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OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 22, 2017

Sam Presti

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

SAM PRESTI: So first, just want to welcome everybody and thank everybody for being here. Obviously this is our tenth season, and it's kind of remarkable to look back on the fact that it's been -- it's going to be a decade of Thunder basketball in Oklahoma City, and I'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge the fact that we're really grateful for all of our players and their contributions, past and present. Obviously the players are what make it all possible, and our coaches, past and present, all the staff members, everybody that's contributed to the identity of the franchise, and that also extends, clearly, to our fans, our supporters, our sponsors, as well as everybody here in the media and the relationships that have been built and forged. You know, we're just incredibly grateful for what Oklahoma City has been to us, and we're inspired to continue to build off this foundation and continue to try to make the Thunder something that the city is proud of and honors.

I want to make sure that I start with that.

With respect to this season, you know, obviously we're thrilled -- we're really excited heading into the season to have the opportunity to acquire a player like Paul George and just what he brings to the table as a player. It was a unique opportunity for us, and we're really excited to see him in our uniform and with our players and walking the halls. He just plays the right way, and we think he adds a dimension to the team that's pretty rare.

So we're really excited about him being a part of our group as well as Felton, Patterson; those guys continue to add maturity and toughness and dependability, and we're really excited about those guys taking the floor with us. Terrance Ferguson, another player that's new to the group, we're excited about his potential and the work that he's been able to do with our coaching staff over the last couple months.

And then any time we have the opportunity to retain a player like Dre, Nick Collison, those guys that are just -- I don't know how else to describe them other than they're Thunder guys, and it's great to have those guys back. And then Dakari and Daniel Hamilton, guys that have been with our blue program, have gone through the draft process with us, are kind of in the pipeline as younger players, we're really excited about those guys kind of being assimilated into the organization. And then, you know, the development of our current roster, obviously having Russell coming off the season that he just came off of is amazing, Steven and the trajectory that he's continued to show from year to year, McDermott, Abrines, Grant, those guys have some playoff experience now, which is pretty unique for their ages, and I'm sure I'm leaving out some people, but it's an exciting time for us, and we're excited to start the season.

With that being said, I think that the thing that we're kind of really focused on is understanding that any time you have a team that undergoes the type of change that we've already gone, there's going to be a period where it's probably going to be a little messy; it's going to take some time for us to figure some things out. I can probably write the stories for you guys now when we lose a couple games or we drop a game that many people think we should win. We get that; that's all part of it. But what we can't do is shortcut the end game, the long game, which is to make sure that by Game 82 we're playing our best basketball. We've kind of looked at the different combination and the different combinations of players, understand our roster, understand our schemes, and it's going to take some time to get those things ironed out early on for sure, just like any team that undergoes some change, and there's plenty of teams in the league that are going through that.

Billy and his staff have been incredible this summer. They have worked their tails off. I'm really excited to see those guys work with this group of players. You know, the one thing about our coaching staff is I just -- they're as prepared as any group that I've ever been around, and they care deeply, not just about our team and our players, but they love hoops, you know, they love basketball. They keep each other company really well that way.

And then one of the other things I think that's important for the season is obviously there have been some changes to the roster, but the same things that we talked about at the end of the season, you know, last year, fundamentally, I think kind of continue to be the measure of the team, which is -- I've said this before, but I think more games in the league are lost than won, and most of the time that comes down to just the fundamentals, and the same things that win over at John Marshall High School and Southern Nazarene College and OCCC as well as a big-time Division I school or an NBA team, all the same things apply. You know, it's hard to be a really good team if you're turning the ball over a lot. It's hard to be a really good team if you're putting the other team on the free-throw line a lot. It's hard to be a consistent team if you're giving up a lot of uncontested lay-ups in the half court or in transition and if the ball is not moving before you attack the defense. If we can continue to make progress in those areas, I think it's only going to amplify the group that we have in place, and I think we've got a really interesting group from the standpoint of dynamics, age, toughness, and then versatility.

We're really focused on how we can not just get better but also be really strong fundamentally. That's what kind of holds you together I think over 82 games is when you go through those peaks and valleys, and when you get to the postseason that's when the bedrock of stuff really shines through.

