Highlights of Sam Presti’s preseason availability

Sam Presti spent some 53 minutes speaking with the media on Wednesday in advance of training camp, which opens next week. Topics covered included Thunder organics, Semaj Christon, Dion Waiters and oh yeah, Kevin Durant stuff.

Here are the things you need to know about:

• The best thing Presti said in a lengthy opening statement: “Having a patience and a perspective about a season and understanding that nothing is won in November, nothing is won in January and nothing is won in March, but you can lose a lot in those months by skipping steps by not being committed to principles and giving them your full attention because you are looking ahead. That is one of the things that I think we have done well is that we haven’t dwelled on things in the past. We haven’t tried to look too far ahead. We really try to be intentional in staying focused on the things that we can control and that sort of served us well when we were starting out. It served us well as we evolved and matured as an organization and as a team and I think it is going to continue to be important for us going forward.”

• The most important thing he said: “Yes, Kevin is cleared to participate. He has been playing without restriction five-on-five and been competing as normal. With that said, with any of our players coming off of injuries, we are going to be watching and managing practice and recovery time that is just standard. But in terms of limitations, he does not have any. He feels great and looks great. It is great to have him back on the floor and I am happy for him because he has been so committed and disciplined to that process and getting back on the floor.”

• On what he’s seen from Durant going through the injury: “I think what we have learned is that he is an incredibly optimistic person. I think his approach and his optimism is also grounded in a lot of gratitude. Going through this, I think he has demonstrated a gratitude for just being able to play in the NBA. I think he has demonstrated that he is going to follow the course and deal with the circumstances as they are, but he is going to be very forward thinking about the things that he can control.”

• Presti was asked if the organization would’ve done anything differently with Durant now in hindsight: “Not based on the information that you are presented with at the time.”

• Important thing: Presti said everyone on the roster is healthy and cleared for training camp.

• Which includes Serge Ibaka, who Presti said, experienced some discomfort in his surgically repaired knee over the summer: “At different points during the summer, he’s had some discomfort. He saw his surgeon. He has had regular checkups with his surgeon. His surgeon has continued to feel very confident and encourage to continue to move and play and he is fully cleared. I don’t think that was necessarily a result of the Africa thing. It is just a real conservative approach with all of our players to make sure they are in the bet position going forward, but that is part of rehab. You are going to have some ups and downs. Where he is right now, he feels really good. He looks great, but like with every player, we have to watch every single one of our guys to make sure we are in front of anything.”

• A pretty eyebrow-raising thing Presti said about Ibaka: “I think Serge may have had the best summer of any of our players, just in terms of improvement of overall game. He is shooting the ball well. He is passing. He has really improved and I think that is one of the things with Billy. He wants the players to try things that they can’t do yet, but with the belief that he can help put them in positions where they can do some of those things player development isn’t about simply younger players.”

• Presti remains undefeated on somehow working the word “intrinsic” into every presser conference.

• On if Durant’s minutes will change this season: “I think that is going to be something that Billy and Kevin and our medial and performance team will work on. Again, I think average minutes, I don’t know. I think there are going to be games when he plays more than the average last year. I think you have to also factor in that it is 82 games and you want to be at a certain point and where the schedule is and when the opportunities might be to take some time. He is going to play a lot of minutes, because he can. We are going to be really diligent about how those minutes are distributed and when.”

• On Russell Westbrook: “Well, he has had a busy offseason. The next step in his evolution, I think one of the things with Russell is he has tremendous ferocity, resiliency, work ethic, and discipline. I think continuing to raise the play of those around him; that is what the greatest of the great do. I think that is what separates the great players is not only their dominance, but also how he continues to raise the play of those around him. He does that at a pretty high clip. I think that one of the things that Russell is facing is that he is reaching a level where it is hard to make strides and hard to make gains. You are looking for the small and incremental and that is again part of the aspect of where our team is.”

