As Sam Presti approached the microphone donning a easy blue denim button-down and rolled-up sleeves, Thunder loyalists tuned in to hearken to him communicate. The Executive Vice President and General Manager, heading into his fifteenth 12 months with the group, set the expectations for Thunder followers heading into 2022-23 as he talked about how younger the present roster is, what obstacles they are going to face, and the way the franchise is approaching the upcoming NBA season.
The widespread theme all through the prolonged opening assertion centered round endurance and course of. Presti actually leaned on the truth that the workforce is extremely younger, saying, “We project to be probably about the second youngest team in the history of the NBA,” the Thunder GM stated. “I don’t think anybody would say that we’re not a work in progress.”
Indeed, the Thunder are a piece in progress after ending final within the league in numerous statistics that measure workforce success. The common age of the present energetic roster is 23.2 years outdated. If you take away the 2 oldest gamers from the equation, veterans Mike Muscala and Derrick Favors, that quantity drops to simply 22.2 – an age that’s decrease than some gamers who’re drafted. And if final season is any indication, Favors and Muscala don’t mission to play a major quantity of minutes.
When discussing the challenges that may face the Thunder this season, Presti made positive to emphasise that he needs the workforce to concentrate on competing bodily, mentally, and emotionally, noting precisely how tough it’s for youthful professionals to take action 12 months in and 12 months out. The basic supervisor then introduced forth the subject of distractions, calling them “headwinds for younger teams in sports.” He additionally cautioned his gamers to not get overly involved with statistics and accomplishment, sharing how these would possibly match inside the framework of the workforce.
Presti additionally defined how communication can have an effect on Oklahoma City’s youthful gamers.
“They communicate with people who aren’t with the team those people’s incentives may not be what’s best for the team,” and warned in opposition to “letting different individuals set the agenda for what’s essential or what the priorities must be.”
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The 44-year-old executive turned his sights to social media calling it great and saying it can be positive before exclaiming that, “it really has nothing to do with winning basketball games. If anything, it’s probably more directed towards luring you away from that.”
Presti added that he thought the sooner a young teams understand that distraction, the better, and called avoiding it, “the price of admission for being an NBA player.”
As this iteration of the Thunder prepares for the start of the season, it appears the organization is working proactively to face these challenges and keep the team’s focus on basketball. With the uptick in social media use and mental health awareness in the modern NBA, the franchise has its work cut out for them. Presti didn’t appear to be too worried about distractions, however. “I think our guys are spot on with this stuff.”
The general manager also made it clear that he thinks he has a pretty long runway with this particular team, sharing his excitement about the prospects of Josh Giddey and Chet Holmgren’s tenures overlapping with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s upcoming prime. Presti says some of the players have improved physically over the summer and implored media members to take note of that. He also made it clear that he thinks the team can succeed in the short-term if they prepare and prioritize the right things, stating, “I think we have a chance to be pretty good.”
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story by The Texas Tribune Source link