DERRICK FAVORS: Right now the role Coach and Sam want me to have on this team, that's what I'm going to do, whether that's providing leadership and coming in and playing 30 minutes, 20 minutes, 10, whatever, it doesn't matter, come in and do what I need to do and just be supportive of the team and do what I can to help the team win. We'll see where it goes from there.
Q. Chet's injury, how do you see that changing your role? Does that make you more or less of a mentor, more just making sure you've got somebody that can stop somebody?
DERRICK FAVORS: I mean, yeah, it was an unfortunate injury for Chet. But I think with me, I think it kind of put me back in the mix of things where I have to come in, and now they're going to be leaning on me to protect the paint, be a presence in the paint, back to the leadership role, and just be a good bet on the team.
Just trying to hold things down. Just like I said before, just help the team win as much as I can.
Q. What were your first impressions of Chet before his injury?
DERRICK FAVORS: He's a really good player. He's 7', 7'1", something like that; can shoot the ball; can put a ball on the ground; can do a lot of different things out of the post, on the perimeter; can shoot the 3 ball really well.
I mean, he's just one of those guys that in today's NBA is like very valuable. He can protect the rim, be a shot blocker, rebounder. He's got a bright future. He's going to be really good in this league.
Q. In today's NBA they always want big guys to shoot threes --
DERRICK FAVORS: Yeah.
Q. How do you keep your game relevant?
DERRICK FAVORS: I just try to keep things simple. I don't try to go out of my way and do stuff I can't do. I have been working on the 3 ball, so we'll see how it goes this year.
But for me I just keep things simple. I come in, I play my game. Whatever the coach, whatever the team needs me to do, I do it. And I try to show that I can do different things, too, whether it's guarding on the perimeter or playing out of the high pick-and-roll, high post area, just doing little different things.
But overall I just keep it simple and I just play hard pretty much.
Q. That leads into a question, every comment I saw from you last year. Not every veteran is going to walk into a situation with this team last year with what they were trying to achieve and still have fun playing basketball. But every comment from you said there's such joy, such energy, guys that are fun to play with. Are you looking forward to getting back to this group again?
DERRICK FAVORS: Definitely. This is a fun group to be around. These young guys are talented. They're high energy, fun to be around, and for me it's all a blessing. No matter where I'm at, to be in the NBA, and to be in the NBA as long as I have, is all a blessing.
That's how I look at it. No matter what situation I'm in, I'm going to come in, play my game and play hard, and just try to be a positive with the team in the locker room.
Q. I saw this is the second youngest team in NBA history. Last year's Thunder team was the youngest --
DERRICK FAVORS: In history?
Q. That's what they said. We've talked about how you've adapted to the young guys. How do they adapt to you? Do they treat you like some sort of grandfather?
DERRICK FAVORS: No. I think they treat me like a big brother type. I'm not 19, 20, 21, so I can't really relate to what they've got going on now. I have kids and things and I'm 31.
But they treat me like a big brother type, just giving advice. I think I bring a certain type of calm presence to the team, to the locker room, when things get kind of crazy during games or practices.
In the long season, I think they kind of lean on that calm presence that I have to get through it.
Like I said, they keep me young. It's a joy to be around them. They're high energy, talented, and just fun to be around.
Q. (Indiscernible).
DERRICK FAVORS: Yeah, I think a lot of stuff has been said about him already. He's just a legendary player, legendary person, someone who's probably -- will be truly missed. I think he did a lot for this league, he did a lot for the community, he did a lot for the world basically. He's just one of those legendary people.
Q. What are the communication challenges having two rookies with the same name?
DERRICK FAVORS: I definitely have to figure that out. They're going to have to get nicknames or something. But definitely something we're going to have to figure out.
Q. You were playing under Mark's leadership last year. I'm wondering what your impressions were of him as regards experimentation? He was not afraid to do things that would be out of bounds for a lot of NBA coaches. What were your impressions of him last year?
DERRICK FAVORS: Exactly what you said, he's not afraid to try new things and different things. I think he's a hell of a coach. I think he's also young, too, and I think he's going to have a great future as a coach, and especially for this organization.
I think he's a player's coach. He's always open to hear everybody, whatever they've got to say. He made good adjustments during the game. Like you say, he'll try something just to see if it works. If it works, he'll keep doing it. If it doesn't, he'll probably scratch it and try to redo it a different type of way. But he's a great coach.
Q. Was there any adjustment he made in a game that you sort of went --
DERRICK FAVORS: I can't think of it right now because there's so many of them, but during the season I'll let you know.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports