Cody Williams’ first NBA press conference 🎤 | UTAH JAZZ

Cody Williams’ first NBA press conference 🎤 | UTAH JAZZ

um guys thanks for being here want to introduce uh Cody Williams uh we as an organization are super excited to have him join us um his talent his character uh comes from a great family um and I know he’s excited to get to work got a little bit of work in today right and um we’re just super excited to have him so looking forward for you guys to get to know him and um they’ll probably go easy on you I would think your first one but I’m here to help I got you and uh so let’s open it up to questions uh Cody for jazz fans that maybe not be too familiar with your game what do you think you’re going to bring this organization and and what do you think the expectations of you for this rookie season uh I think the biggest thing is just versatility especially to this you know young core that we have I think the biggest impact I can make is on the defensive end you know we’re going through practice today and we pulled up the numbers you know 30th and three-point you know attempts allowed 30th like defensive percentage in the League last year so feel like me coming in especially as a rookie with my length and my size and you know my versatility the biggest thing I can bring is you know on the defensive ends that’s kind of my focus hey Cody uh welcome to Salt Lake uh Curious 19 that seems to be the norm now for young players in the league but how important is it for for you to maybe lean on your brother a little bit uh just to make the transition from from college to the NBA and uh what have you already learned maybe from him in this process uh yeah I definitely Le on him a lot especially you know just how to handle certain situations how it was for him going through you know his rookie year but you know now I can also lean on my teammates I can lean on guys like you know keante who you know was a rookie last year so he was in my shoes so I can kind of you know especially on my team guys I see every day I kind of go towards them and ask them for advice but I’ve definitely leaned on too shout out to the brother right over there in the shout out to the brother right there hey Cody Ryan Miller from ksl.com I’m just curious what has been the last what five days now been like for you after being drafted uh it’s kind of a blur to be honest especially cuz you know it’s a quick turnaround you know I just had my first practice so um there’s only like certain parts I feel like you remember you remember the big things like I remember getting my name called I remember being with my family I remember going out to dinner with them and eating um and I really remember enjoying that experience which was a big thing for me just cuz you know soon as that draft is over it’s like you know it’s a business now and it’s go time so you know definitely like went by in a Flash but I definitely enjoyed you know the whole little five days in New York you Sarat Tod deserette news um I’m sure that you read saw a lot of stuff that was happening throughout the whole draft process and there was a lot of people that were I guess curious about on your low volume of shooting if the percentages were real what was kind of your reaction to hearing seeing that it didn’t really have an effect on me just because I know the type of player I am and I know what I bring to know my team in Colorado and also what I’m going bring to the Utah Jazz so I mean whatever really people think feel like most important thing is you know guys right here like people like will hardy Danny a you know the guys that have faith and believe in me my teammates now who have faith and you know believe in my abilities so that’s really the biggest thing to me Cody Tony Jones from the athletic what could what can you take from your experience at Colorado you know to to help you with the translations to the NBA and you know what were some of that experiences especially with KJ and Tristan that you could take from playing with them to to to uh to your translation to the league I think the biggest thing is just the adjustment period just because I had a little bit of adjustment period and going you know from High School to Colorado and you know it’s going to be the same way going from college to the NBA is going to be a little adjustment period so kind of just embracing that embracing you know making mistakes and learning along the way especially you know I’m coming in here 19 so you know for me just really embracing getting better every day being open to coaching and obviously you know putting in work outside of practice or outside of the lifts so for me that’s the biggest thing and then I learned a lot from those guys learn a lot from Tad like you know ter terminology that we use here a lot of it we use in Colorado so I feel like I’m kind of up to speed in that aspect so you know those guys really show me a lot and it helped obviously translate to the NBA level and the altitude and the altitude yeah I felt that today for sure so welcome back hey Cody I’m Andy Larson from the solake Tribune uh good meet you when when we talked to you after the after the draft it was right after you drafted and and you hadn’t had the chance really to talk to will or talk to Justin or the front office yet what have those conversations been like in the last few days and kind of what have you learned from from the early talks with them uh just you know here to get to work now really the draft where you got drafted where you came from none that really matters at this point so now it’s about you know you top basketball and really buying in every day and getting better uh I think the biggest thing that told me was just continue to work hard push myself to the next level I’m they say you know I have an extra gear where I could work even harder and you know learn from guys you know like Keon Colin seon you know Lori Kessler the guys you know are putting in extra work and have made huge jumps so for them it was like really soak up all the knowledge that they’re giving you and like find that extra gear to you know work even harder have you are when the schedule comes out are you going to be circling the OKC games I might Circle one or two you know uh we get him four times yeah we get him a couple times but yeah