Thunder Gear Up for Friday Scrimmage vs. Boston
The Oklahoma City Thunder has been in the NBA bubble for almost two weeks; now it's time to see how they stack up against the rest of the league. Friday at 4 pm, the Thunder will scrimmage the Boston Celtics.
As much as Billy Donovan would like to see where his squad is at the moment, Brad Stevens also needs to get a read on the Celtics. Donovan says he could connect not only with Stevens, but Brett Brown (76ers) and Terry Stotts (Trailblazers) before their teams meet up.
"I think everybody's kind of focused on their team and what they need."..."If there was certain situations that you wanted to take a look at, things that you wanted to do, you maybe have a conversation."
"If someone said hey listen can you throw us a couple of looks we want to get some work agaisnt this, I would not be opposed to do that."..."I would imagine with getting these three scrimmages there would be some dialogue between coaches."
Since none of these teams will see each other during the seeding games, coaches can be more transparent. Donovan will also use these "preseason games" to take a closer look at different combinations of players on the floor together.
The medical staff will assess where players are physically to help determine their workload. Donovan ran off a list of names (which you can hear in the video embedded at the top this story) of veterans who's time on the floor will need to be managed.
One of those names was Andre Roberson, which can lead you to believe he will see action on Friday afternoon. If Roberson can play quality minutes against the Celtics, then there is every reason to assume he'll be able to contribute when the season starts.
Noel Scrimmages
Nerlens noel who had been limited in practice due to a "tweaked ankle" says "
I've been getting one-on-one individual workouts, so that's been great for my conditioning as well."
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With more than 20 years of experience hosting local and national radio shows, Erik Gee is a fixture of Oklahoma sports media. He has covered the Oklahoma City Thunder for the past six seasons. He is also the co-host of the Pat Jones show on 97.1 The Sports Animal in Tulsa.
