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LAS VEGAS – Scott Brooks didn’t coach a game over the last two weeks.
But of the 10 games the Thunder played between both the Orlando and Las Vegas summer leagues, the Thunder head coach continued to learn more about his players and how he can best utilize them moving forward.
But keeping things in perspective is the key, Brooks said.
This is only Summer League. Much can happen between now, training camp and over the course of the regular season.
One important thing Brooks made clear was that the players will have to battle for playing time and rotation spots come training camp. Nothing is a given.
We caught up with Brooks right before tip off of the Thunder’s Summer League finale against Dallas.
How positive of an experience was this for everyone from Russell Westbrook to the free agents?
“Well, a couple of things I’d like to highlight are Russell (Westbrook) making the commitment coming out here. He played a lot of minutes for us last year, did a lot of incredible things for us last season. A lot of guys in his position did not come to Summer League. He not only played one game but he played five games. That says a lot about his leadership and development and I’m proud of it. And also, Kevin Durant coming out here supporting his team – that’s huge. He’s one of our better players. For him to come out here and show support, that’s another guy who’s building his leadership skills. For the most part I’m proud of the way our coaching staff and BK (Brian Keefe) has handled our team playing in two summer leagues. It takes a toll on the mind and your body but we’ve done a good job managing that. And guys are playing hard. We see a lot of improvement. D.J. (White)’s had some good spots, Kyle (Weaver)’s played well and Serge (Ibaka) has come on and Byron (Mullens) and James (Harden) have done a good job. It’s been a great experience for a lot of our guys and this is a time when it helps. It helps them show us what they can do and what they’ve improved on and it also helps us work on what they need to work on. It gives us a reference point to where they need to continue to work on things in the summer, and I think the guys really gave a good commitment, a good effort and I’m proud of that.”
For you in particular, when you’re watching these games are you getting an idea of how you’d like to use some players this season?
“Absolutely. Watching our guys, I’m visualizing ways to use our guys. First of all, guys are going to work hard and that’s good to see. It’s what they’ve done in the summer and they’re going to continue to do that in the rest of the summer into fall camp. So the minutes are going to be very competitive this coming year. We have a lot of guys and a lot of deserving spots that are going to deserve minutes so it’s going to really help our practices. I thought they were great last year but it’s going to be even more competitive this year. But I have been watching and seeing the strengths of our guys, where I can fit them in, where I can put them in our offense, where they can help defensively. That’s the good thing about Summer League, and we’ve been fortunate to have two of them. We’ve had 10 games to see that.”
What’s the communication been like between you and the rest of the front office throughout Summer League?
“Well I’m very fortunate to have this job working with Sam (Presti). Sam and I are communicating on everything that we want this team to represent and I like the guys, the character guys that he’s bringing in. I enjoy working with them and trying to improve their basketball skills. They’re good guys. I don’t have to worry about any issues with any of them. My main focus has been how can I get these guys better, and that’s a great thing for a coach, to all he has to do is worry about getting guys better. We’re always talking. We’re talking about the game that just took place, we’re talking about the games we’re watching – there’s five or six games that take place during the day – all of us are in their watching games and saying, ‘maybe there’s a free agent out there that can help us.’ We have to get better, we’re looking to get better and we’re always looking for ways to improve our team. And it’s just not the guys who are on our team this Summer League but it’s the guys with other teams that are out there who are looking to fight and claw and are looking to get into the NBA.”
How much do you take from the last two weeks in regards to the rookie trio of James Harden, Byron Mullens and Robert Vaden?
“I think you have to keep it in perspective. It is the Summer League. We’re looking at it that we want our guys to compete. We want them to play with the mentality of effort every time down the court. And it’s our job as players and coaches to get them to play well. Now, I like the fact that they’re competing and playing hard. They’re not winning games here but we’re coming close and we’re making games competitive. But you have to keep it in perspective. It is the Summer League. I’ve seen a lot of great Summer League players and you never hear about them in the NBA. Or I’ve seen some guys who’ve had bad summer leagues and all of a sudden were starters and rotation guys in the regular season. I was one of the best Summer League players ever and I was an average, if that, player. So you’ve got to keep everything in perspective. You’ve got to keep everything in perspective. We want to create the culture of this team of playing hard, aggressive, tough basketball.”
You mentioned guys like Kyle, D.J. and Shaun. Can you tell from these two weeks whether they’ve made the most of their off-season?
“You know what, they’ve really done some good things this summer. And it’s just not a two week period. We gave them off a few weeks after the season but we put them on a program. We’ve got Dwight Daub and Donnie (Strack) and Joe (Sharpe) and those guys are a great staff and have been getting these guys stronger and quicker and have done a good job of executing the game plan we’ve given them. And that’s going to be the case the rest of the summer. Just because the Summer League is over, you can’t chill out and come back in September and be ready to play NBA basketball – no. These guys have to get better. There’s minutes out there to be had and it’s up to them that they get them. We’re not giving them anything – they have to earn it. It’s going to be a combination of effort and energy and a lot of hard work in August and September.”
With Kevin being here and going through practices and shoot arounds and warming up before games, have you just come to expect that from him?
