um back to backs you know traveling from one city to another on a back to back is it’s almost impossible to recover in the way that you need to for the next game so sometimes you’re just going out there and you know this is what I got tonight I’m going to just give it all but it’s not um you at your high highest level so um you know I wouldn’t like trade playing every game to sit out a couple to you know say I didn’t have to go through that you know I think it was all worth it was that something that you had set out to do before the season season started that you wanted to play 82 or is that something that was just like happen I guess you could say a little bit of both uh before before The Season’s even started you can’t say I want to play 82 there’s so many things that could happen that you can’t plan for you know you could sprain your knee and literally not be able to play so uh you know trying to focus too much on that it wasn’t something I wanted to do but um you know I more just wanted to focus on coming to play basketball every single day it’s just it’s what I love to do it’s what I do um and you know if there isn’t a really really compelling reason for me not to I’m going to go play you mention how you have a long way to go in your career but are you able to put into perspective just how great of season you too early haven’t thought about it you said yesterday that uh that nobody wins 15 straight rings so you know you’re going to feel last night’s feeling again I just wonder like I think the the optimism from a lot of people from you guys finish comes from people seeing the youth on his team and the potential window there just how do you view that concept of a a championship window um in this league nothing’s guaranteed and things change so fast uh that all we can really focus on is improving to the best of our abilities and being the best team that we can be coming into each year um and and that starts now for next year and we can’t worry about like what we might look like or what opportunity we might have in three years cuz there’s so much that isn’t guaranteed um you know they always post the graphics after each season this is what the NBA looked like five years ago and there’s like 15 Allstars in different jerseys you know what I mean so it’s like so much changes in the NBA and you know your season could come down to one injury at the wrong time like there’s you can’t you can’t focus on a a time span that wide you just got to focus on today tomorrow putting a plan in place for the off season uh you know to get you in the right position for next season um and then when the season starts it’s the same thing uh you know show up day one ready to work and put together a plan to put yourself in the best position towards the end of the regular season um you know that’s what we’re going to do that’s what we did this year and that’s what we’re going to continue to do uh year in year out is there a moment from from last season where you couldn’t play that you look back on from maybe like a conversation or an interaction had with somebody that you look back on today um maybe to help you throughout the season um I mean I definitely like thought back to it like uh you know whenever uh something was challenging or you know I woke up really fatigued on a back to back type of thing uh just being grateful uh that you know a year ago I wasn’t even afforded the opportunity so now I have the opportunity I got to you know I owe it to myself and the people who helped me uh get back to being healthy and able to play I owe it to um myself and them to you know go out there and take full advantage of the opportunity I know if you’re going to work out with any players or anything but how much do you look forward to those summer workouts with those other players great like KD um I love the offseason I love working out I love playing pickup um and you know you want to play pickup against the best players that you can find so um you know whoever’s willing to get in the gym and and hoop you know I’m I’m going be there there are some guys that say they don’t want to work out with other NBA players they don’t want to show them what they have there’s some guys that love working out with what made you decide that you want to work out with other be a player um I would say I don’t have the arrogance yet to be like I don’t need to like if I’m playing if I’m in the summer working out against somebody who has 15 plus All-Star appearances etc etc I think I’m taking from them more than they’re taking from me so I don’t have the arrogance to be like I don’t want them to be stealing my moves like come on now you know so you know I’m just looking for the best competition to go and play against you think you’ll always be that way um yeah I mean I feel like even if it’s the other way around you know I’m just uh you know the like artist in me of like the way I look at basketball I just want to push the game forward so if there’s a young dude who wants to come in the gym and you know get working you know I’m going to think back to myself now and be like you know I was in that same position you know as long as they’re going about it the right way and treating the game with respect like come work out let’s do it Che you’re coming out the series against the Mavericks against two of the more creative um finishers in the entire league with Kyrie and Luca how do you feel like you’ve gotten better as a rim protector going against guys like that yeah um it’s tough because you don’t want to let those two get close enough to the rim where you even have to protect the rim you try to get the ball out of their hands and force other guys to beat you at the so uh you know there’s a delicate balance uh of that but you know great players make great plays Kyrie got to the rim for some crazy finishes a couple times in the series and uh you know Luca as well um yeah you got to respect the the passing so you know it makes you hesitant sometimes I mean it’s just getting that experience and and understanding how uh different guys play uh you know how they make reads what they like to do uh you know it can only make me better for the next time around do you think that’s something that a lot of fans don’t see of just like the difference between Rim protection and rim deterrence of just not even letting guys get shots up um I’d say the people who only look at the box scores don’t see that but um people who understand the game and and watch the game uh you know see that like when somebody has a layup and they don’t attt it um you know that’s not going in the stat sheet but uh you know it’s uh I guess you could say a winning play having that to your advantage um so I mean it’s just as important as blocking a shot keeping somebody from attempting a high percentage shot too so uh whether other people see it or not I’m going try and make them win and play though that’s about wanting to be a year all NBA Defender um and what it would take to get into conversations what do you feel like it would take for I don’t know what more he could do honestly so yeah extremely talented like sorry let me finish this um yeah he needs he deserves more votes more recognition for that stuff um he shouldn’t have to say it nobody should have to say it it should just kind of be obvious but um you know he deserves it and I I definitely feel like uh these playoffs have have opened some eyes so how do you describe uh Shay’s leadership this season or even when you were not playing last season what did you see in him um you know he leads in a lot of different ways uh you know he’s not the most uh I’d say vocalizing leader um like he he leads with his words um both with encouragement and kind of trying to give knowledge um but i’ say the biggest way he leads is with example uh you know a lot of times he’s first one in here last one to leave and um you know he’s always doing the right thing on and off the court and on top of that he’s a high level Talent so it’s it’s hard not to try and um follow suit um with what he does and uh you know that’s been a big part for us this season and and a big reason why uh you know so many of us have been able to you know reach for improvement want to play with the select team this Sumer I don’t know I haven’t even thought about that yet so yeah I don’t know we’ll see Shay said that he thought that this group could win a championship if you guys put the work in do you agree um I mean yeah I’m I’mma always say if you put the work in anything’s possible so I agree anybody else have have you rewatched any part last night’s game yeah I’ve seen uh few of the clips there are a couple Clips uh I rewatched during the game um uh when I was on the bench like telling our our video guy pull that up let me see one more time so that um I could kind of see from a bird’s eye perspective see the play uh and what mistake I might have made um but I haven’t watched it in its totality now have have you seen the L for 20 seconds uh yeah I saw that just now after you digest it all yest like what do you make of that play what it what it meant in the moment what you thought it could have been um I think it was a great attack by Shay to get downhill and force the help and then make the right read and um you know I was able to go and finish it and um it was the right play uh we executed it well to give us uh you know a lead with 12 seconds left or whatever which in any game you’ll take uh you always want a lead with 12 seconds left and then um you know that doesn’t guarantee a win so uh you know credit to the Mavs they were able to make a play on the other end and win the game and I I know the next play kind of will make it you know swept into the rug but is that maybe the craziest play you’ve ever made that you didn’t decide again uh I don’t know honestly um I don’t think it was like a crazy play uh I feel like it was a pretty normal play it was just at a significant time I guess anybody else thank

Chet Holmgren speaks with media at end-of-season interviews.

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