JEFF WELTMAN ON KENTAVIOUS CALDWELL-POPE SIGNING, FREE AGENCY & MORE

JEFF WELTMAN ON KENTAVIOUS CALDWELL-POPE SIGNING, FREE AGENCY & MORE

it’s an exciting day for the team today obviously um we get to add a player uh like kentavius Caldwell Pope once in a great while and uh I know for uh for everyone here it’s been a really um a lot of work and a lot of excitement to bring him here and we’re thrilled to be able to add him to the team um in kcp we are getting a guy who has won two rings in the last five years and been I want to say third and first in minutes played on each of those teams which is quite a statistic in and of itself um he will make us better defensively he will um improve our shooting and he will model what Championship work uh is like for our young players so uh in every possible way we think he’s going to be a great addition on and off the court and we’re super excited to bring him here you know a guy like kcp in demand a champion as you said for him to want to come here what does it say about where you guys put the organization the players have put in organization to draw a free agent like that yeah well I always say we just do our work and um you know obviously that’s not for us to decide but that kcp would decide that um is is uh is flattering and it means that um we’re on the radar and it means that we have a lot of work to do you know we take great pride in that but we also understand the responsibility that comes with that you know we need to put our players and our coach is in a position to succeed and continue to move the team forward so it’s an exciting time you mentioned durability as one of kyp’s lest attributes regardless of who you were going after was that something you were looking for more durable players like obviously he’s one of the Rarity guys where he’s played 96% of games something like that but was that something you were looking for that I mean honestly it’s something that everyone’s looking for especially you know in today’s NBA uh you know I think kcp has never had a season where has missed more than six games and he takes great pride in that he’s old school you know he’s old school and um he takes care of himself he takes great pride in that and that’s a highly coveted uh component to you know today’s NBA go obviously to win a championship someday what what does his championship credential mean to the team I mean it’s it’s invaluable to have a guy who’s been through it and not just not just been a part of it but been a significant part of it because those are two very different things but that’s why I cited earlier that he’s I think first and third in minutes played on each of those two teams um you know he’s a guy that understands the longevity of the Season he understands taking care of his body he understands the seriousness and the commitment that it takes to win at that level and uh our we have a very young team and our guys haven’t been exposed to that yet and I think it’s going to really open their eyes and improve them how do you think his character and personality BL with the players that you have you know he’s one of those guys like in the NBA we all generate track records right we we do business with one another again and again there are only 30 teams and you know players generate their own track records every organization they touch they leave a trail of people that everybody else talks to in their wake and this is like one of the most Stellar guys in the league uh as far as the reputation that he’s generated over the course of his career um in the locker room um on the bus on the plane in The Practice Facility coaches management performance everybody just Raves about him and having spent the last couple days with him I understand why overall overall in free agency did you accomplish what you wanted to accomplish uh yeah we came away with an excellent player who’s uh going to fit um to the highest standard of what we could hope for on and off the court um he makes our team better and he really uh strengthens our DNA as you guys know we’re trying to build a team of um defense first mentality uh of sacrificing togetherness of guys who make one another better and um and obviously kcp also is a high level shooter um so he he checked a lot of boxes for us um obviously with what else we were able to do um some other other uh guys we able to bring back we were able to restructure Jonathan’s contract um so we’re trying to set this thing where we can improve our team now but also set ourselves up for Success going forward and with with the guys that resigned the guys that already on the roster the new addition this team taking the next step forward how much of the guys that are already here improving making their jobs will play in this it’s everything uh you know I think uh case CP is going to help us take a step forward but part of that step forward is showing our young guys um how they take a step forward and as you guys know I’ve said this from day one you know we’re not going to deviate from our North Star you know which is developing our young Talent we have a lot of young Talent on our roster um some of them are already starting to kind of break through and some of them really haven’t um haven’t really been exposed to that process yet but we’re excited about all of them and uh I think uh you know that’s going to be that’s going to continue to be the north star that guides us you know renegotiating ji’s contract right now what was the what was the thinking behind that you didn’t have to immediately you know just talk about I guess the faith that you’re showing in him at this moment yep well we’ve always had faith in faith in Jonathan um he’s earned that Faith through hard work um and through the High character that he always exhibits um obviously you know he kind of got to show who he was a little bit last year and we hoping that that’s just the beginning um you know this is a unique situation where we just happen to have the cap space to be able to do something like we did with him uh because as I’ve told you guys you know this new CBA is going to be restrictive for everybody you know it’s coming at everybody and to be able to try to like realign some of the um existing contracts so that you can kind of set yourself up to face that um was part of what we hope to accomplish this summer there were a lot of other names mentioned I don’t know how accurate they were in connection with you guys as far as free agents I’m assuming kcp was your your number one target or yeah I I I don’t really get into that I would just say this Mike you know um a um I don’t think you believe everything you read do you no all right neither do I everything I [Laughter] right so I’ll just say this you know when when when when the draft rolls around everybody talks to everybody when free agency rolls around everybody talks to everybody that’s the job even if it’s just to gain context into what other teams are doing where the market is setting itself so you know we admired admired kcp from afar for quite a while as I think