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Despite Newness, Thunder Identity Carries Over

There’s plenty of new faces in Thunder training camp, but the leadership on the roster, and the core principles the team played with in 2015-16, are still the same.

A defensive identity that permeates all 48 minutes of play, the idea that pressure on the ball, help-side rotations and defensive rebounding can lead to fast break offense and a belief in spacing and ball movement will all be aspects of the Thunder’s on-court style this season. Russell Westbrook remains at the helm at point guard, and young veterans like Steven Adams who have been raised in the Thunder program give credence to the notion that the Thunder’s basketball philosophy will simply carry on to this 2016-17 campaign. Through the first two days of U.S. Cellular Thunder Training Camp at least, that continuation has proven true.

“We’re off to a good start,” Adams said. “This is our second day with training camp, but it’s always good having everyone here so we can build up team chemistry. We’re doing a lot of stuff off court, which is nice to kind of get the team chemistry rolling and evolving faster.”

“It’s the values. The Thunder’s identity of how they play, everyone who has been drafted by them and been here for a long time understand and know how to play to those values,” Adams explained. “That’s all that we bring, the core guys. That’s all we try to do so everyone is on the same page.”

Although roles are far from set in stone heading into Tuesday’s Blue and White Scrimmage at John Marshall High School and won’t be concrete, there’s still a general style of play and emphasis on paying attention to certain details that Head Coach Billy Donovan and his staff will be drilling each and every day.

On defense, it’s about having your teammate’s back and playing on a string. Having the confidence in the man next to you to be in the right spot makes for a much more precise defensive system. On offense for the Thunder, it’ll be about putting players in position to succeed, highlighting their specific skill sets to make the offensive concepts flow smoothly.

“From an offensive standpoint because your personnel changes, you’re always looking at your team and saying how can we devise a system and a way to play that takes advantage of the skillsets that these guys have and create opportunities for them to play to their strengths,” Donovan said.

“You have to constantly keep evolving and changing. That’s a never-ending process, even during the course of the season. We’re going to have a base system of how we want to play, but you’re always looking to evolve where everybody on the floor in a given situation is playing to their strengths.”

There are 20 players competing for 15 roster spots, each of whom brings a different flavor to the table. Their skill sets are diverse and complement their teammates’ abilities, which of course makes for a competitive training camp. What is going to stand out to the coaching staff, however, isn’t necessarily the statistics or shooting percentages, but rather how well the players perform their jobs.

“It isn’t so much about your minutes per say, it’s more so about if you can do the job that the coach says to do,” Adams said. “That’s the competitive edge that it brings out of everyone.”

WATCH: Training Camp Day Two Recap

Adams Remembers Garnett, Duncan

The NBA has always valued youth, but there have always been stalwart veterans that maintain an imprint on the game. In addition to Kobe Bryant, two players who left an indelible mark on the NBA game have announced their retirement since the end of the season – Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan. The ever-loquacious Adams chimed in on his opinion of Garnett, perhaps one of the greatest defensive players the league has seen and certainly one of the NBA’s most passionate teammates.

“It’s more so how he runs the team and how everyone on the team picks up off of his energy and does what he says,” Adams added. “He’s a really smart guy and is equal amongst all his teammates.”

Adams of course couldn’t keep it entirely serious, recalling one of the first times he played against the 21-year veteran.

“He has this presence about him that is intimidating. He didn’t talk to me at all. I played the English card one time. He said something and I was like, “No English”. He kind of left me alone, which was brilliant.”

Adams also praised Duncan, against whom he endured seemingly countless battles over the past three seasons. Two playoff matchups – in the 2014 Western Conference Finals and the 2016 Western Conference Semifinals – and a pile of regular season matchups helped Adams learn some of Duncan’s tricks. It also provided a great opportunity to admire one of the best to ever do it.

“I was sad. He’s a lovable guy as well. A lovable chap,” Adams quipped.