By Paris Lawson | Broadcast and Digital Reporter
The Thunder wrapped up its ninth day of training camp and is now only three days away from its first preseason matchup of the season against San Antonio. On Wednesday, head coach Mark Daigneault, forward Aleksej Pokuševski and newcomer Admiral Schofield spoke to the media following the team’s workout at the Thunder Ion.
Coach Daigneault
On leadership... "One thing that we talked about a little bit is the definition of leadership that we're going to use–the leader is the person doing the right thing. George Hill has done a great job leading but the main reason is because he's doing the right thing. And when you define leadership like that it's accessible to everyone. So we've gotten great moments of leadership out of everybody in the gym."
On two-way players Moses Brown and Josh Hall… "We're excited about them. They're intriguing players. Moses [Brown] obviously has a little bit of experience. Josh [Hall] does not, but two guys like the rest of our group who are really eager to learn. Both have great size for their position, both very rangy athletically so a lot of raw tools there. It's early, but so far they have shown the type of qualities of people that prove they work hard they pay attention and they try to get it right. They've embraced our environment and our culture so far."
Admiral Schofield
On what training camp has been like for him… "It's been great. Coming into a different environment, you really can tell how much the organization really puts back into the players but also within everyone in the organization. Just the way they do things here is unmatched. You can just tell exactly where the focuses are in this organization. I just feel right at home getting right to work. The guys are great and they have a great culture here so it's been easy to fit right in and get to work."
On how he feels coming into a new organization… "Being in an organization where a lot of little things are appreciated and valued, it makes it a lot easier for someone like myself to come in and really be myself as far as having high character, but also trying to make an impact on the floor. For me it's all about winning and getting better every day and to be in a culture where those things are preached and those are the standards, you’ve got to get excited to be able to compete but also work with guys like this every day in an organization like this every day. It's a great experience right now and I'm just excited to get going."
On what his focus is on the floor… "The biggest thing is understanding what we're trying to get done on the floor each time on the offensive end but especially on the defensive end. Things that we're trying to get done and prevent. It's just trying to execute those, get those down to become routine and a part of the team. And I just felt like we've definitely taken steps in the right direction each day in a lot of different areas."
Aleksej Pokuševski
On how it feels to get on the court… "Getting back on the court feels great, but you’ve got to get into shape as fast as you can because the guys are here, ready, all the time. Getting better on the court, you got to work tough from the first day because we don’t have a lot of time. The camp is like 20 days or something like that, so we got to pick everything up fast and just learn as fast as we can and be there 100 percent of the day."
On how he’s adjusting as a rookie during this unique preseason… "We are professionals. We’ve got to be there. Whatever types of things are happening around us, we’ve got to be ready for that. We’ve got to be professional. We’ve got to do it every day on the court as it was normal because that is what is asked from us. All this stuff out of the court, people from the club are helping me. They're there for me so everything is easy with them."