GM Sam Presti 2023-24 End-of-Season Media Availability | Closing Statement | OKC Thunder

GM Sam Presti 2023-24 End-of-Season Media Availability | Closing Statement | OKC Thunder

this is where I get to talk to the fans so I really want to thank our fans ever since I’ve been here I’ve always felt that there’s been tremendous pride in having the team and I’ve always felt that and part of that I think is because of the way the team um arrived right um it was here and we were in a position to or I should say that they because I was not here were in a position to accept the team from New Orleans because the city had rebuilt itself from its own tragedy right it was a it was a city that could accept and support an NBA franchise that had hit similar distress right its own tragedy and I think it’s understood that like we are one of the smallest cities in uh in in the NBA and maybe wouldn’t be top on the list you know uh if there was you know if there was future future expansion so I think there’s a recognition of how much pride in own in having the team I also felt that um early on in those first kind of playoff runs and things like that um there was intense passion like an intense intense passion for the team and um it’s hard to like Main main that level of passion now there’s people like that meet us at the airports the people that always stand up and clap when we introduce the Thunder Legacy guys um you know the people that no matter what the results are if they see like Lou Dort on the floor or they see you know Lindy Waters can of three like to send other team the timeout they stand up and they clap but what I what I think I saw this year when we got to the playoffs when we got to the playoffs was a similar level of passion that is really exciting and we’re super grateful for that because when you have a passionate group of people in the stands like that it makes it much harder for the opponent to play and that was a big part of some of the success that we had in the postseason you know we finished six and four in the postseason and uh I thought you know the passion and the energy you know what I mean that was in the arena during the playoff games was really palpable and um we’re grateful for that we also are hopeful that we’ll be able to maintain that continue that because that was a big that’s been a big part of uh of our success over time time so I think there’s a difference between pride and passion when you have both of those it’s very very powerful you can’t have it all the time because passion is not something you can just have on forever but I think there was signs of that which was really special um as I said I think it a great year and um there’s still so much to learn and so much to figure out and have a lot of experiences we need to put together but we’re I think we did learn not just what we you know not just what we need but what we what we have and um I have no idea what the next season’s going to bring um you know we’ll sit here in September and people will ask me you know about all those things I I will say what I always say I don’t know um but sometimes when you don’t know where it is that you’re headed or what the final result will be um it helps to know where you are and I think we’re in a good place I think we’re in a good place um for a lot of the reasons we talked about but we also understand there’s no silver platters in Oklahoma City and we’re GNA have to we’re gonna have to take it we’re gonna have to improve we’re gonna have to scratch we’re gonna have to claw we’re going to have to battle to get progress especially in our conference and and our guys are our guys are fine with that those are the types of people that we want you know we want people that don’t need the wind at their back all the time um and I’d say we have to we have to enjoy the ride like I I had mentioned a while back um we don’t know you know we don’t know exactly where that’s going to end but try to not contort yourself into misery um as we find ourselves and go through difficult challenging times um it’s a a young group of players that will need support that will not be perfect um that are going to need to continue to find themselves by getting as close to the uh the razor edge of competition as possible that’s going to make us better but I’m very confident that if they maintain their the way they have their maturity and the way they have committed to one another and the accountability they’ve shown to winning um that good things will happen um but we have to walk the line and as I said earlier we can crack you know we can we can we can crack the code or we can pick the lock and we need to crack the code because if we can do that we can show up again and again even with um you know the UN unexpected adversities and curveballs that we’re going to get thrown um we have to know the have to know our own formula we have to know how to repeat our success and it won’t be something that uh is the same each year you know but if we have the that Mutual commitment and we have the awareness that we have so much to learn we have to be extremely humble about what we’re doing I think we we’re headed in the right direction

General Manager Sam Presti speaks with media at the end of the 2023-24 season.

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