Media day: Highlights from Thunder players, coaches
The Oklahoma City Thunder held its media day on Monday.
The Thunder went 22-50 last season and is looking to build around a young core of players such as Shai GilgeousAlexander, Luguentz Dort and Darius Bazley. The team begins preseason play on Oct. 4 with a home game against Utah.
Here’s what Oklahoma City players and coaches had to say on Monday.
Mark Daigneault
On the state of the team: “We have a blank canvas kind of staring us in the face. It’s not often that you get that opportunity, especially with a team that’s layered with young talent, and we’re excited about attacking that challenge and seeing what we can make of it. How we play, the personality of the team, the identity of the team is unwritten at this point, and that’s a great opportunity.”
On the health of the team: “The short answer is yes. The one guy, (Derrick) Favors, has a little bit of swelling in his knee. He’s not injured. He will participate in camp, but we’re going to take a cautious approach with him in terms of reps. We’re prioritizing him being ready for the regular season... He’s taking reps tomorrow, to be perfectly clear.”
Tip-in: Daigneault and his wife, Ashley, are expecting their first child. Daigneault said she is due in November and they have learned they will be having a boy.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
On his health after suffering a torn plantar fascia in his right foot last season: “I feel 150 percent. I’ve felt good for a long time now, and I’m super excited to play... I’m completely back, like I’m jumping, running as fast as I can with no restrictions at all.”
On his max contract extension: “Obviously it was a dream come true. Super proud of it, super happy about it, obviously. But I know for me, the job is not done, work is not done. It’s just one milestone I get to cross off my list, but I still have 90 percent of my list, so I won’t stop.”
On his offseason improvements: “I tried to focus on getting better at everything day by day. I do feel like I got better as a basketball player and I will be better this year... I think I feel stronger and faster.”
Mike Muscala
On playing with OKC’s young core: “It’s invigorating being around them on the court… Sam (Presti) and the front office have brought in good people, and you can tell.”
On why OKC is a good fit for him: “I love the city itself. I think there are a lot of parts to the city that when you’re an away team you don’t get to appreciate, and living here the last two years I’ve been very happy with my time... From an organizational standpoint, I just feel like I really appreciate what the Thunder are about. I appreciate the fans, the people in the front office, coaching staff and the players that come in.”
Derrick Favors
On being traded to the Thunder this offseason: “I talked to Sam (Presti) and to Coach (Daigneault), and we just had a good conversation about what’s expected and how I’m going to fit in and what the future holds. We had a good conversation... I feel good about it. I’m happy to be here.”
Lu Dort
On taking a leap last season: “Obviously last year I had the opportunity just because the team that we had compared to my first year, so I was able to show that to everybody. I feel like this year I’m going to just stick to the same… I’m just so excited to get it back and then start the season, too.”
On his progression this offseason: “I feel like I had a great off-season. Still, I lost a couple pounds, and I’ve been boxing, going to some jiu-jitsu, track, playing soccer and tennis. I’ve really been doing a lot of stuff this off-season just to get my body conditioning.”
Darius Bazley
On adding some muscle this offseason: “I took like two weeks off after the season ended and then got straight to it. Me and the strength coaches, we had a plan, and we stuck to it… I definitely was in the weight room trying to get bigger and get stronger for this upcoming season.”
On his confidence entering his third NBA season: “I’ve had a lot of experiences. I’ve been able to grow through them all. I’m a lot more comfortable coming into this year kind of having a sense of just knowing what to expect, what’s going to be in front of me, what the year kind of looks like.”
Kenrich Williams
On what he worked on this offseason: “Just pretty much everything, the whole game. Just tried to pretty much tighten everything up. I feel like I’ve figured out how to play in the league, so it’s just more about tightening stuff up, working on your handle, tightening the shot up, just working on your mental and everything like that.”
Ty Jerome
On seeing former Virginia teammate Mamadi Diakite get signed by the Thunder on Sunday: “I was super excited to see that yesterday. He actually called me right away, so that was pretty cool. I think you guys can expect just energy, a great teammate, and he’ll come ready to work.“
Vit Krejci On is health status after missing last season due to an ACL injury: “Last
week was my first time playing pickup games, so right now I’m all clear to play, and it’s just a nice… Actually yesterday it was one year since the injury, so it’s just nice to be back. I feel physically good. I haven’t felt the knee once. I’m happy to be back on the floor and get ready for the season.”
Aleksej Pokusevski
On not playing the Summer League: “They decided because they told me they want me to work on my body, and we couldn’t do that if I wanted to play in the Summer League. We had like (a) great two and a half months, I think, of work in the weight room. I improved there for sure. I have seen some improvement, but as I said, I want to see what I can do in the season.”
Josh Giddey
On how his ankle feels after hurting it in the Summer League: “The ankle is good, healthy, back to normal… It was obviously really frustrating, but the medical team and me, we took the right kind of steps and made sure I got healthy and didn’t rush the rehab process. (I’m) healthy now, but we made the right decision not going back out there.”
On the difference between the NBL and the NBA: “The spacing on the floor, a lot have said to me, that’s the main difference from that league to this league. And that’s kind of passing the ball is what I do the best in my game, and the space is going to help me… It’s not going to be a negative at all being able to play with such a bigger floor and then obviously having the shooters that we do and that the NBA does.”
Jeremiah Robinson-Earl
On what he brings to the team: “I take a lot of pride in defensive rebounding. Those are things that can help the team win games on the defensive end and just being able to help those guys that have been here score the ball, just put them in positions for success.”
Tre Mann
On his versatility: “I think I’m versatile, so I can play either on the ball or off the ball and also I can score and make plays for my teammates. So whatever coach (Daigneault) needs me to do, I think I could do that. Whether that be on the ball or off the ball, making plays or scoring.”
Théo Maledon
On how he handles competition for playing time: “I think healthy competitions help rise the level overall of the team, so I think it’s good. I personally want to see everyone win as much as I want to, so for me it’s healthy and good to be out there wanting to compete against those people.”
Isaiah Roby
On attending the OU-Nebraska football game as a Nebraska alum: “It was fun. It was a great game. I was just hoping that we kept it competitive, and I mean, shoot, we had a real good shoot at winning that game. I was up there in my Nebraska gear… We had a great time.”