Before I open it up for questions, I think it's also important to say that with respect to the season that we have, obviously in a few days, on Tuesday we've got to put our attention on just that day and understand that we have to take care of each day, day by day, but I also think that we're really excited about the potential for this team over the long-term. We feel that this team is kind of at a launching point to continue to grow and get better, as I said before, due to the age of the team, the versatility of the group, and the upside that we think the team has over time. We're going to go and kind of focus in on the day and the season, but we also feel like there's an incredible platform and opportunity for the future of the team, and we're really excited about both the season and beyond.

With that, I'll open it for any questions.

Q. Kevin's unfortunate tweet the other day, how was that received here, particularly by you and Billy?
SAM PRESTI: Totally understand the question. I think the only thing I can say to that is just to be consistent with everything that I have said and everyone else from the organization. I and no one from the Thunder really has anything negative to say about Kevin Durant, and I think we've been hopefully very open about the fact that we have tremendous appreciation and respect for what he and his teammates and coaches and everybody over his tenure here accomplished, and I really don't think there's anything more to say than that.

Q. Has he reached out to you personally?
SAM PRESTI: No.

Q. Or anybody in the organization?
SAM PRESTI: I can't speak -- it's not something that we're -- I'm not asking people that question. Maybe he has, but I can't tell you that he has.

Q. Are you concerned that Russ hasn't signed an extension yet?
SAM PRESTI: You know, again, you guys know how we feel about those types of situations. We're going to let that play itself out, and as we've said, he has and we have until the 16th of October to be permitted to sign that, and he'll have -- we're going to have that offer on the table as long as it's permitted to be there, and obviously we're hopeful that that takes place. But until the 16th passes, I'm not going to put like a label or adjective or anything like that on it.

Q. How much have you thought the what-if game, if he doesn't sign? Have you played it out?
SAM PRESTI: Probably not quite as much as you guys have, but you know, listen, I think it would be easy for me to sit here and speculate and create a million narratives, but I don't think that's really productive. I think let's get to the 16th, and if we get to the 16th, we'll get our answer, and then we'll move from there.

Q. From an outside perspective, it seemed like Kevin's last year here, that was not a big distraction and it did not seem to impact the team. Going into a year where both Russell and Paul are both free agents, are you confident that won't be a distraction? Is there anything you learned two years ago that applies here?
SAM PRESTI: I don't know, I think it's a great question. I think one thing I would say is that -- when I said this at the end of the season, I think Durant deserves an incredible amount of credit for the fact that irrespective of what might have been going on or all the different pressure he was under at that time, he never let it get in the way of what we had to do on the floor. I thought that was a credit to him. And obviously we had our best season in probably franchise history, and that doesn't happen without everybody in the building kind of pulling together, understanding like what we have to do as professionals, kind of blocking out the noise, so to speak, within the building, and doing our job. And I thought that was a great -- it was a great season for the Thunder as a whole, but every season is different, everybody is different, and I can't predict how that's going to go. I just know that we have to keep our eye on the ball, and as I said before, it's the fundamentals. I think there's organizational fundamentals, right, and I think there's on-court fundamentals, and organizationally we try to operate with class, dignity and poise, and that allows us to be the best version of ourselves.

Q. This is the second straight season where you've undergone a major reworking of the roster. What do you think your staff was able to learn from last year that's going to help with this year?
SAM PRESTI: Paul George should help a lot. (Laughter.)

No, I think honestly, I think last season was a really, really important season for us as an organization and a franchise. I'm incredibly proud of what took place last season. I thought that it was a very resolute approach. I thought that our guys played their hearts out. Obviously Russell stabilized everything and gave us everything he possibly could, and I think he inspired a lot of people in a city, quite frankly, with the way he handled that situation. And I thought our team battled their hearts out.

I do think that the coaches did the right stuff by not locking themselves into one thing but trying to continue to -- when we learned about Alex Abrines a ton, and it would have been easy to just not say he was ready to play, but he earned his way through the season and was playing his best basketball at the end of the season. They integrated McDermott after the trade deadline and got him on the floor with Alex. Jerami Grant, again, a lot of these players were kind of coming through the season. It was a disrupted beginning to the season, off-season, et cetera, but I think -- I keep using this phrase, but we kept our eye on the ball. We tried to do the things that we thought would help put us in position to be the best team we could, and I thought it was a great year with respect to just kind of how we conducted ourselves and the fact that we need to go to work every day, and there's nothing promised.

