ADVENTURUSS
nes Kanter has really nice teeth.
Straight. White. Nearly gleaming.
I know this because the Thunder big man rarely stopped smiling Friday afternoon at Thunder media day. Talking to reporters? He smiled. Posing for pictures? He smiled. Unless he was told to mean-mug for the camera, Kanter was flashing his pearly whites.
Yes, he has been known to break into a big grin on the court during games, but after a failed coup attempt in his homeland earlier this summer, joy hasn’t always been easy to come by. He has been receiving death threats. He has been disowned by his family.
How do you put on a happy face when you’re going through hell?
“Just trying to focus on basketball,” Kanter said. “This summer was ... a roller coaster. But right now, we have a really exciting season coming up, so my focus really is on that.
Nine questions in, Russell Westbrook finally heard the K-word.
Westbrook didn’t bristle.
In the first media session of his first season without his longtime running mate, Westbrook was finally asked about Kevin Durant. The new face of the Thunder didn’t just describe life without Durant, but included the entire gamut of key players to exit Oklahoma City this offseason.
“I mean, it’s definitely different. It’s not the same,” he said. “Just missing Kevin, Dion, Serge. I’ve been with Serge the same amount of time.”
Two questions later, Westbrook was asked if he agreed with what Durant said earlier this month: That the two of them were “still cool?”
“I haven’t talked to him,” Westbrook said flatly.
With preseason camp starting, it’s clear Westbrook’s focus isn’t on mending fences, but how to keep the Thunder upright. Without Durant and Ibaka, that job will fall primarily on the All-NBA point guard, but the Thunder is still devising a way to make the load on him easier.
“Russell is going to do what Russell does, and he does it at a very high level,” Thunder coach Billy Donovan said. “But it’s really more about our team and how we’re going to