Presti & Brooks Comment On Deadline Deals

Here are some comments from Thunder coach Scott Brooks and GM Sam Presti on yesterday’s trade deadline activity. It’s fairly lengthy so I’ll let you get to it……

SCOTT BROOKS
Q: What is your reaction to the trades for Malik Rose and Thabo Sefolosha? 
A: We’re excited to have them both. We’re looking forward to bringing them in and have them fit in and work with us. And we will be able to tell more after a few practices and shootarounds with them. But we like Malik’s veteran leadership and his experience and his toughness. And with Thabo, we like his defensive mindset. It’s something that we’re building this team on. Both guys we’re looking forward to having with us.

Q: What do you know about Thabo and how do you envision using him?
A: I only know him from a distance and watching him while I’ve scouted my teams as an assistant coach. I love what he brings to the team. He seems like he does the defensive work that successful teams need to have on their team. I don’t know really other than that until we see him with our guys where he’s going to match up at and where he’s going to fit in on the court. But I like what I’ve seen on video. He’s going to bring a defensive toughness to our team. We’re building our team on defense and we have to get better at that area.

Q: Will he immediately compete with Kyle Weaver for the starting shooting guard spot?
A: Right now that remains to be seen. I’m looking forward to having our guys compete against each other. I think it’s important for not only young teams but all teams to have a very competitive spirit in practices. Having another important piece to our team is going to help each of them get better. But he’s definitely going to compete for minutes, and that’s what we want all of our guys to do, compete for minutes. But we’re looking forward to having them both here.

SAM PRESTI
Q: Does Thabo Sefolosha fill the void on the wing that you attempted to remedy with the attempted signing of C.J. Miles?
A: I think adding Thabo gives us another defensive-minded perimeter player, someone that can guard multiple positions. He has excellent athleticism and we feel like he’s another player that we can add to the team that fits well with the group that we have now. And we feel like he has a chance to continue to grow as a player.

Q: What kind of defender is Thabo?
A: I think that obviously his athleticism benefits him greatly on that end of the floor with his length. I think that he does a nice job off the ball. He’s pretty focused. I wouldn’t categorize him as one way or the other, other than someone that understands that end of the floor. I think he’s someone that’s going to help us continue to get better defensively because that’s an area that we want to try to address.