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Ready for a New Challenge

“It’s a little testy in here playing against each other,” Kevin Durant said after Tuesday’s practice, a wry grin flashing across his face. He eyes swept over the practice court, replaying in his mind the battles that occurred on the court an hour before.

“That’s what we need,” the reigning NBA MVP continued. “We need to continue to compete against each other until we’re given an opportunity to play against another team.”

After a week going after one another as hard as they can at the INTEGRIS Health Thunder Development Center, Thunder players are chomping at the bit to challenge an external opponent. One last practice session and Wednesday morning’s shoot-around stand between the Thunder and its first crack at a foe outside of its own walls, as the team travels to Denver to take on the Nuggets in its first preseason bout of the year.

Head Coach Scott Brooks’ team has been grinding away during U.S. Cellular Thunder Training Camp, and in 24 hours, it will be rewarded with the chance to transfer what it has worked on in practice onto the game floor.

“We’re looking forward to it,” Head Coach Scott Brooks said. “I thought we had another good day of practice today, maybe one of our better ones. The energy was high. The guys were competing. We’re ready to play against an opponent.”

“We’re trying to build our habits from Day One and have some fun,” Durant said. “It’s a privilege to be in this league, so we can’t take any of these games for granted. We have to use them as opportunities to grow and get better.”

Every player’s job is to lay it all on the line for their teammates, even as they navigate their own development paths. Durant was seen on Tuesday working on his post-up game, catching an entry pass with one hand then firing it right back, re-positioning himself for a new pass. From there, it was clear that footwork, shooting angles and a variety of moves were all a part of Durant’s training exercises.

The four-time NBA scoring champion is never satisfied with the sharpness of his game, evidenced by his commitment to continuing to sharpen different aspects of his already well-rounded game.

As for other players on the roster, many are in quite different situations. Forward Mitch McGary is the sole rookie on the team at the moment. Despite an intriguing and impressive performance at the Blue-White Scrimmage, McGary says he’s still trying to keep up with what the coaches and his teammates are teaching him. It’ll be a long process, but McGary is enthusiastic about taking his very first NBA road trip and getting to play in his first preseason game.  

“I’m just happy to be in this position, happy to be a part of this organization and right now, I’m taking a lot in and learning a lot from the veterans like Kevin and Russell (Westbrook),” McGary said. “Nick (Collison) and Kendrick (Perkins) teach me a lot of things. I’ll try to go in with an open mind this week and try to play as hard as I can.”

When it comes to the game against Denver, Brooks and his staff won’t necessarily be overly concerned with game-planning specifically against the Nuggets, but rather evaluating what Thunder players are doing well and need to improve upon. On offense, look for the Thunder to continue moving the basketball, playing with proper spacing and utilizing the pass to create scoring opportunities. On defense, Thunder fans know to expect Brooks to push his team to play the hard-nosed, man-to-man defensive scheme that causes havoc because of the roster’s length and athleticism.

“It’s about us,” Brooks said. “We want to play well, play with the rhythm we put in place all week. With our guys, it’s always about us. We respect our opponent but we want to play good basketball. We want to have good possessions. We don’t want to have empty possessions. Defensively, the same thing. We want to be aggressive. We want to continue to focus on stopping the basketball and focus on teams taking tough shots.”