OKC Thunder: Intense practice follows first day off

The OKC Thunder held an intense practice session Friday, with Donovan, Dort, and Muscala handling the presser afterward.

Following six days of mostly intense workouts, the OKC Thunder took Thursday off. The club returned to the practice court on Friday to put in an aggressive hard session. In this extremely foreign situation, coaches are having to navigate what in essence is a second training camp.

The pandemic has thrown curve balls left and right. The time teams spent off the court is on par with the period of time a lottery team would have off. And, even in that scenario players are typically going to the gym daily to get up shots and hit the weights, working with trainers conditioning and on specific aspects of their games. Many are scrimmaging or playing in organized matches like the Drew League.

Making matters more intense and confusing is there are only eight regular-season games to play prior to the playoffs. In a normal schedule, the period called the stretch run occurs post All-Star Break when teams take the final six to seven weeks to gradually build momentum heading into the postseason.

With these realities, Billy Donovan and his peers are having to ascertain the proper balance. From an injury perspective, avoiding soft tissue injuries is critical but rediscovering chemistry, rhythm and timing are equally important.

There are no examples to follow — this is a once in a lifetime pandemic. The best Billy D can do is trust his instincts, consult with the training staff, and keep an open dialogue with the players with the hope they’ll discover the best resolution to meet the team’s objectives.

With that in mind, the OKC Thunder had Thursday off and got in a great season on Friday. Here are the topline comments from the coach, Luguentz Dort and Mike Muscala following the session.

OKC Thunder post-practice takeaways

Billy Donovan:

As noted, the team returned to the court after a day off following six consecutive practice days. As expected the rest day was replaced with high intensity given the players had time to rest and recharge. The coach noted the squad scrimmaged, worked on defensive areas, and emphasized half-court execution – a playoff staple every club will need to master (on both sides of the hardwood).

The coach also spoke about individuals. The favorite question through the initial bubble stage got an affirmative response on all counts – YES, Andre Roberson did participate, is gaining confidence and progressing well.

An interesting insight came in regards to Terrance Ferguson who Donovan called ‘reliable’ on both sides of the ball. Specifically, he cited his defense as ‘being locked in’ and his offense ‘as making the right plays’.

This was an intriguing aside from coach since he previously noted the growth Dort made over the hiatus (and improved strength — I kid you not). So, with the prospect of Dre and Lu both seemingly ready to fight for minutes it will be very intriguing to witness how willing TFerg is to fight for those same minutes.

We’ve highlighted how rhythm and timing are something that takes time and repetition with it often being the final thing teams get back. Donovan praised Chris Paul in helping the squad to get there given his intelligence and focus on small details.

Luguentz Dort:

As for that competition mentioned above the rookie was asked about it and responded with his typical respect:

As much as Dort is respectful of his teammates the confidence seeps out of him. For example, asked about how he felt about venues and playing in Orlando the Canadian said ‘it doesn’t matter where we play- we are just ready to play basketball’.

And this shouldn’t be surprising since this is the unsigned rookie who played with such intensity and aggression (without making typical rookie errors) he made it impossible to keep him off the court and forced Donovan’s hand even after Ferguson returned.

As for the day off, Thursday Dort said the guys mostly just took it easy. While we’ve been treated to fun social media clips of Darius Bazley (definitely the Thunder star in this regard), CP3, and SGA we’ve yet to see Dort out fishing, or taking on Bazley in any games. He did offer he’s playing FIFA but that “Musky” (Muscala) and Dennis are the best at it.

Mike Muscala:

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With that accolade freshly offered we segued into  Muscala who similarly offered praise of Dort “he’s obviously really strong” and noted how much Bazley impressed him. Again, as we’ve noted this isn’t a typical break – it’s the same length or longer than an offseason.

Therefore, it’s highly conceivably many rookies have already put in the work they would’ve between their rookie and sophomore seasons. So, expect to see some impressive growth from those who took the hiatus seriously.

Asked why the offense works Muscala offered up the obvious — great playmakers (CP3, SGA, and Schroder), great shooting (Gallo), plus the system/playcalling of Donovan. That was a vet’s response to a question where the player is respectful, gives a simple but honest answer but doesn’t expose any intricacies.

It’s likely the team won’t take another day off soon, however now that Donovan has got the team through the initial six consecutive game stretch he might alternate hardcore practices with lighter more strategic based sessions.