Thunder GM Sam Presti talks title, how it goes beyond basketball
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) - It's been about a week since the Thunder hoisted the Larry O'Brien trophy inside the Paycom Center after game 7 against the Indiana Pacers. The moment is still surely fresh on Thunder fans minds, as is the parade.
Monday morning, Oklahoma City Thunder General Manager Sam Presti spoke to the media for a couple hours in a chance to look back on an unforgettable season in several areas.
He called it chapter 17, or year 17, of Thunder basketball and summarized it as a culmination of all the years that came before it.
"Chapter 17 is going to be remembered forever because of how unique it was, but also kind of how it kind of unfolded," Presti said.
It was a record setting year with 68 wins as they ended atop the basketball world as a very young and growing team with lots of the same faces back for next season. However, Presti said it all goes far beyond basketball.
"The players from this team, they will be immortalized not because they delivered a trophy to Oklahoma, but because they did so in a fashion that everyone in this state can easily relate to and understand," he said.
He called it a cowboy toughness and said it's a self reliance from being homegrown and built from the ground up. Presti mentioned the bombing, the response and recovery that followed as well as the growth of OKC in recent decades.
"There's nothing missing here and we didn't need a trophy to validate anything whatsoever," he said.
The championship only adds to the overall special story by how it was done and the lives it's touched.
"What a great thing for kids of that age to be consuming," he said speaking about young kids around the ages of 8-15 with them being very impressionable. "Not the trophy, but the way the trophy was earned and hopefully they have people around them that are able to point out, here's what makes this special."
Presti said he also urged his players and others after the win to contact those that made an impact on their lives along their journey that led to that moment. He also urged them to live in the moment as a whole with humility and gratefulness.
If you haven't gotten enough Thunder basketball action, the NBA Summer League starts in early July. That's mainly a tournament for newer players and those with limited experience to prepare for the season. You can catch the Thunder in action starting Saturday, July 5.