• On the magnitude of this season: “We haven’t concerned ourselves with things in the future. I think we’ve been really intentional about the detail of the work every day. I would be disappointed if we were scrapping something that has really helped define the franchise and helped define our organization, which is, we are going to deal with the season as it comes to us. I think the fact that we have done it that way has allowed us to learn along the way. If we had spent all our time thinking about what happened last year or what is going to happen next year, I think that drains our attention and our capacity to focus on being the best we can be this year. I think that Kevin, Russell, Serge, Nick, and I think one day Adams, have helped us build, enhance and sustain that philosophy. They are a huge part of it. If those guys were different people, I think we would be a different organization, but we’ve been gifted with some incredible people, competitors, but you have to keep in mind these guys are still growing. They are just entering the primes of their careers, and that is why we have maximized the pre-primes of their careers by having a chance to win at the highest level, I think, each year that they’ve been here outside of the first year.”

• One thing that I found interesting about that statement is that Presti included Steven Adams in that group. Meaning he sees him as a foundational long-term franchise guy.

• Presti said Billy Donovan has watched every game from the last two seasons. That would’ve been fun to be in the room for, right? OK, so Durant and Westbrook are really good. Why is Perk in there still? Why is Dion Waiters taking that shot? Wow, Westbrook is good. So is Durant. Why is Perk in there again?

• On Durant free agency distractions: “We are not going to bury our head in the sand and pretend that is not going to be in the air, but I think, again, we would be pretty inconsistent. We adopted an approach in 2008. It served us well because it has kept us focused on the things that we can control. I think if we diverge from that now, we aren’t being incredibly authentic because the number one goal is to have a great season; not just him, but the organization as a whole. If we take our eye off the ball, I think we deplete our attention.”

• On Durant’s future: “Knowing that the future is coming, we are incredibly excited about that because it is an opportunity for us to keep him in Oklahoma City, a Hall-of-Fame player, legacy player, I should say legacy person, in Oklahoma. Those are conversations for another day. He knows how we feel about him. The best way to serve the Thunder and put him in a position to be successful, those things, are one in the same, and that is what we focus on.”

• My favorite thing Presti said today: “If you spend all your time thinking about what could happen or what did happen, you are going to miss what is happening.” 

• That’s a perfect statement for this season. There will be much obsessing about the Thunder’s future and the direction of the organization. And there’s always an obsession over what’s happened with this organization in the past (cough, Harden, cough). But if your focus is only on those things, you’ll miss the opportunity to enjoy the hell out of what could be a really special season with a really special team.

• Also, Presti worked this one-liner in, which is one of the best Prestisms we’ve heard yet: “We are focused on the signal and not the noise.”

• A lot of people liked this part: “We strive to be the people’s team and the local team that competes nationally. But make no mistake about it, we are an organic, local Oklahoma product. We are proud of the values that we have built upon because they are synonymous with that of the state that we represent.” Oklahoma City Thunder, the first farm-to-table NBA team.

• Dakari Johnson will spend this season with the Blue. Seams Christon will plays overseas in Italy. Presti said Christon this time next year is an NBA player. Maybe not with the Thunder, but with someone.

• On Dion Waiters: “This is a guy that at 23 years old has some tools that are not easily found. That is one of the reasons that we went to acquire him. At the same time, he has got work to do and he will be the first to tell you that. Some slight adjustments with this guy’s game could lead to some pretty significant impact. I think he has the tools to be an impact player.”

• “Slight adjustments,” meaning, “stop taking those stupid shots and maybe finish layups?” We know it. Presti knows it. Donovan knows it. But does Dion know it?

• On Enes Kanter: “At 23 years old with four years of experience, he has shown and high-level of productivity and we have players that I think complement the areas in which he needs to improve. If we look at everybody in a vacuum, no one looks really good because there are no perfect players, but there is an intention to improve, hopefully some benefits of the system and the overall approach of the team. He is going to have to do a lot of work, there is no question, but I really like how he fits with our group of players because we haven’t had someone that you can throw the ball to when the other teams go small. Again, we are fortunate to not have to rely on any one player, but we have to figure out how the team fits together and best executes over 48 minutes.”