By Michael Doutey
The Thunder had their 11th media day this afternoon. I took some notes from what what said and some interesting tidbits from today’s media session. Tomorrow kicks off training camp for the 2018-2019 season.
Billy Donovan:
Spent a lot of time with players from last year’s team in the offseason. He’s been building and planning with them for this season.
Starting tomorrow, looking forward to the process starting with camp tomorrow.
Feels fortunate that Russ had the surgery and it wasn’t a serious injury.
Says that Dennis Schroder is very competitive and wants to win. Thinks both he and Russ can play together at the same time. Thinks that it is challenging because Russ doesn’t have the time in training camp, but thinks it will take time for them to mesh. But he does think that they can play well on the floor at the same time.
Says he’ll wait and see if Patrick Patterson will start at the four. Notes he wants to see how all the new guys play together before he makes that decision. Says both Patterson and Jerami Grant will be very important to this years team regardless of who gets the starting nod.
Says they were inconsistent last year. Wants to play consistently. Game to game. Says fixing that starts tomorrow. He wants his team to play as well as they did against the better teams in the league last season and play that way against the sub-.500 teams. OKC struggled in those games last year. He wants more consistent play from game to game.
Russell Westbrook:
On relationship with PG. Says throughout last season and before last season they learned about each other and clicked from the get-go and got closer and closer from there.
Thinks fatherhood can change his game.
On Dennis: He’s a great player. Plays fast. Plays with pace. Thinks they can play together at the same time well.
China trip was one of his favorites. Liked the people and how avid of fans they are.
Doesn’t want Dre to rush back. Wants guys to be ready to play while he rehabs, but they’ll pick right up where they left off with Dre from last season.
On when he will comeback:
4 weeks. Whatever the press release said is when he will comeback.
On if he’s changed how he recruits in the offseason:
Says he does it all the same with free agency recruitment. Says he is straightforward and keeps it 100. Says if he changed to try to get someone or to keep someone, then that would be fake and he won’t do that.
Paul George
Says he came here with an open mind. Says otherwise he would be holding back and didn’t wanna do that. Started great relationships with Russ, Dre, Steven and Billy D.
Thinks he can enjoy the game more now that there is no speculation about where his future is.
Thinks more consistency comes with being on the team for longer. Thinks people will see more chemistry and consistency this season. He says that was a big factor in his decision to come back. He thinks they can build off last season now that everyone is essentially back for year two together.
On Jerami Grant returning:
JG is a special player that you need on a team for a team to become special. Says you can plug him in anywhere and he will help. Defensively he can fly across the floor, protect basket and run in transition.
Says he will miss Melo as a teammate and brother, but says when something doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. Says Melo is in a better situation now.
Says he an Kawhi are close. Said they talked this summer. Told him to just be open in his situation in Toronto even though he might want to go home to play. Be open and decide from there.
Ray Felton:
Values being a leader to younger guys trying to find their way in the league.
On being on board adding Dennis Schroder:
He is all about winning basketball games. Likes having multiple playmakers on one team. Think having that and the ability to have all three on the court could create mismatches and be difficult to stop.
Feels Russ and Dennis can play off each other. Says having them as playmakers plus Paul is tough for people to defend.
Didn’t panic about PG’s decision. Says PG chose the place that he loved and that was about it.
Nerlens Noel
Says Mark Bryant, OKC’s big man coach, is one of the best development guys in league. Noticed how much better Adams has gotten and knew MB was a big part of that.
Knew coming here was going to be a challenge. Was impressed with how Presti built the roster and said that was attractive.
See’s that he can come in and fill a role that this team didn’t have last season. Has always wanted to be apart of a championship built team. See’s that he can play well and fit well with this team.
Knew Steven since high school. Went at it back then when they faced each other. Thinks going against each other in practice will help each other get better. Thinks they can play well off each other. Says he is a really funny guy. He really likes Steven.
He’s noticed how guys like Steven and Jerami Grant have come here and gotten better. JG and Nerlens played with each in Philly. He’s noticed how OKC took what JG does best and built on it. That was something that attracted him to OKC.
Steven Adams
Cool to have another guy from his draft on the team in Nerles.
Thoughts on Dennis Schroder:
Very quick. Worked out with him too pre-draft. He knows how to use pick and roll. Has good tempo and pace off that.
New shot clock rule shouldn’t affect things much. Offensive rebounds tend to have quick shots off them. But 14 seconds still allows a good set to be run. New NBA rules say that after an offensive rebound the shot clock resets to 14 seconds instead of the full 24.
Steven Adams says he doesn’t want to lose his job. Will absolutely not shoot three’s, he said with a laugh.
Says his autobiography is a good read.
