Thunder in the news: The Enes Kanter edition
By Tony Heim
Thunder in the news is your one stop shop for everything OKC Thunder. Today we break down a recent interview with Enes Kanter.
Ahhhh the dog days of August. All the possible rumors have been exhausted and virtually every impact free agent has been signed, yet were still over two months from the regular season. Times are tough for daily “In the News” segments, hence why we are breaking down Fred Katz interview with Enes Kanter extensively.
Kanter working on DEFENSE
This is great news for Thunder fans. Kanter is the fourth highest player in Oklahoma City with a $17 million tag – whether or not he can play Playoff basketball is yet to be seen. The 25-year old is one of the best offensive bigs in the game, but his defense has kept him away from heavy minutes.
It’s good to hear that Kanter is working on that part of the game. If he becomes even passable on that end the Thunder Kanter could be the secret weapon that helps top Golden State.
"Katz: How do you work on defense when you’re just you? What do you do?"
"Kanter: You put down the cones. You go slide to one cone, touch it. You go touch the other cone. Come back and do some drills. Just shuffle and just chop steps…It’s about the legs."
Kanter on the Westbrook extension
I feel for every player on the Thunder roster with multiple years left on their contract. It’s got to be tough knowing your relevancy in the league next season will be based on Russell Westbrook and Paul George’s decision this offseason. Have fun dealing with those questions all year.
"Katz: Is the extension a thing you guys talk about?"
"Kanter: No. We don’t talk about it. We don’t talk about it, yeah."
You can feel the tension just by reading the response lol.
Non-Kanter talk…Other stars OKC may entertain
Of course I’m going to plug an article I wrote that’s become a talked about post on OKC Thunder reddit! My response to the “these trades are unrealistic” crowd: Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis = Paul George and Ersan Ilyasova.
We’re all living in Sam Presti’s world.
"There’s no way around it: the Thunder are built to win a championship now. The only problem is their roster is not good enough to win a championship now."
As always, thanks for reading! Catch you tomorrow for another edition of Thunder in the news!!