Watching Oklahoma City’s first scrimmage of the year with new inclusions Paul George, Carmelo Anthony & Raymond Felton, I felt one emotion excitement. Was the competition LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard or a Damian Lillard, no it was simply Starters vs. the reserves and guys fighting for a spot on the roster.

What it was, was an opportunity to see the new talent the Thunder has acquired in the off-season. Anthony who hit some beautiful shots with slick moves, scoring 11 points, shooting 5 of 9 from the field and 1 of 3 from 3 point range and George showing his silky moves on offense & defense scoring an effortless 30 points, shooting 12 of 14 from the field & 6 of 8 from 3. George and André Roberson also showed why Thunder fans are so excited about their partnership on defense with both recording 2 steals each.

Sitting on my laptop in Perth, Australia watching the scrimmage you could feel the excitement inside Edmond North High School with everything that has happened this offseason with Russell Westbrook signing his extension and the acquisitions of Paul George and Carmelo Anthony the atmosphere felt electric.

We also got to see the future of OKC with Terrance Ferguson & Dakari Johnson, who had eye-catching moments one of the highlights being a link up play between Ferguson & George that led to a highlight dunk by George that had Russell Westbrook on his feet celebrating. Westbrook, who will not be participating in many pre-season games because of platelet-rich plasma injections in his left knee that needs some time to heal, but he is aiming for a chance to play in one or two preseason games. In a mini press conference talking to media, Westbrook said: “Oh I’m good, bro, When I come back, you’ll see.”

In the end, this was just a scrimmage between Thunder Blue & Thunder White. Russell Westbrook didn’t play Patrick Patterson didn’t play, and there was no elite competition, but damn, it was great to see George & Anthony play together along with Steven Adams and André Roberson. This season is going to be an exciting one.

Here is the box score from the scrimmage.

Written by Shannon Blake (justamansopinionblog)