News! Some good, some meh...

So the Thunder's general manager Sam Presti held a press conference recently, and would be normal with the start of training camp coming soon.  There was quite a bit of interesting information that cam out of that presser, and some of the news was very, very good.  Some of the news was a little - troubling.  Here's a quick rundown of some of the most important pieces.

Kevin Durant was cleared for training camp - this is great news!  Will he likely be on a minutes restriction and have his overall minutes reduced as a matter of course....most definitely, and this isn't a bad thing.  KD is coming off a major foot surgery, and before that - well...he had another major foot surgery.  So caution is not only wise but warranted.  In the end, considering the future of the whole franchise probably rests on his more than capable shoulders, its more than prudence that will ease KD back into his role and the lineup.

So another word from Sam Presti was that Serge Ibaka felt some "soreness" in his knee...you know, the one that he also had to have surgery on.  That's usually not a good sign for your recovery when you have soreness...the last time we heard that it was about KD and it led to his being shut down for the season shortly thereafter.  Now on the plus side, Ibaka has also been cleared for full practice with no restrictions and (again, according to Presti) looks great.  In fact, Presti's exact words were “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..."  Which is definitely encouraging and gives reason for cautious optimism. 

Let's not fool ourselves...after the run of bad luck that the Thunder had last year with injuries, it would sure help a lot to have a full season of health for the big 3 of Russell, Kevin and Serge.  Those 3 have a tendency (and a reputation) for doing work when all 3 are around and healthy.  The last time all 3 were healthy going into the playoffs...they went to the NBA Finals.  So saying that OKC needs these guys good to go is an understatement.  Billy D needs to use every trick and tool at his disposal to keep them that way.  If you haven't read it yet, check out the link below for Royce Young's full recap of the Sam Presti conference.

#ThunderNationRISE

*Source(s): 
Daily Thunder
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Bleacher Report