Alex Abrines has made significant strides from year one to year two, and on Wednesday, Thunder head coach Billy Donovan addressed the fact.

Speaking after the team’s training camp session, the coach commented on the Spaniard.

“(Abrines) did a really did a good job from his rookie year to last year. I thought he made significant strides. He was better on the ball. I thought there was more of a physical presence to him at the basket. And I think probably having a year under his belt he probably learned the league a lot more, but I thought he was a drastically improved defender and I thought (assistant coach) Darko (Rajakovic) did a really good job working with him and trying to focus on a lot of the pre-practice skill development.”

Abrines, a second round pick of the Thunder back in 2013, showed promise last season as a second unit shooting guard averaged 4.7 points and 1.5 rebounds in only 15.1 minutes.

From yesterday, #Thunder head coach Billy Donovan encouraged by the work Alex Abrines is doing. pic.twitter.com/YByyukjwQg — Randy Renner (@RandyRenner) September 27, 2018

To see that Donovan is high on Abrines will no doubt be a confidence boost as he will now be competing with new bench addition Timothe Luwawu Cabarrot for minutes.

The 25-year-old Spaniard, who is a career 38 percent three-point shooter, will more than likely be looked to as a deep-threat off the bench and someone who can surprise teams. Let’s not forget he shot 46.1 percent from deep in last years first-round playoff series against the Utah Jazz.

The Thunder open up the regular season October 16 against the Warriors in Oakland.