Q. Obviously a whirlwind for you coming here and playing the last few months. Where do you stand right now that the season is over?
MARVIN BAGLEY: Man, I'll just give all the glory to God, just allowing me to make that transition coming here mid-season, having to move and get to know new guys. The whole process has been smooth. I'm thankful that I got a chance to meet these guys and be on a team like this.
What I take from it is we've got a lot to build on, and I'm super excited to continue to work at what we're trying to accomplish here, and I can't wait to get the summer going.
Q. What stood out to you about just the way the Wizards transitioned you in here and got you acclimated and up to speed?
MARVIN BAGLEY: Just how open and welcoming they were when I got here. Getting traded is a hard thing to do, especially when you build relationships with your team that you're on, and you have to just up and leave. I didn't know what to expect, but when I got here, all the players and coaches and everybody were just welcoming. It felt like I'd been here for a while, the way that they treated me.
That actually helped me out a lot, to help me calm down, settle in even faster than I thought I would, and just continue to grow, learn each player every game, and they made it easy for me to do that. Just shows you the type of guys that we have on this team, and like I said, I'm glad to have been a part of this season with them.
Q. How did you approach and like the approach of the way they did things with the holistic nature of having multiple people focusing on a player and everything on and off the floor to allow that player to grow and utilize their best attributes?
MARVIN BAGLEY: I loved it. That's probably my favorite part is, in my experience at least, I haven't been a part of that. To be able to have our meetings that we have throughout the year with everybody involved, knowing what's going on with each guy, and just having an open dialogue, open communication on what we need to improve on and how we can help the team, that's been big time. I love being a part of those meetings, just talking to BK, talking to all my coaches that work with me, trainers. Everybody is involved and knows exactly what's going on.
Yeah, like I said, that's probably my favorite part about it.
Q. What do you feel like are Will and Michael's defining characteristics as front-office guys?
MARVIN BAGLEY: Defining characteristics?
Q. How do they approach things?
MARVIN BAGLEY: One day at a time. Just being in meetings with them and hearing them speak on what the future looks like and how we're going to get there, obviously I came a little later, but from being here, it's all about taking it one day at a time, putting in that work, making those daily deposits. One day you turn around and you see all of the work that you put in the right way, things will start going in your favor.
That's just the mindset that we have. Just go out there, compete, play the game the right way, respect the game, and things will open up for us.
Q. You're under contract here next year; what are you looking forward to for your first off-season in D.C. and how you can build upon the 20-something games you played here?
MARVIN BAGLEY: Just one day at a time. That's literally my mindset. I don't want to put too much energy and effort into it being my last contract or whatever. Just taking it one day at a time, making sure I'm controlling what I can control, and that's making sure my body is where it needs to be, my conditioning coming into camp next year. Just putting in work in the summertime to make sure that I can help the team in a positive way. That's really my main focus. Everything else will take care of itself really if I just focus on the right things and respect the game and attack it with a pure heart and just the mindset of wanting to get better. That's kind of my mindset, and I'll be good.
Q. The draft isn't for a couple months here, but as a former No. 2 overall pick yourself, what knowledge do you think you can impart on whatever the Wizards draft about your journey and what you can teach them?
MARVIN BAGLEY: I've been through a lot. I've been through a lot in my career. Injuries -- I've played about every role you can think of, starting, coming off the bench, DNPs, being out for injuries. I've experienced a lot of it. One thing I will say is make sure you develop a routine that you can follow, that you can build on and get better from. That's something along these years that I've developed and tried to be more disciplined about is having a routine that I can repeat every day, whether it's going to the gym extra on the road before shootaround, whatever it is. Get a routine and stick with it for as long as the season is. That actually helped me, and I think that'll help definitely a lot of young guys that come in and really don't know what to expect.
That's something that I would say is just get a routine, develop a routine, and ask questions. Don't be afraid to ask questions, even if you feel like they're silly questions. Ask them anyway because there's a lot to learn in the game, and there's a lot to grow from. If you don't ask, then you're kind of just going to stay in the same spot and you're not going to learn, at least from my personal experience. That's kind of what I would tell them.
Q. As scary as that fall that you took looked, how does your knee feel now?
MARVIN BAGLEY: I feel good. I'm walking around. It was scary, but I just thank God that it wasn't anything serious. The work that I'll put in in the off-season to strengthen up my body, do the things that I can control -- obviously would have liked to not have gotten hurt, but the fact that it wasn't worse as it looked is a blessing. I'm just grateful to be walking right now. I'm grateful to be able to be in the gym, be able to be around basketball, and just to be here. I don't take any of it for granted.
I'm just excited to go into summer healthy and just continuing to build on, like you said, what I've been able to do here and try to get better and come back next year even stronger.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports