Thunder Blog: Monday News and Notes

POST-PRACTICE NOTES

In sticking with the plan to switch up the starting lineups from game to game, head coach Scott Brooks said that second-year center Byron Mullens will start Tuesday’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies.

“We definitely want to keep looking at different combinations of different players and nothing is settled right now,” Brooks said. “We’ve just been working and getting better as a group. We’ve got a couple of more weeks to find out who we’re going to play in our rotation.”

-Communication is so important at the pro level that rookie Cole Aldrich said that it has been one of the most important things he’s learned through his first two preseason games.

“Just to continue to talk defensively,” Aldrich said regarding what he could take from the preseason. “I think that’s one thing that really doesn’t show up anywhere and the average fan probably wouldn’t notice it at all. But just talking defensively, knowing where I am on the court because it really helps out.”

-Brooks said that the focal point of practice was playing with pace, playing faster and having a physical presence on the ball.

-Be on the lookout for a story on Daequan Cook later today on thunder.nba.com.

THE MANY DUTIES OF A POINT GUARD

I know I’ve written earlier in training camp about Thunder players knowing every position on the floor, but I have to bring it up again if only because Russell Westbrook provided us with a unique take on it.

Speaking before a small group of reporters at Friday’s shoot around in Kansas City, Westbrook was asked what it was like, as a point guard, to know where everyone is supposed to be on the court on any given play. As you could imagine, that type of awareness and recognition doesn’t come after just one season.

“My first year was tough on me because we had a lot of plays,” Westbrook said, “but then my second year I just watched how other people ran their positions in practice just so I knew where everyone’s position was, just in case in a game if a big comes to me and asks what he’s supposed to do, I’ve got to be able to tell him where he’s supposed to go. I have to know all the positions, all the plays.”

It’s a rather interesting part of the job. We see a player like Westbrook and we immediately marvel at his athleticism, ability to change gears in a heartbeat, his hops. But it’s his knowledge, his court awareness, that’s just as integral to his job. No matter how talented his teammates are Westbrook still has to make sure the offense runs fluidly, which goes back to mastering the little things: where everyone belongs and where they should be headed on the court. Breaking down every position on the court during practice is one thing. The coach is asking you a question, you’re giving an answer. The play has stopped and you’re literally walking it through. We’ve seen head coach Scott Brooks quiz Westbrook on the playbook toward the end of practices.

But knowing where everyone should be during a game, all the while you’re reacting to defenses, players are trying to get into position, and you also have to be cognizant of the shot clock, is a completely different beast. Time speeds up. As coaches say, you have to read and react. And that sort of thing, Westbrook says, only comes with more repetition.

“That’s a tough position, as a point guard,” head coach Scott Brooks said. “You never master it. I don’t care how many years you play it. There’s always going to be stress on the game because you’ve got four players that always want the ball and you have a coach that always wants you to give the ball to a certain player at a certain spot depending on the time and score of the game. But Russell has done a really good job of managing all the personalities on the team, and that’s the job of the point guard – and he’s done a really good job of doing that.”

QUOTABLE
“I like where we’re going. I think we’ve had 13 or 14 practices and two exhibition games and I can’t, out of all those practices, not one did I say it was a bad practice, we didn’t get anything out of it. We’ve gotten something out of every practice. I understand it’s only preseason; it’s October. But you still have to get something out of every day you step on the court and our guys have done that. I like where we are but we still have some room to get better the next two and half, three weeks before our first game.” – head coach Scott Brooks on what he’s taken from the first two weeks of training camp and the preseason.

THIS WEEK
The Thunder will face the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday at the BOK Center in Tulsa before returning to its downtown arena to play CSKA Moscow on Thursday in its only preseason game in Oklahoma City. You can purchase tickets for both games right here on thunder.nba.com.

Have to wonder what the crowds will be like with two in-state games. Sure it’s the preseason and the games don’t count, but it would be neat to see both arenas be buzzing with this being the first time fans will see the Thunder since the end of last season.

TULSA CONCLUDES TRYOUTS
Twenty-four players were invited back for the Tulsa 66ers’ second day of open tryouts on Sunday, the team announced. The open tryout attracted 44 players in total. The 66ers signed former Oral Roberts forward Marcus Lewis from last year’s open tryout.

“We take great pride in our open tryouts and take it very seriously,” 66ers head coach Tibbetts said. ”I think we do a good job of evaluating talent and allowing these guys an opportunity to display their skills. We will sit down as a staff, evaluate the guys and inform the league office who we are interested in.”