The Oklahoma City Thunder concluded their third day of training camp on Thursday as the preseason opener against the San Antonio Spurs inches closer.
Following camp, Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault, Josh Giddey and Jalen Williams spoke with the media. Practice footage was also recorded by the media prior to the trio talking.
Buy Thunder TicketsGiddey and Williams both spoke about their experiences with practicing with Chet Holmgren throughout camp following his season-long absence last year. The 2022 No. 2 pick is set to make his NBA debut this season.
Let’s recap what Daigneault, Giddey and Williams had to say along with practice footage uploaded on social media following the third day of training camp.
Here at the Thunder practice facility pic.twitter.com/1xY73lKrXZ
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) October 5, 2023
Several Thunder players practicing 3-point shooting pic.twitter.com/EYiy490pbC
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) October 5, 2023
JDub & Dort working together on one of the courts pic.twitter.com/Ob0GaXLdGM
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) October 5, 2023
SGA & Cason Wallace working together pic.twitter.com/z0wtIHExwJ
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) October 5, 2023
Giddey from 3 with the help of Chip Engelland pic.twitter.com/XFkeb2aXJ6
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) October 5, 2023
More 3-point shooting from Giddey pic.twitter.com/OQNcb7ricZ
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) October 5, 2023
Poku putting up some shots pic.twitter.com/rkCIQsD4Qn
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) October 5, 2023
Mark Daigneault mentioned that Poku has helped Vasilije Micic get comfortable with the team:
“They’re both Serbian… Poku is like 10 years younger than him but he’s teaching Vasa our way of doing things, which is pretty cool.”
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) October 5, 2023
Mark Daigneault when talking about Chet Holmgren on defense “we are not dumb we are going to keep him around the rim” but mentioned there’s times you can’t help it and he will be in other spots pic.twitter.com/ANQZ4x3KBu
— Rylan Stiles (@Rylan_Stiles) October 5, 2023
Josh Giddey on new roster additions:
“Adding these shooters is so fun to us. Obviously 2 years ago, we kinda spoke about it and addressed it that we were the worst 3-point shooting team in the league and we cleaned it up and made significant improvements over the last season.”
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) October 5, 2023
Josh Giddey on the benefits of playing FIBA & Olympic basketball over the offseason: pic.twitter.com/7ibn934ikG
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) October 5, 2023
Josh Giddey on who’s stood out in training camp: “Chet’s been really good. For him, he’s obviously gonna be a big part of what we’re doing.”
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) October 5, 2023
Jalen Williams on offseason improvements: “I think I got better at picking my spots. It’s been a big thing for me. You look at the most efficient NBA players now, they kinda know where they wanna be at on the floor.”
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) October 5, 2023
Jalen Williams on practicing with Chet:
“It’s been fun. I think getting the reps with him has been special. I know he’s excited to finally be back and we’re excited to have him. He brings a lot to the table.”
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) October 5, 2023
Jalen Williams confirmed he’ll have more content to upload soon on his YouTube channel and will utilize a Go Pro for footage
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) October 5, 2023
Jalen Williams on Wemby: “He’s a helluva player so it’ll be cool to play against him and hopefully he has a long great career.”
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) October 5, 2023
I asked Jalen Williams if Monday had any extra juice for a preseason game with Chet Holmgren vs Victor Wembanyama and he told a great story about his first preseason game: pic.twitter.com/4XiW6OBioU
— Rylan Stiles (@Rylan_Stiles) October 5, 2023