“That’s the thing that Sam and I talk about all the time. We want things to be expected. We don’t want to walk in to the gym and say, ‘wow, look at these guys. They’re hard working guys and great kids and this and that.’ That’s what we are. That’s who we are. That’s what we do. And Kevin is just one of the examples that we have on this team. All of our guys are committed to getting better. And we want a stranger to walk into our gym and be in awe of what they see of the effort and the energy and the commitment of our team to get better. But if you’re around our team, you want it to be the normal. You want to walk into our gym and not feel that way. You want this to say, ‘this is what we expect, and our guys know that.’ Kevin and Jeff and Russell and Kyle, you can go down the list, Nick – all of our guys expect to put forth the effort every time they walk into our building.”
Are you using these summer leagues to gauge where Serge will fit with the organization this season?
“There’s a couple of reasons why we do the things we do is because we feel that this is how we’re going to create our culture and our successes are going to be based on what we do day in, day out. But it’s also for guys like Serge. He comes in new to the program right from the very start. We have a program in place that’s already been implemented and he’s just part of the group, and there’s no adjustment period. The first day, we threw him in there and he was going 100 miles an hour, and that’s what we like and that’s what we’ve been doing. It’s been fun to see and develop. It still has to be continued and shaped and get better and we have to continue to execute it.”
Contact Chris Silva
But of the 10 games the Thunder played between both the Orlando and Las Vegas summer leagues, the Thunder head coach continued to learn more about his players and how he can best utilize them moving forward.
But keeping things in perspective is the key, Brooks said.
This is only Summer League. Much can happen between now, training camp and over the course of the regular season.
One important thing Brooks made clear was that the players will have to battle for playing time and rotation spots come training camp. Nothing is a given.
We caught up with Brooks right before tip off of the Thunder’s Summer League finale against Dallas.
How positive of an experience was this for everyone from Russell Westbrook to the free agents?
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For you in particular, when you’re watching these games are you getting an idea of how you’d like to use some players this season?
“Absolutely. Watching our guys, I’m visualizing ways to use our guys. First of all, guys are going to work hard and that’s good to see. It’s what they’ve done in the summer and they’re going to continue to do that in the rest of the summer into fall camp. So the minutes are going to be very competitive this coming year. We have a lot of guys and a lot of deserving spots that are going to deserve minutes so it’s going to really help our practices. I thought they were great last year but it’s going to be even more competitive this year. But I have been watching and seeing the strengths of our guys, where I can fit them in, where I can put them in our offense, where they can help defensively. That’s the good thing about Summer League, and we’ve been fortunate to have two of them. We’ve had 10 games to see that.”
What’s the communication been like between you and the rest of the front office throughout Summer League?
“Well I’m very fortunate to have this job working with Sam (Presti). Sam and I are communicating on everything that we want this team to represent and I like the guys, the character guys that he’s bringing in. I enjoy working with them and trying to improve their basketball skills. They’re good guys. I don’t have to worry about any issues with any of them. My main focus has been how can I get these guys better, and that’s a great thing for a coach, to all he has to do is worry about getting guys better. We’re always talking. We’re talking about the game that just took place, we’re talking about the games we’re watching – there’s five or six games that take place during the day – all of us are in their watching games and saying, ‘maybe there’s a free agent out there that can help us.’ We have to get better, we’re looking to get better and we’re always looking for ways to improve our team. And it’s just not the guys who are on our team this Summer League but it’s the guys with other teams that are out there who are looking to fight and claw and are looking to get into the NBA.”
How much do you take from the last two weeks in regards to the rookie trio of James Harden, Byron Mullens and Robert Vaden?
 |
|
You mentioned guys like Kyle, D.J. and Shaun. Can you tell from these two weeks whether they’ve made the most of their off-season?
“You know what, they’ve really done some good things this summer. And it’s just not a two week period. We gave them off a few weeks after the season but we put them on a program. We’ve got Dwight Daub and Donnie (Strack) and Joe (Sharpe) and those guys are a great staff and have been getting these guys stronger and quicker and have done a good job of executing the game plan we’ve given them. And that’s going to be the case the rest of the summer. Just because the Summer League is over, you can’t chill out and come back in September and be ready to play NBA basketball – no. These guys have to get better. There’s minutes out there to be had and it’s up to them that they get them. We’re not giving them anything – they have to earn it. It’s going to be a combination of effort and energy and a lot of hard work in August and September.”
With Kevin being here and going through practices and shoot arounds and warming up before games, have you just come to expect that from him?
“That’s the thing that Sam and I talk about all the time. We want things to be expected. We don’t want to walk in to the gym and say, ‘wow, look at these guys. They’re hard working guys and great kids and this and that.’ That’s what we are. That’s who we are. That’s what we do. And Kevin is just one of the examples that we have on this team. All of our guys are committed to getting better. And we want a stranger to walk into our gym and be in awe of what they see of the effort and the energy and the commitment of our team to get better. But if you’re around our team, you want it to be the normal. You want to walk into our gym and not feel that way. You want this to say, ‘this is what we expect, and our guys know that.’ Kevin and Jeff and Russell and Kyle, you can go down the list, Nick – all of our guys expect to put forth the effort every time they walk into our building.”
Are you using these summer leagues to gauge where Serge will fit with the organization this season?
 |
Contact Chris Silva
