The Oklahoma City Thunder held practice on Sunday as they continue to prepare for Wednesday’s regular-season opener against the Chicago Bulls.
Following practice, Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Lu Dort spoke with the media. Gilgeous-Alexander was the last of the three to speak as he worked on individual skills and was the last player to wrap up his session.
Daigneault spoke about the Thunder’s roster-building philosophy and their thoughts on heliocentric offenses. Gilgeous-Alexander talked about learning from Michael Jordon when it comes to sacrificing on-ball reps. Dort talked about this weekend’s productive practices.
Let’s recap what Daigneault, Gilgeous-Alexander and Dort had to say following Sunday’s practice.
SGA at practice pic.twitter.com/2lzHlKOgLK
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) October 22, 2023
Well SGA’s 3-point shot is still good pic.twitter.com/nj8JPtvlft
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) October 22, 2023
SGA working on his post moves pic.twitter.com/LoIUnM1ryO
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) October 22, 2023
SGA on his willingness to play more off-ball: “The best teams that have played the game, the teams that have won the most games, most championships play together.”
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) October 22, 2023
SGA on playing more off-ball: “Idk if you saw ‘The Last Dance’ documentary, but there’s a point in Michael Jordan’s career where he had to learn the triangle offense and playing (without) the ball in his hands 24/7. So if Michael Jordan has to do it, I definitely have to do it.”
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) October 22, 2023
SGA: “The more selfless, the more together we are playing offensively, the better we’ll be. I think we all know that.”
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) October 22, 2023
Mark Daigneault: “We like to have a system that bends to the strengths of our players that isn’t gonna change around a guy’s game. The heliocentric model isn’t the way our team’s built and we don’t think it’s the best way to be competitive.”
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) October 22, 2023
Mark Daigneault on this weekend’s practices: “We went really hard yesterday and today. It was a good, competitive juice. The reps has great relevance.”
Also noted that they’ll only have ~32 practices this season
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) October 22, 2023
Lu Dort on this weekend’s practices: “It’s been huge. Just setting the tone. That’s how we want to go out every night and compete and play hard.”
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) October 22, 2023
Lu Dort on Cason Wallace: “The (defensive) trust is there. He’s a really good defender. Good hands… I’m feeling real comfortable to switch and he’s been doing a great job on the ball.”
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) October 22, 2023
Lu Dort on his rim finishing: “Taking my time. Reading the defense. Not be too rushed and not trying to go over 2-3 guys at the same time.”
Said he watched a lot of film over the offseason over his finishing and that improvement was a big point of emphasis for him
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) October 22, 2023
