Oklahoma City Thunder Media Conference

Monday, May 17, 2021

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA

Theo Maledon

Press Conference


Q. Theo, coming into this season, obviously, you had to learn the NBA, but you're moving to a new country and had to learn a lot about life here. What was that process like for you, and how do you feel now looking back on how far you've come?

THEO MALEDON: I feel like I really got comfortable coming in here. Thanks to the organization, the teammates, the coaches, they all made sure that I felt as comfortable as possible here, and I embraced it. So that transition was made a lot easier thanks to them.

Q. Theo, you led the team in minutes played and running the offense a good chunk of that time. How do you feel you held up physically in terms of conditioning, being strong at the end of games, being strong at the end of the season. A lot of 19-year-olds struggle with the rigors of the NBA. How do you feel like you held up?

THEO MALEDON: I feel like I did a pretty good job. I didn't get injured. I got lucky, didn't get injured, and was always out there as much as possible. I did not take one day for granted, one game for granted. So that's something that I'm satisfied of.

Obviously, the schedule was very different and a lot tougher than I expected. First time playing every two games and having back-to-backs, but I felt like I did a decent job and making sure I was as ready as possible when the game's coming.

Q. In this league, every night you're going to go up against an incredible point guard when you're a starter at that position. As you just look back at the long season, what do you think about the matchups that you had and the guys that you had to go up against on both ends of the floor?

THEO MALEDON: I think I learned a lot from it, and it was really great to be able to get the chance to compete against the best point guards in the world. Obviously, I learned a lot from it, and I'm really excited to and looking forward to competing against them and taking advantage from it.

Q. Were there any particular matchups that you think about now that maybe showed you some aspects of your game or some areas where, okay, this is a concrete area where I need to improve moving forward?

THEO MALEDON: Yeah, I think there was a lot of games with point guards that were really good and were really playing well on some situation. Those are things that I try to look up and see how I can try to add them to my game and be as complete as possible.

Q. I just asked Poku a similar question, but just what was the transition like for you in general, moving from France to Oklahoma City, and adjusting to life here off the court?

THEO MALEDON: It was good. I felt like I was there the past summer for predraft for a long time, so I had a glimpse of how it would look like. It was made much easier, like I said, with the team and everything that they made around for me to be as comfortable as possible. And I was living with my sister and my girlfriend. So I had people back home, and I was not feeling lonely. It helped a lot too.

Q. Do you plan on being involved with the French national team this summer?

THEO MALEDON: It's something that's not done yet. So I don't know yet.

Q. Just wanted to ask you about your shooting from three-point range. You had some really, really nice stretches of your shooting there from behind the arc. Do you have plans on like how many shots you're going to try to take this summer as you continue to work on that skill?

THEO MALEDON: Yeah, I definitely want to still improve in that area. I felt like I was a little bit too inconsistent throughout the year, and I felt like working on my consistency is one of the goals of the work that I'm going to put in the off-season. I want to still improve in every aspect of the game and be more consistent.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
107517-1-1182 2021-05-17 20:02:00 GMT

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