Going into this season, as I said before, I think the certain fundamentals that every good basketball team has to kind of be good at and abide by, I don't think there's any secret to anyone that's sitting in the room, but you know, the better we can get in those aspects, the more it amplifies the dynamic players that we have, the more solid we can be under stressful situations on the road, because you're going to have peaks and valleys. You can't live in a highlight. It's not 48 minutes of SportsCenter, right; there's something that has to like tie it all together, and that comes down to the same things that, as I said before, every team that plays has to be good at.

Q. You have two all-NBA level defenders on the perimeter; what impact do you think having both of them on the floor at the same time or being able to kind of give one a breather will make on the season? I'm not sure you've really had two guys like that.
SAM PRESTI: Yeah, I mean, it's kind of exciting to think about. I think just in general, just the size and the length of the different combinations that Billy can use is really exciting. Dre and Paul I think -- maybe the toughest thing about that is going to be the battle between the two of them as to who gets to guard the best player, but that's what makes great defenders. You know, exciting just because of the size and the length that Paul kind of interjects into the team and kind of -- I don't know, I think it helps connect a lot of the different pieces that we have, as we talked about over the summer when we introduced Paul. So that's exciting. We're looking forward to seeing that on the court. But as I said before, it's going to take some time to take the names on the paper and make them a functional team, and there's just no way to skip those steps.

My hope would be that we don't try to do that.

Q. You mentioned Alex a minute ago; it looks like he's gained some weight, improved muscle mass. Your reaction to that? And is he healthy? Are you concerned with the knee issue that he had?
SAM PRESTI: Yeah, I'm glad you asked that question just because I can kind of go through the health -- I don't know what they call that in football.

Q. Injury report?
SAM PRESTI: Isn't there something -- anyway, it shows you how much I'm watching football.

But yeah, so Abrines, bone bruise, and I think we caught it at the right time. You don't want to be playing on that once you've done it. He's progressing well. I think everyone here knows we're going to be pretty conservative with the way we transition players back onto the floor, especially with a shortened training camp, especially with less preseason games. That again is something new for us that we're trying to figure out how to make sure we manage. Same thing with like two-way contracts. So there's some new things that we're making sure that we're trying to think about.

Patrick Patterson is progressing. Again, I don't know that he'll be -- he's going to get some preseason games in most likely, but we want to make sure he's feeling really good about where he's at physically. He's new to us, so we want to try to understand his body and that relationship between medical staff and players is really, really important, want to make sure that that's growing and flowering out.

And then Westbrook had a PRP injection a few days ago, so he's going to miss the first few days of camp just to make sure that that settles itself down. He had the right knee patellar tendon, unrelated to any -- just to save the question, it's unrelated to any past injuries, but just to make sure -- I think he really wanted to make sure he took care of that in advance, so it wasn't something that lingered through the year, but not anything serious. We'll work him back in, I think, as we get through camp and see how he's doing, but he'll play in some preseason games, as well, et cetera, et cetera.

As of right now, those are kind of the things that we've got. You know, I'm always hesitant because someone could, knock on wood, stub a toe in there right now, but that's what we've got, and we think by the end of the preseason we should be in pretty good shape to have everybody out on the floor.

Q. Will Patterson practice on Tuesday or will you hold him back?
SAM PRESTI: So I think the plan is at this point, a lot depends on just kind of how he continues to progress. But the plan would be having him go through different parts of practice but probably not everything, and most importantly, again, as we get started with a new group, I think a big part of the first couple of days is going to be probably a lot of like concepts, teaching, and I think Billy is going to like roll it out there, and I think there's going to be probably more strategy and tactics will be talked about, vision, things like that, so he'll take part in that part of it, and then slowly progress into more contact and things like that. But we're not going to push him out there because we've got a long, long season in front of us, and we've got to make sure that we set ourselves up to be able to handle 82 games.

Q. One of the things Kevin said in his tweet was all they had was him and Russ. That's a common mentality for fans who look at a bunch of superstars and think that you have to stack a team with that to win a championship. Is that a faulty way of thinking? Can you win without having a bunch of superstars?
SAM PRESTI: Well, I mean, history would show that you can, but again, I don't want to speak directly to those comments. I've talked about it, as I said before. I don't want to bore everybody. Yeah, sure, I think the league and -- I don't know the right way to phrase it, like the league is in transition, but that's what happens all the time. The league is always changing. The rules are always changing. There's so many different dynamics and forces at work that drive a lot of these different things.

All I can tell you is the way we've always looked at it is like our job is to take the circumstances, try to understand them the best we can, and try to work as hard as we can to put the team in position to have a chance to contend and a chance to continue to grow. But I can't really speak to one way to do things or two different ways to do things. I think you have to focus on yourself and being the best version of yourself and understanding what your options are and how you work from there.

Q. Just getting to know a little bit about Paul George, what have you learned about him that maybe you didn't know?
SAM PRESTI: One thing I can tell you is I really like him. He's a mature guy. You know, he can talk about different things. He has -- I don't know, there's something about him, to me, that's really just kind of like sturdy and stable. He's been in the league for a little while now, and he's seen a lot of things. I think he's got a nice confidence about him, which I really like, and you know, I've got a chance to meet his family, too, and they're -- I think they're a big reason why he's probably the way he is. I think they're really nice people. So I don't know, I mean, I'm really getting to enjoy -- I'm looking forward to getting to know him better. I don't want to sit here and tell you that I know everything about him, but that's kind of the beauty of the process that we're going through now and we get to be together more often, and I'm excited for him to get to know the people in the organization and vice versa.

Q. What's been your stance on potential draft lottery reform?
SAM PRESTI: Well, I mean, listen, there's a significant effort, I think, just on the part of the league to try to address the perception of what people call tanking, and you have to trust that the process that is being taken to try to highlight the issues is being handled the right way by the right people. You know, I think there's a lot of really big issues in the league that deserve a lot of attention, and then there's this one, as well, which I'm not discrediting, but hopefully the majority of teams in the league are not -- hopefully they're paying attention.

Q. You spoke about the changes to the roster, that there might be some pitfalls here and there and some rises and falls, but with the years of chemistry between Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, are you confident that with the addition of Paul George that the chemistry can be built much quicker with Russell having seen him and Kevin Durant play together at the same time?
SAM PRESTI: You know, that's -- I don't think that I would say that I'm confident because of that, because I just think the one thing you've got to remember with respect to teams, players, et cetera, they're made up of people, and everyone is different.

All of us are different every single day. We go through something and experience it. Yeah, just because Russell has played with another really good player doesn't mean that it's going to be a similar process. I think you have to let that kind of take its shape and take its form. I do think that they complement each other incredibly well. I do think that the mentalities that they share are very aligned in respect to just like competition and killer instinct; know what I mean? I think that there's similarities there.

But the one thing about Paul that I think will be good for our team and continues to move forward is he just kind of plays the right way. He does a lot of things really well, obviously as does Durant, who's one of the best players in the league. We were just -- we feel really fortunate that we were able to acquire him and that he's going to be in our uniform. I just think he does a lot of different things really, really well, and I think he's somewhat under -- kind of like, I don't know, under -- I don't want to say underappreciated, but I'm excited for our fans to see how good us because he brings a lot to the table, and I think that that only helps Russell. I feel like the team is much better in terms of just complementary nature for Russell and Paul.

Q. A couple days ago Enes made an allusion that the team or he hadn't kind of figured out his travel situation with regard to Mexico City and Toronto this year. Can you shed a little more light on that and how that's being handled?
SAM PRESTI: Yeah. You know, it's an interesting situation in the sense that it's basketball, but it's real life. That's the most important thing. We don't really control governments and politics and things of that nature. I can tell you that the NBA has been great, and they understand how important it is that we have these things taken care of, if they can be taken care of. I don't want to speak to an end point because there's a lot of time that happens between now and then. But we're certainly hopeful that everything will be taken care of. But the league is hard at work at trying to make that possible.

I tell you there's certain things that you can control and certain things you can't control, this is one thing that we can't control, but we're going to work with Enes and work with the league to make sure we've done everything that we can to make sure he can go with us.

Q. Can you talk about Russell's growth now where he's on Kimmel and on he's on Fallon and he's on Ellen and not only being the face of the organization but the face of the NBA?
SAM PRESTI: Yeah, listen, I don't know what else to say about him. I mean, I've said this many times, but I wish I could tell you that any of us had any idea that he would become the player that he has developed into. We're not -- we by no means expected this. We certainly hoped that he'd turn out to be a really good player, but his commitment and work ethic and I think his character, those things combine to make a unique personality and person that allows him to be different, and that to me is what -- I was talking with someone this morning about these great players in the league, and number one, they're very, very hard to acquire, and there's a lot of reasons for that. But they're also what makes them so great is they're all so different and unique, for different reasons. I mean, if they were all great at the same things or built the same way or thought the same way, they wouldn't be different, they wouldn't stand out so much, but they are unique, and I think he's a unique guy, and we're very fortunate that we've gone on this ride with him for so long.

But I also think it's great that he has these other things that he's invested in, his foundation and the fashion component to his world. It's great. So I'm happy for him and obviously his family, growing family. We care about him a great deal. We love him. I'm happy for him. I think it's good for the league. Obviously he stands for something in Oklahoma City that I can't put into words.

Q. From your perspective where does he go from here as a player after triple-double averages?
SAM PRESTI: I don't know. I mean, obviously the season -- I think I said this last year. I think last season as much as it was a physical accomplishment I thought it was more of a mental accomplishment, but that's when you have someone with the mentality of -- whose slogan is "Why not," then I guess they live that on a daily basis. But I don't know; with Russell, he's always going to find ways to get better, and I thought he through the season got better last year. You know, and I still think he's going to continue to improve.

I thought one of the reasons why he continued to evolve last year is because the circumstances clearly changed, and so he had to go into a mode of figuring out how to help the team and how he could get better himself, and he did both those things, and obviously the circumstances have changed again. I think it's only going to bring out another opportunity for him to expand what he does to impact winning. I'm pretty confident that he's going to do that. That's what the great players do.

Q. The season is starting a little bit earlier, two weeks earlier than normal. Has that ever been a problem with the Thunder playing back to backs, and how do you see this working out, some of the measures working out this year?
SAM PRESTI: Sure. Well, I think the league office does a really good job -- number one, the league office and a guy named Tom Carelli is the person that does the schedule, just like we have someone here that does all the work, does everything and gets no recognition, so Tom Carelli is incredible. And the thing I think the league did that was really smart is they listened to the teams; they listened to the players, the people that are actually having to go out there and play every night, having to go out there and coach every night. It wasn't strictly just an economic, financial decision. I thought it was in the best interest of basketball, the product, and making sure that you had some nights where you'd have fans that wouldn't have any idea that a team just got in at 4:00 in the morning or 3:00 in the morning, they're playing on national TV against a team that hasn't played in three days, and it looks like it.

We had a game like that this past year against Chicago, where the schedule was really challenging for the month, but that last part was really tough. It was a home game, it was a national TV game, and our guys were -- they were -- because they're professionals, they busted their tail, but there was a point where they were tired. And I think the league realizes that in order to put the fans in a position to see something that's competitively balanced, you've got to try to do your best to balance the schedule, and they listened, and they did a really good job.

Of course there's going to be gripes here and there and people's individual schedules, but player wellness and health, you know, putting the best product on the floor for the fans, I think they accomplished those things, and that's a credit to them because they listened to the people actually kind of in the field, and they adjusted.

Q. Your thoughts on emphasizing some rules, one if you want to call it the James Harden rule, and then also the stepping underneath?
SAM PRESTI: Yeah, well, I'm on the competition committee, although this is my last term -- my term is just ending, and I do want to say like how grateful I am to have been asked to serve on that committee. David Stern and Adam Silver gave me the opportunity to serve on those committees, and the fact that they actually engender and want you to speak your mind, to disagree with them, and with no retribution, with no politics and things like that. That's not a normal thing. They want to know what you really think. They don't want you to just kind of go along with them. They want you to -- they embrace that, like, idea of thinking and thought and diversity of opinion. That's the kind of stuff I like to be around, and I've learned so much from being in the room with all the different people there.

So that I'd like to say publicly.

And then, yeah, I mean, they're looking at those things. When you have players -- excuse me, when you have coaches in the room like Brad Stevens and Rick Carlisle, Doc Rivers, those are the guys that are on the committee now, and to hear them talk about some of the stuff is fascinating, and I really defer to them when it comes to those types of things, when it comes to the business components or the team-building aspects, obviously RC, myself, Masai, we kind of take the lead on some of that stuff. But I think it's great that the league is looking into those things. I'd have loved if they looked into that before maybe the playoff series we played. It was nine free throws a game.

