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“Dynamic, Expressive and Exciting” Time for the Thunder

When the Thunder started the 2015-16 season 7-6 and slogged through a stretch of eight losses in 12 games after the All-Star Break, there was a chance to crumble. To divert from the plan. To flinch. Instead, the Thunder doubled down on its principles, bet on the people and ideas within the building, and stretched its wings to rise all the way to the seventh game of the Western Conference Finals, it’s fourth trip to the NBA’s final four in the past six years.

Through all of the adversity on the court these past few years with untimely injuries to Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Serge Ibaka, Steven Adams and others, the team re-centered itself in 2015-16 and was ready to play a powerful brand of basketball. The off-court adversity that hit the team was unexpected, as it lost its two most experienced assistant coaches when Monty Williams’ wife Ingrid passed away and Mo Cheeks had hip surgery. When Thunder part-owner Aubrey McClendon and Dion Waiters’ brother both passed away within days of one another, the emotional burden could have been too heavy to bear.

Again, the Thunder dug deep into its reservoir of resolve, connectedness and heart to pull itself together and play perhaps the most in-tune, focused and intentional basketball that it ever has in Oklahoma City. It was a remarkable season that concluded just five wins sooner than everyone wished, but General Manager Sam Presti couldn’t have been more proud of the manner in which the team accorded itself all year along.

Watch Opening Statement:

“The legacy for this organization is largely an unwritten book,” Presti said. “This past season was certainly an incredible chapter to be associated with, whether you were a player, a staff member, or a fan of the Thunder in Oklahoma or really anywhere in the world for that matter.”

“By the end of the year, the team itself had something to say, something to offer,” Presti added. “In a lot of ways, I thought it brought us to almost like a new gateway or a new era of Thunder basketball.”

On the court, the Thunder’s ideal characteristics are versatility, size and length. Off the court, Presti looks at the bigger picture and recognizes three main goals for the organization. He understands that everyone employed by the Thunder is building the legacy of the organization in real time, the team is relentless pursuit of progress and improvement and he and his staff are constantly striving to create the optimal conditions where people can thrive. As always, this offseason the Thunder will be introspective, finding ways to grow and push itself to new heights.

No one personified that commitment to a process of discovery than the man who Presti hired last May, Head Coach Billy Donovan. Throughout the season, Donovan tested a variety of different lineups, ensured that a dozen players were rotation-ready at all times and helped provide the groundwork for a sustainable basketball style that can be honed even further through the offseason and into this fall’s training camp.

“(Donovan) was intentional. He was curious. He was supremely disciplined,” Presti said. “He embarked on a season to trying to build a team so that we could play various ways that he could discover as much as he could about his own players, how they fit together, ways to put them in positions to be successful, and to get to know them as people.”

“He did an excellent job of putting the tenets or the foundation in place for a system that could be transferable into the postseason,” Presti continued. “In fact, some of the things actually got better as we entered into tougher competition.”

The fact that the Thunder was not only prepared, but primed to enhance its level of play as the season moved along is a sign of Donovan and his staff’s prowess. It’s also a signal that the Thunder’s roster is filled with vibrant athletes who also have the mental toughness and selflessness to lose themselves in their roles in order to elevate the team’s performance. With the NBA Draft, Summer League and offseason workouts to come, the Thunder knows that its young roster can only continue developing.

Obviously the big unknown for the Thunder this offseason is Kevin Durant’s free agency. Durant had an incredible season in his return from injury and he handled his affairs excellently all season while raising his all-around game and leadership abilities over the course of the season. In Presti’s words, Durant was “a tremendous example of a franchise player putting the franchise first”.

The Thunder understands that Durant has both nine years of experience and a constant dialogue with the franchise, and the team will be in position to succeed for years to come. With one of the youngest rotations in the league, the Thunder has the ability to maintain a high achieving core that has put itself in contention for an NBA title year after year. With that, there is an incredible sense of optimism around the Thunder organization heading into the 2016 offseason.

“As we look ahead, we've taken the energy and the inspiration from the beginning of the season,” Presti said. “We've transferred it into a strong progressive momentum for what looks like it could be a really dynamic, expressive, an exciting time for the organization, for the team, both on and off the floor.”

“We're really excited about the group of guys that we have in place and the strides that a lot of them made individually,” Presti said. “But probably equally if not more excited about how the individuals fit together and how their progress individually actually came together as progress as a team.”