OKC Thunder Training Camp Notebook day two: Josh Giddey’s defense stands out

The OKC Thunder are diving into the Training Camp period full speed. Just five days until their first preseason game, today’s practice was brought to a new intensity than day one. That is common, Mark Daigneault mentioned that the structure of today’s practice mirrors yesterday’s day one of training camp, so players knew what to expect and could just “let it rip.”

The Oklahoma City Thunder Media also got an injury update from the team’s bench boss. Mark Daigneault told us Derrick Favors, who was expected to be there this morning as of yesterday, was still out this morning. Daigneault apologize for the confusion, the only issue was the timing of flights.

During his two-year tenure, the head ball coach has been refreshingly open and honest with the media about everything, including injuries. As Favors flys into OKC now, he hopes to practice during the evening session with the team.

Vit Krejci, who is recovering from a torn ACL a year and four days removed, also was held out of practice today. Krejci took part in both the morning and evening sessions on Tuesday, so as a precaution the team held him out today. After such an injury and time off, his knee needs to adjust to the workload.

Thunder rookie Tre Mann is also dealing with an injury. He left practice early with a sore groin today. It is unclear the timeline for Mann, but there is an obvious reason to take precautions this early on. For all we know, Mann will be back out there tonight or tomorrow morning, but it is worth monitoring moving forward.

OKC Thunder Training Camp Notebook Day two

Mark Daigneault, Lu Dort, and Josh Giddey all spoke with us today after practice. The quotes they had will make fans extremely happy. Let’s lead off with the most popular player in Bricktown, scratch that, the NBA. Of course, I am talking about Aleksej Pokusevski.

Mark Daigneault when asked how the strength the second-year forward added this season helps his game “He is getting to the paint more [offensively], defensively [the added strength] really shows up.” The most important quote on Pokusevski was Daigneault relaying that “The game has slowed down.” for the 19-year-old.

The second-year coach also praised Josh Giddey’s defense, an area of his game many did not think would translate well to the NBA, calling it “impressive” even admitting that was the area he was curious to see entering training camp.

Both Lu Dort and Mark Daigneault discussed the importance of Dort going up against Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in practice. Daigneault said “for their own development, Lu is an elite defender and Shai is an elite play creator.” mentioning how beneficial that is to each player’s development. Dort carries an iron sharpens iron mentality.

The OKC Thunder guard also praised Theo Maledon saying his biggest improvement is finishing around the rim. Maledon shot a lowly 42-percent around the cup in his rookie season. That is an area Dort needs to improve on as well, he shot just 51-percent at the rim a year ago, down from 55-percent his rookie season.

Dort mentioned he is taking Aaron Wiggins under his wing, saying Wiggins can accomplish the same thing he did while on a two-way deal just a few years ago.

The elite defender also had praise for rookie Josh Giddey, they have been teammate the first two days for the scrimmage period and Dort calls the sixth overall pick a good point guard, “he knows how to find his teammate.” This echos the pre-draft analysis of Giddey who many expect to walk into the NBA with elite playmaking.

Josh Giddey took the podium and praised the energy of the group, and loved the fact they were back in the original practice facility “where the Thunder started.” Giddey said at a team dinner, they learned about the history of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Add the rookie to the long list of players who “love” Mark Daigneault, calling him a players coach, it is clear OKC Thunder general manager Sam Presti made the right hire. Daigneault’s ability to connect with the players is unrivaled and impressive.

For those wondering, yes, for the second straight day the Oklahoma City Thunder were “smashing” according to Mark Daigneault.