But no, you know, listen, as I've said before, great players figure out the game and force you to look at these things and how to address them. And like to me, that's why I think -- again, going back to the great player thing, great players, they're unique and they're smart, and I see them all as like artists truly, and so like the fact that there's going to be some adjustments -- something addressing some of these things only speaks to one of two things: One, the players are getting so much better and learning and pushing the limits and pushing the boundaries and the league has to adjust a little bit on the court; or there's a safety issue like the one that they're trying to address. A lot of it's the advent of the three-point shot, though, and the value of the three-point shot and the emphasis that's being placed on that and the way that defenses are having to adjust and the things the coaches are asking them to do.

I think it's a global -- more global -- to bore you, these are the types of things the committee really needs to be focused on is where is the game headed, and you can predict some of the issues that you're going to have both from a team-building standpoint, revenue standpoint, from a rules and enforcement standpoint, a lot because of like the trends within the game, and it's going to change again. It's not going to stay the same; it never has.

Q. What's the next step with the league in regard to, if they even can, regulating tampering?
SAM PRESTI: You know, I don't know. That's not a topic that's been raised with the competition committee. So I can't really speak to what their tolerance is for that or how they see it. It's not all peach baskets and pompons in the NBA; we know that. There's a business to it. But again, the thing that the league is really focused on is the integrity of the league, and obviously they have to decide the things on which they're going to focus, and they have a large amount of those things to focus on. That could be one of them, but there's also other things, and it's really up to them to prioritize what's important to them and how it affects the greater good and the integrity of the sport and the league.

Q. Houston, Minnesota, Denver, big moves in the off-season; how much tougher do you see the West being with those moves?
SAM PRESTI: Well, I mean, the Western Conference -- I've been in the league now since 2000, if you want to say I was in the league in 2000. I was an intern with the Spurs at that time. But since I've been in the league, the Western Conference has been really, really good. You know, I have so much respect for the teams -- all the teams, obviously, but the teams in the West and how good they are, the coaching and my peers and just how hard they work and how smart they are. But the Western Conference is a bear.

I think you can't create more wins. There's a finite amount of wins in the league, and the West makes it hard. I think the other thing is we're not in a situation where you've got the top 16 teams in the league playing in the postseason. You know, you've got eight and eight. We're also failing to realize that there's probably two or three or four teams in the West over the last several years that are really good teams that don't get to play in the postseason, and that is a -- that's a tough thing because if it was a top-16 type deal, then you'd have the 16 best teams by record.

You also have to go through the West through a regular season and then go into the postseason, you know, so just getting through those 82 is tough. I also think, though, it makes you a better team because you're playing great competition every night in the NBA, but you're also playing the best teams in the West, and it's forcing you to raise your level of play, and that's why I think sometimes -- we always look at how we're playing, and we don't judge, although I wouldn't ask anyone else to do this because it's not the way the world works, but like we're looking not just at the outcome, but we're looking at how the outcome came about. There's games where we play exceptionally well and we lose the game, but we feel pretty good about where we're at in certain aspects because it's such a long season and such a long game.

And there's nights where we don't play well and we might find a way to win, because as I said before, more games are lost than won in the league because it's a tough league.

But the Western Conference makes you have to kind of clock in every single day. There's no doubt about it. I don't know if anyone here is from the Northeast, but when I was growing up there was a commercial, and it was of a guy at Dunkin Donuts, and it was a guy that said, "It's time to make the donuts."

Q. They had that down here, too.
SAM PRESTI: Really? Not that same guy, though. Same guy?

So to me, the West, we've got to wake up every day, and you've got to clock in, and you've got to make the donuts every day here because it's a great thing to be a part of, and it only makes you better competing against the best. That's how I look at it.

Q. Do you think the top 16 should make it regardless of conference?
SAM PRESTI: You know, Adam has talked a lot about the limitations to that, but I do think that would address some of the issues with respect to like -- what their perception is of tanking. I think some of it is like team management and rewarding the teams and getting the best 16 teams the opportunity to play. I think that engenders better competition, and there's so many smart people in the league office. They'll probably look at that and tackle it and maybe one day they'll deal with it. Probably not in the near term, but I do think that raises the level of competitive balance, as we talk about.

