The 2021-22 G League season kicks off for the Oklahoma City Blue next Friday, Nov. 5 with a home game at Paycom Center against the Salt Lake City Stars. It will have been 20 months and a day since the Blue played a regular season home game in Oklahoma City, and for Head Coach Grant Gibbs, the start of training camp on Thursday was a welcome and familiar feeling. Heading into his third year at the helm after a pandemic-shortened season and the G-League Bubble last year in Orlando, Gibbs is thrilled to get to work with this year’s group.
On being in a normal training camp environment at the Blue ION:
“Being back in this building has been awesome. We were away for a year – I packed my stuff out of here because they're like, ‘we’re not gonna be in here for a while’. The Thunder having their training camp in here and just thinking about since we've moved to Oklahoma City, the Blue and the organization, getting back to the roots and the hum of the building every day, and just how grateful we are for that. The resources that we've been provided from Mr. Bennett, and the investment from (Thunder General Manager and Executive Vice President) Sam Presti, (Thunder Head Coach) Mark Daigneault, the front office and everyone at the Thunder, it's just great to be back.”
On what he’s learned coming into his third season as the Blue head coach:
“The dynamics of the G league are so fluid. Things change quickly. You have to be able to adapt, grow and figure things out on the fly. You don't know what's going to happen in that specific season with the team or with players but knowing that you can control what you can control and grow through every experience whether it's positive or negative to hopefully continue to help me be a better coach and obviously help us continue to grow our program and create value for the players.”
On the organizational philosophy of “walking with the players”:
“You have to meet them where they are. All these guys are coming with different experiences or different ages. They're at different stages in their career. One of the things with the G League is they're all in vulnerable spots in their career. Then, understanding what our job is – to help them create value, get better every day, learn and grow. So, providing an environment where there's consistency for them, and a daily habit, routine and schedule. Those are the things that we feel very strongly about helping guys professionally in their career and in their lives.”
On how he connects with players given roster change and turnover in the G-League:
“You have to listen first. We’ve got to listen and hear where they're at, and then just knowing it's not going to be perfect every single day. We’ve got to grow and learn through everything that happens, whether it's a guy who comes for one game, we get somebody new, the roster changes, their roles change positionally, but I think the thing we try to preach with that is being able to perform in that environment is a skill. So if you have the opportunity to play an NBA or wherever afterwards, the skill of just being able to be ready and adapt to whatever the team needs, or whatever is happening in that given moment, that in itself is a skill. So every time you get stress tested on that, you're like, you're growing that skill. When you're put in that situation later, whether you have to play a different position in a game, your role changes or you don't play for a little bit and then you're thrown into the fire, can you stay ready? We're trying to train that skill every single day.”
On the Blue’s offensive philosophy:
“It's always based on personnel. Things are systematized from at least like the bare bones of terminology, the spacing, a style of play. The pieces that go into that are the personnel. In terms of style of play, and playing with pace, playing a team defense with five guys connected, those things should feel similar, the way that we do those and the way we organize those pieces is what as coaches are working to try to figure out every day, knowing that it can change pretty drastically from day to day. Your personnel determines more of the style of play, but the overarching things we're trying to accomplish and how we want it to look, that stems down from the Thunder.”
On how the Blue teaches defense:
“The coverages and the philosophies are an NBA and G League education – this is how teams play, this is how players attack, these are the coverages we use and this is why. A lot of that philosophy is based around efficiency, the type of shots we're trying to take away, the type of shots that we're trying to force teams to take and how we do that from different spots of the floor. You could be an efficient player without having that type of shot distribution by taking away efficient plays defensively. We talk about rim protection a lot. We talk about not fouling. Those things are based around the value of the foul line and the value of points at the rim. Shot contests are a huge part of the program. Teams are shooting a lot of threes and are making a lot of them. Contesting those shots changes the efficiency of those plays. So the overall view is wherever you're at, these things matter and then shaping that to the individual player of how do you get these things accomplished, depending on what position you're at, your size and athletic ability and your acumen.”
On the Blue’s scrimmage on Saturday and first regular season game on Friday Nov. 5:
“Everyone's optimistic right now. You're in preseason, you're in training camp, everyone has an expectation of what they think they can accomplish this year – and what our team can – and trying to maintain that optimism. There's going to be rough patches and storms throughout the season. We know that with the league and just with playing in professional sports. Are we able to maintain that level of optimism and professionalism through those spans and can it feel and look the same as it does today? We're excited to see the pieces come together, excited to see the foundation we've laid in training camp.”