Sources of inspiration are everywhere for Thunder General Manager and Executive Vice President Sam Presti.
Strolling the halls at the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., Presti stood in front of a display for John McClendon, a protégé of James Naismith, the inventor of the fast break and a pioneer for equality as he became the first African-American head coach at a predominantly white university.
Outside his office, inside the building which is now called the Thunder ION, powered by OU Medicine, Presti latched onto a quip delivered by assistant coach Darko Rajakovic. The latter noted that on offense, “random” basketball sounds like a style without a plan, and what the Thunder wants to do this season is to play “creative” basketball, as to thwart opponents’ abilities to track the Thunder’s patterns.