Oklahoma City Building Team Chemistry With Mini Scrimmage

Oklahoma City will tip-off with preseason basketball next month, but it seems like the team is getting a head start on the competition.

13 OKC players rolled up to Olin Simplis’ BGU NBA runs for a mini training camp!

Majority of the coaches were in attendance as well. Shai has been training with Olin for a few years. wouldn’t be surprised if he put it together.

via:The Guard Whisperer YT pic.twitter.com/DrNM1upS63
— Thunder Film Room (@ThunderFilmRoom) September 7, 2022

The vast majority of Oklahoma City’s top players seem to be hopping in an open gym setting. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey, Lu Dort, Tre Mann, Jalen Williams and Aleksej Pokusevski among others noticeably stood out in the videos. If Gilgeous-Alexander was in fact the one who set this up, it was a great idea for the young team to build chemistry heading into a crucial development season.

Oklahoma City is in a unique spot heading into year three of the rebuild. The team has a budding All-Star in Gilgeous-Alexander with legitimate NBA starters in Giddey and Dort.

It’s unclear if the Thunder want to win now or shoot for another top pick in the NBA to officially complete the overhaul, though. Oklahoma City has suffered multiple late season injuries and has been extremely cautious with top players over the past two seasons. Because of those injuries, and the Thunder shifting towards development, the core hasn’t been able to play together often. When building the foundation of a young team, court time and repetition are invaluable.

It’s a great sign that Oklahoma City is taking the off-season seriously and building chemistry in the locker room. The more familiar each player is with other teammates’ play style, the more successful the Thunder will be. Especially when some of Oklahoma City’s best plays will be timing plays. Having an elite passer like Giddey and a slashing threat like Williams, the Thunder will have plenty of highlight plays.

Not only is this a good sign for the direction of the Thunder, but this should also be a sigh of relief for fans worried about Gilgeous-Alexander’s status. There was never any real smoke, but his name was thrown in several trade rumors this off-season. People continue to try and portray him as “disgruntled” or “unhappy” in Oklahoma City, when it seems like he’s doing just fine. Gilgeous-Alexander getting some run in with his teammates, and potentially even organizing it, tells you all you need to know about the trade rumors.

The quicker he and Giddey can develop chemistry on the court, the quicker Oklahoma City will return to relevance. In the video, one of the more eye popping things is Giddey’s 3-point jumper. There seems to be noticeable change in the shot itself, and he was hitting tough bucket after tough bucket. An improved downtown shot from Giddey would raise Oklahoma City’s ceiling exponentially.

It’s a big year for both the Thunder and Gilgeous-Alexander, which makes sense why the team would want to get a head start.

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