Thunder journal,

With Russell Westbrook and Andre Roberson limited, the Thunder will have plenty of backcourt repetitions to go around in training camp. Dennis Schroder stands to benefit the most, and the relationship between him and Steven Adams could be one to watch.

Adams recalled working out with Schroder in the pre-draft process in 2013, and was impressed with his pick-androll rhythm in scrimmages this summer. The combination has the potential to be great, as Schroder scored the fifth-most points in the NBA last season as the pick-and-roll ballhandler, while Adams was seventh with 1.22 points per possession in the pick-and-roll when he was the roll man (minimum 100 possessions).

“It was great watching those two guys communicate together,” Thunder coach Billy Donovan said of Adams and Schroder. “The biggest thing is the communication and those guys communicating on dead ball situations about, ‘hey, what about this, what about that.’ They’ll get that worked out, but Dennis plays with really good tempo and really good pace.”

Last season, Jerami Grant was even better than Adams, scoring 1.24 points per possession as the roll man, a sign that Schroder could find effective partnerships with Grant in the second unit. Naturally, all terminology won’t get picked up on Day 1, but Donovan said Schroder and the rest of the Thunder’s new players were quick studies on Tuesday.

“Dennis is a really smart player,” Donovan said. “He picked up things really, really well today.

“I think that the hard part for any player defensively is just getting the coverage. He’s been in Atlanta for his entire career so he’s probably become very, very familiar with the language, the terminology, things that they use for pick-and-roll coverages or post defense or trapping. The calls are different. He’s gotta learn those kind of things but he'll pick those things up and those things take time to build the habits on it. He’s smart enough that he knows what is going on.”

Roberson watch

It wasn’t much, but it was a good sign just to see Roberson back on the floor. When Thunder post-practice opened to the media, Roberson was in a rotation of wing players taking catch-and-shoot 3-pointers off passes from team assistants. It wasn’t a lot of movement, but when the drill was finished, Roberson chased after a ball without running and even gave it a few kicks before corralling it.

Roberson still hasn’t been cleared for contact in his rehab from a torn left patellar tendon, but the Thunder guard is doing as much as he can at practice. Along with Westbrook, who’s also out injured after arthroscopic knee surgery, Roberson is talking to players as much as he can to assist in preseason practice. Roberson and Westbrook each wore first-unit white practice jerseys, but did not participate in contact.

“We were into contact and running up and down the floor, so it was really hard for him to do much,” Donovan said of Roberson. “But again, there’s things he can do as it relates to shooting and some movement, but there’s just certain things he can’t do.”

“He’ll continue to progress and move closer and closer to being able to play.”