And I know that, again, like they want ideas and they want diversity of thought, but I know that's been raised several different things. I think there's some limitations as Adam sees it, but there are smart minds up there, and maybe that's a way to increase the level of competitive balance and maybe generate some different interests, quite frankly, as we continue to grow the game.

Q. By most measures you were one of the worst three-point shooting teams in the league last year; how important was it to address that and how confident are you that that's been addressed to some extent?
SAM PRESTI: Well, I think it's important to address the issue with that is -- those guys are not growing on trees, as we know, and then there's -- in order to get those guys, you generally have to give up different things, et cetera, et cetera. But I feel like, as we talked about at the end of last season, we had four guys, I think, under the age of 24. I don't think anyone that shot 38 percent or better. Obviously Victor is not with us. He was one of them. But Patterson, Paul George, and then the improvement of -- obviously Alex, Doug, the improvement of some of our other players, as well. It's something everyone works on in today's game. I think coaching is so good and development is so important that if you can find a way to internally develop your roster to improve anybody, it gives you so much more flexibility with team building and lineups and things of that nature. I think the best teams are the teams that develop through the season, both individually and system wise.

I do think we've become a better three-point shooting team on paper, but the ball has still got to go in. We had a guy last year in AMo, one of the most consistent three-point shooters in the league over the last six or seven years, who just didn't have a great shooting year. That's going to happen. So you've got to live with that. Over the long run, though, still bears itself out. Obviously adding McDermott for the full season will make a difference.

It also comes down to the type of shots that the players are taking and how open they are, because there's a big difference in terms of the percentages of who's contested, who's moderately contested and who's uncontested, and there's only a few guys that shoot it really, really well contested, and those are the names you know. And then there's guys that shoot a lot of them, and they only go in periodically, but we remember the -- we all remember the ones that go in because they may go in timely.

I think the way you've got to look at that stuff is just rather analytically, take the emotion out of it, understand that over time the trends -- the numbers usually bear themselves out, and hopefully we've improved it for us.

Q. With Paul George you've got a significant talent, but if the cost was trading the known for the unknown in terms of the future, I think you said a few months ago that you didn't consider that a gamble.
SAM PRESTI: I think, yeah, so --

Q. Can you expand on that?
SAM PRESTI: Yeah, so I think what you're referring to is like I thought it would be -- I thought the real risk -- tell me if I'm mistaken, but I think the risk was not making a trade more so than making the trade. Yeah, I think it's pretty simple to be honest with you. There's only a few of these guys that exist on the earth that impact a game at that level. You know, you generally get those players through the draft, and a few places can get those players, like via free agency, with just the way the world works today.

When you have such a unique and rare opportunity to acquire a player of that caliber, with where our team is currently, right, and what that player could potentially do for not only -- not only as an individual but in terms of like connecting the rest of the team, the pieces that you have, I think it's something that you have to lean into. I really believed in and think that our team last year had a pretty nice upside.

But we would be building that team to maybe one day have a team as good as the one that we think this one could be, and I think in this industry, in this business, I think you have to understand that things run in cycles, and you want to continue those cycles, but you also want to try to capture opportunity when you have it. It's hard to acquire a player like that, and I think when you have a chance to do that, I think you have to be decisive. I think there's no way to do that in trade unless you're willing to take on some risk. But I think we go into that eyes wide open because it's rare to get a player that caliber with where our team currently is and with the fact that if things go well, it could be the continuation of or extension of a very long run of success in Oklahoma City, starting in 2009, '10, so to speak. But I just think you've got to be willing to act when a rare opportunity comes along because if you don't, you know, you'll be waiting -- you're kind of waiting for that opportunity to make your team as good as it can possibly be, and that's kind of like the way I look at it, and I think that it was something that we were ready to do because we know how hard it is to win. We know how difficult it is to sustain the level of performance we've had. We know that one day, that's not going to be the case. Very rare that some organizations can succeed at the level we have over a decade period of time.

Every year we can continue that to me is important for our fans, is important for our city. But we also have to understand that our goal is still to sustain a certain level of success and to be in a position where there's optimism and hope for the fans of the Thunder here and around the world.

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