definitely take it one game at a time and then when that game you know pops up we’ll deal with it so playing like your brother growing up been like like are you guys ultra competitive either of you go easy on each other never go never go easy you don’t get better that way so it’s definitely super competitive I think the biggest thing just CU how close our relationship is we can you know go at each other 100% and there’ll be you know no backlash no hard feelings afterwards we know you know just trying to get each other better on the court what are you hoping to show at summer leagues uh for for me it’s just learning I’m not really going into summer league with like I want to do this I want to do that for me it’s like all I want to go into summer league it be my first kind of you know games play in the NBA I want to learn everything I can obviously I want to perform well but for me I just want to you know go out there and enjoy the experience obviously shot in the defensive end that’s kind of been my focus just learn the terminology but for me it’s really like a learning experience and just any way I can get better any knowledge I can get from summer league and take that you know into this upcoming season that’s what that’s my plan Dana green ABC for um you weren’t here at the Huntsman center right when Colorado played here or did you play in that game no I I fresh my orbital before that game yeah what are your uh kind of First Impressions then of Salt Lake City um what do you know about jazz fans and the passion that they bring to that Arena every night I know they’re crazy passionate I think we’re talking about it’s like 290 games maybe 291 consistently sold out so I already know the energy they’re going to bring every single game every game you know here feels like game seven just cuz the atmosphere so I know that for sure it kind of reminds me of Boulder especially like the mountains being you know right next to the city so you always have a nice view it’s really easy to get around uh it’s nice you know nice little peaceful town for me it’s kind of place where I really lock into basketball and work so that was the biggest thing for me coming in as a rookie so like I love it out here so far Cody David lock jazz radio watching some of your Colorado games there were an occasional moment where you came off a pin down and burst got to turn the corner and burst but more often than not there was a guy in the middle pretty big guy if I went back and watched your aou game or what what other parts of your game would I see that maybe I didn’t get to see by watching you play at Colorado I mean really I was able to Showcase everything you know that I could bring to the table and I feel like that’s why I’m in this position especially you know I went to a good system that you know allowed me to play my game and they highlighted my strengths and also helped me you know develop my weaknesses so for me feel like especially going to a school and a system that fit me the best I was able to kind of showcase him allaround game do you have a jersey number in mind or one you want to or think you’re going to wear I’m five I believe right yeah I just came in yeah so there you go I’m five I wanted a single digit yeah see she got I wanted a single digit number just you know I didn’t want to you know get 91 or you know 99 so kept it a five 99 is a j Crowder yeah I can’t can’t do that Cody Jeremiah Jensen KSL Sports I don’t know if you have any relationships with any of the players currently on the roster but there’s a lot of young players on this roster are you excited to play with some of these guys and and and what are your thoughts about this group and and how much fun you can have playing with them and kind of growing up together on this roster yeah I think the biggest thing with having young roster is the locker room is going to be really close you know you got can kind of bond and connect and really you know learn with each other as you go out through the season you know go out through these next years so for me having a young roster a lot of them I know like I know Keon from aou no Kes from a played against isaah caller in the Pack 12 played against Kyle and a so already having those connections like allows you to make a really you know close locker room and then that obviously translates to the core so I think not only we’re going to be really good and also you learn a lot together but it’s going to be fun you know playing basketball with this group of guys for uh for Justin uh you’ve dealt with a lot of young players coming in with uh you know one year of college experience how does Cody kind of differ from them he seems mature seems uh wiser Beyond his years um I think part of it a credit first and foremost to his family um done a great job raising him obviously perspective with his older brother currently in the league you just don’t want to get a chance to get that growing up it’s not like every family that has an NBA players running around with a very good NBA player who’s an older brother or anything else so I think that gives him a head start sorry I also think he’s smart he’s good at figuring things out and figuring things out quick so we’ve already had conversations Danny myself with Cody and kind of what the initial expectations are and his perspective is absolutely correct for summer league summer league is about the experience about learning about the physicality learning about the speed and learning about like you know he knows what he needs to work on we have a a you know personalized plan for him that will help him make gains in those things but a lot of it’s just experience to go through it play good play bad just play hard and take that and that experience and use that for the rest of the summer to really get ready for what’s really important and that’s training camp so this is an important experience for him but it’s not a be all end all if he plays good or bad there’s no I have no expectation about that all I have an expectation is for him to start connecting with his teammates our coaches the program and it’s it’s going to be a fun start

Hear from draftee Cody Williams and Utah Jazz General Manager Justin Zanik for the first time following the 2024 NBA Draft.

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