much of the league has uh I would say kcp to me is a basketball guy is basketball guy you know he doesn’t have SE sexy stats he’s not a high scorer but for the the the stats that I have in my mind about like you know playing those minutes on championship teams on the fact that he’s a 97th percentile difficulty match up defensively so he guards the other team’s best player 97% of the times um those are the stats that excite guys like us and um so so he’s been a coveted free agent um you know throughout this whole process and you know we we latched on early and we were you know thrilled to be able to engage in a serious conversation also his three-point shooting could that could there be more volume there than what he said I I have something in my head and I’m probably going to get it wrong but I want to say something to the effect that in the last four years there have been six guys who have take who have taken 1500 threes and shot 40% and he’s one of them so high volume um um uh obviously above 40% with only minimal games missed and an elite level Defender that is a really hard to find player in today’s NBA and then when you when you couple that with like the highest of character the kind of like the glue guy I think that you know uh uh doesn’t speak to to the talent level that we’re dealing with but like he’s one of those guys to to help bring people together in the locker room and I know every coach that he’s played for has just raved about him how does how does this addition impact the development plan of Jaylen SS uh I don’t think it it’ll change anything I think uh Jaylen is on his own trajectory he had a great season last year we we hope that continues and even you know grows from there um I think kcp will again you know bring bring um Championship pedigree to our team and show those guys what it’s about um I think that one of the uh elements that we have uh established here because we are so young is you know we’re a very young kind of light-hearted team you know like we you you guys see it on the floor we’re emotional and um I think kcp will show those guys how to maintain that emotion uh that care for one another but also bring a level of seriousness and when to focus in and part of like the the the maturation of our team on that point though jayen though where are you guys at just in terms of a potential extension and negotiations in that process well jaylen’s obviously a really important player for our team he had a great season last year um he means a lot to us um you know he has a great uh uh agent who we are in constant communication with and beyond that you guys know I won’t comment on any negotiations with any of our players you mentioned continuity as as something that you valued in the team building process it’s another season you’re bringing in back a lot of this guys how how valuable is that going to be to help this team get to the to its next level and continue to improve we we’ve believed in that and I’ve always said to you guys um continuity is only valuable if your team is winning there’s no sense in you know continuously bringing back the same guys if you’re not work if it’s not working but you know we do feel like we’ve landed on a good group of players who who who fit on the court off the court we feel like kcp is the ultimate kind of fit in and figure it out type of player um and so you know that matters to us now you know uh with the new CBA being what it is like that’s not going to be you know able to hold forever and we are going to have some hard decisions to make but um you know where we can we like to you know bring back familiar faces who know one another who understand the commitment who are dedicated to making one another better and focused on winning you guys did bring back though yesterday the news broke when you guys did have until the beginning of the season to get that extension done was there a of urgency to get it done this summer or did that just naturally come into formation with that deal yeah again I I won’t comment on on any negotiating Tim taes or strategies or anything like that everyone is different um you know and uh we were just able to get that one across the Finish Line how does kcp bit in with your philosophy of the North Star I think he’s going to be uh you know it’s it’s a great question Mike because I don’t even know you know what we’re trying to do right now is a little tricky you know we we had a great season last year we want to build on that we want to move this team forward kcp helps us do that but we’re also uh trying to run another race which is we need to develop our young players and I think kcp is going to be able to he’s he’s a rare guy who’s actually going to be able to do both of those things for us Jeff I you can’t comment on the negotiations um but fron vogner I mean next five six years uh you know I think sky is the limit for fron I know our fans know that um they’ve seen his trajectory they’ve seen his his work you know they’ve seen how how competitive he is how smart he is um he’s 22 you know I mean we have so many young guys on this team and um you know I think Paulo put something out on social media earlier in the season something to the effect of you know wait wait till you see us five years from now you know and when I talk about our North Star you know I think like that’s something to keep in the back of your mind you know like these guys are just starting they’re they’re they’re early in their stage they haven’t even scratched their surfaces yet but the but the but the bottom line is they’re focused they’re they’re intense workers they’re competitive and they really want to win above all else and that’s what excites us about the roster everyone good I got one more question going back to a question that Mike asked just out of curiosity um you know you said during free agency we contacted everybody just out of curiosity do you have a connection with PA represent you know again Jamie I I won’t I won’t get into any of that you know I say this everybody talks to everybody because if nothing else even just to understand like the context of the market you know what’s driving certain teams who your competitors are if you can find out that this team is chasing this player then that might make you feel differently about you know your chances on with another player so you try to figure out everything and a lot of that gets reported some some of it honestly is just generated out of smoke but even even the ones that are real aren’t really um fully contextualized to where you know maybe we talk to a a rep or a team but it might be completely with a completely different reason than it was reported so that’s why I say you know you guys you guys know how how this stuff works and rumors but get more rumors um so you know we try to be as thorough as we possibly can you know every draft every free agency and not leave any stone unturned and part of that is understanding like what’s going on around you so you know I’ll leave it that

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