10 Big Questions Heading Into Training Camp for the OKC Thunder

But let's get in on something that's more current events.

And that is that we most recently went to Sam Presti's media availability.

And I just want to get your thoughts on, you know, any big takeaways you had that really stand out.

Yeah, I thought that this was an interesting press conference from Sam as it typically is.

The biggest thing that stood out to me was the quotes about Cason Wallace.

And obviously, he's not going to get into the specifics of negotiating a contract with Cason and negotiate through the media, but...

For a team, Michael, that we sit in all these press conferences all year long, from Sam a couple times a year to Mark almost every day, and they're so focused on focusing the narrative about the whole team.

If any player goes out and we ask who's going to step up, Mark is quick to remind us that it's a team sport and it takes everybody.

Even if you ask him, you know, how is Lutort going to fare against Luka? He'd say, well, Luka, you got to defend him with the whole team.

For that to be the mentality of the Thunder every single day, to then walk into this press conference today and hear Sam Presti outright say that it was almost a gesture of respect to Cason Wallace for moving Lutort, I thought was a big time look into the value that they place on Cason, the value that they place on this role that Cason is stepping into of that Lutort role.

I'm not sure that it, indicates that they want to continue on in that role in the starting lineup.

That's a big question mark for this season.

But I do think that it indicates that if Sam Presti has his way, Cason Wallace is going to be in OKC for quite some time.

No, they always say actions over words, but Sam specifically, it's almost like words are even more important than actions with some of this stuff of like when he speaks, this stuff tends to come true when you're in charge.

But yeah, I was also very intrigued by that of just the phrasing of, I think the greatest sign of respect we could have for Kayson is moving on from Lou.

So I'm very interested in that as well, just that massive vote of confidence, whether or not he starts, we'll get into that later.

I'm sure that Sam is going to talk about to Mark and make those decisions.

The other thing that really stood out to me is, We know Dubb is valuable.

We know all NBA, all-star, all these things, that he's one of the most versatile players in the NBA.

But just the way that Sam kept hammering the point of how important he was really, really stood out to me.

We obviously know things probably could have changed in the conference finals if he's healthy.

The playoffs look a lot different.

But just hearing how many times he went back to him as this touchpoint, this touchstone, basically with almost everybody we talked about in there from McCain, AJ, Shea, Chet, and everybody else, that just really stood out to me.

Yeah, I think that it was a huge, again, moment in time for Sam to discuss exactly what J-Dub means for this team and a reminder that it is needed, I think, whenever you canvas our comment sections and even Thunder fans themselves discussing J-Dub in tones that I don't think appreciate exactly how good this guy already is on top of the fact that Sam continuously pointed to the majority of this roster not being in their primes yet and even spoke that way about Chet and about J-Dub at the top of this roster.

Like, this guy is really, really good, and he's going to continue to get really good.