Thunder notebook: Kevin Durant not looking to win MVP

"I don't set individual goals like that," Durant said. "The only goals I set for myself is to try to have a better season than I did last year. That's about it. I don't have to score more points, or get more rebounds or get more assists. But if I got better throughout the season is how I determine if I had a better season than last year."

In the league's annual preseason poll of NBA general managers, 66.7 percent of GMs picked Durant to win this year's MVP award. GMs were not permitted to vote for their own team or players. Durant, however, said the prediction doesn't mean anything for him.

"I mean, it's cool but it doesn't really mean too much," Durant said.

In the same poll, 55.6 percent of GMs selected Durant as the player they would sign first if they were starting a franchise from scratch. LeBron James finished second with 25.9 percent of the vote.

Other notable Thunder inclusion were Russell Westbrook tying Blake Griffin with 14.8 percent of GMs vote for the player who is most likely to have a breakout season, 63 percent picking the Thunder to win the Northwest division and Durant finishing fourth with 10.7 percent of votes for the player who forces opposing coaches to make the most adjustments.

THUNDER VISITS U.S. SOLDIERS

Upon arrival in Fayetteville, N.C., the Thunder went directly to Fort Bragg, a nearby military base to visit U.S. troops. Players and coaches signed autographs, participated in a question-and-answer session and shooting games.

"That's something that we would like to do more," Durant said. "Those people sacrifice their lives for us to live in a great country like the U.S. To spend a little time with them was cool. We were all excited to see them and vice versa. It was a fun little period we had with them."