OKC Thunder practice notebook day one: Back at the old facility

The OKC Thunder wrapped up their Media Day on Monday, marking the unofficial start to the 2021-22 NBA season. A step towards the regular season was also made on Tuesday as the team began training camp.

The Oklahoma City Thunder had more media availability today after practice when Mark Daigneault and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander talked to those of us in the media after their morning workout. Daigneault mentioned today’s practice was a good, physical one, and an evening session is on the way in Bricktown. However, the location caught a lot by surprise.

OKC Thunder practice notebook day one

Many teams hit the road for training camp, the Utah Jazz head to Vegas, the Brooklyn Nets, and L.A. Clippers head to San Diego it is far from uncommon to not host camp at your home practice facility. Mark Daigneault and Sam Presti decided to hold practice this week in the old Oklahoma City Thunder practice facility.

That is right, the old rollerskating rink, which smelled like dog feed outside due to a production plant in the same area, where a young Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Serge Ibaka got their start.

How did this come about? Well, Sam Presti and Mark Daigneault discussed “the ethos” the two wanted to capture to start the season with the team. When Daigneault went to breakfast with starting forward Darius Bazley in L.A. being in the city of angles for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was signing his max extension, Bazley discussed his summer workouts being in this old facility and how much he loved it.

Mark Daigneault knew right then, he too, would go back to his roots. When the Thunder ION came about, the team used the former roller rink for the G-League affiliate, the OKC Blue, where Daigneault paced the sidelines for five years.

The message from the organization to these young players is simple. It is about rolling your sleeves up, bringing your lunch pail to work every day, and embodying this community in that way. And if Mark Daigneault gets rolling? He will go on a diatribe about how in the same weight room the teenagers and early 20s ball players stand right now, stood future Hall of Famers and some of the best to play the game.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander called the experience “cool” and that he has only ever been in the facility a few times given he has not played with the OKC Blue.

As far as on the court? It seemed like a good practice “we were smashing today.” Mark Daigneault exclaimed when discussing how these practices are different than in-season practices.

On the floor, Daigneault talked about Tre Mann‘s difficulty to get his shot off on day one, having a hard time deciding if he has space to shoot or not, mentioning Isaiah Roby blocked him on a three-point attempt.

Do not worry, this is a good thing for the young guard. Unlike Theo Maledon and Aleksej Pokusevski a year ago, Mann is not learning on the fly. He has a full week of practice this week, four preseason games, and opening night for the regular season is still almost a month away. Not to mention the benefit of a full NBA G-League season.

Daigneault gave the example that being able to have practice this season, unlike last year, will allow for these players to work on situations such as this one repeatedly without the structure of a game.

The Thunder bench boss, now in his second year, had high praise for Vit Krejci who the organization brought over this year. He is a year and two days removed from a torn ACL, still, the thing that stood out the most about his game is his willingness to play defense, to get dirty, Daigneault even going as far as to say he is not a “pretty boy” guard.

While the road to recovery from an ACL injury is hard, Vit Krejci attacked it well and seems to be back at full speed. It is clear the OKC Thunder are getting “a two-way” player.

The OKC Thunder projected starting center Derrick Favors missed today’s practice. He was off-site getting treatment on his knee. The treatment was supposed to be done last Thursday, but a logistical issue caused that to fall through. He should be back tomorrow as Mark Daigneault continued to stress it is not an injury, just routine maintenance on his knee.