Patrick Patterson
Thinks his quick passing will help with the Thunder’s desire to play fast and with a better tempo.
Says he has played the 4 or 5 his whole life and is comfortable playing both.
He didn’t know if PG would stay. He felt the chemistry and bond with him was good and could tell it was that way with everyone else on the team too, especially Russ. He it felt like PG would stay, but wasn’t 100 percent sure.
Says he wants to start as a competitor and that Grant will say the same thing. But is willing to do what is best for the team as long as he is playing. Doesn’t mind if he plays with the starting unit or the second unit. Also said the best fit should determine who should start.
Feels he and Jerami can knock down open three’s. Says it’s important for whoever plays with the starters at the 4 has the ability to knock down shots.
Alex Abrines
Wants to continue to get better defensively. Abrines was better the last month of last season and in the Jazz series on that end. Wants to build off it.
On Dennis Schroder:
a great player. Crafty. Can score in many ways. Can really help the 2nd team. Thinks Dennis’ ability to pass can help open him up for open three’s.
He wasn’t happy with Spain’s showing in the World Cup. Thinks they are in a transitioning time with their national team.
He’s the 4th longest tenured player with OKC. Thinks he has a job to show new guys how they do things in OKC and be an example of the culture.
Alex got married this offseason.
Jerami Grant:
Worked on entire game this summer.
Excited to play faster. Loves that style of play and thinks it plays to his strength.
Says it was a no-brainer to come back. Says he loves the organization and wanted to be back here.
Says it’s huge that they spent the money for he and PG to comeback. Says it meant a lot.
Says he told Nerlens in the offseason to be ready and that their new style of play fits what Nerlens does too.
He is taking on a leadership role. Maybe not as much as Russ and others, but thinks it’s important to take on that role a little bit more now that he’s been around three years.
Andre Roberson:
Says he feels great. Everyday he feels more comfortable with his leg. More comfortable with his abilities. Says its been tedious process. 8 months going on 9 months. Says contact will be coming soon.
Says he’s doing a little more everyday. Says he couldn’t overdo it and was closely monitored. Says it has been difficult process.
Likes that they are going to play at a faster tempo. Says they want to adjust on the fly faster too. Be willing to accept new roles and accept on the fly.
Says there is a return to basketball and then a return to performance. December is more of the time he thinks he can return to how he was playing before the injury. Says he think he will be cleared to play before then though.
Say he’s had trouble questioning himself with so much down time with the injury. Decided to try and take trips to try to relieve pressure of grind of rehab and not get down with the process.
Dennis Schroeder:
Says he likes being able to see Russ and PG work everyday and that was something he was excited about coming here. Wants to learn from their example and approach.
Say’s out in LA that he, Russ, Ray and PG were on the floor at the same time in pick up games and they were able to go really fast and it was really tough for people to defend.
Says whatever it takes to win games is what he will do. Whether that is coming off the bench or starting, he will do it. Thinks they have a special group this year and that makes it easier.
Says first four years of his career defense was what got him on the floor. Took a step back in year five on that end of the floor since he had more of an offensive role.
Says he still remembers Adams screens when they played OKC. Says he is a great screener. Watched a lot of games where he caught and finished nearly all of the passes from Russ in the pick and roll game.
Cut his hair for new start, but his gold patch is coming back.
Says his legal issue in Atlanta is a process but nothing to worry about. He is looking forward to a new start and is happy to be in OKC.
Terrance Ferguson
Says he really worked on his body this offseason and then worked with Darko Rajakovic on decision making this season.
Says he learned from summer league issues. Had to do things he isn’t comfortable with. Felt like failing at it was part of the process to improve.
Excited for the Tulsa trip. Says he is going to need a bunch of ticket for the Tulsa exhibition game. He is a Tulsa native.
TLC
Thinks it’s a great opportunity here. Likes that he is with a new team and can see a new culture from France, Philly and now here.
Didn’t know much about the Thunder before. Always heard good things about fans and organization. But didn’t know much more than that.
See’s that he can run and attack all game like Russ. He thinks he can bring intense defense to this team.
He thinks he can really add to the defense next to PG and Dre. Is excited to learn from PG and Dre.
Hamidou Diallo
Draft night was a long process. Says he is happy where he ended up. Began to work to summer league right after that. Has been working for training camp since the end of summer league.
He hasn’t had had conversations about what his role this season might be, but he wants to learn from the veteran guys and be a sponge and soak everything up.
Notes Thunder track record for developing guys is great. Looks to what they’ve done for Andre Roberson and wants to learn from him and watch him and the other guys.
If offered the opportunity he would love to be in the dunk contest. Wants to show off his hops.
