Oklahoma City's Steven Adams (12) has been one of the NBA's most-effective big men after setting a screen. [Photo by Bryan Terry, The Oklahoman]

It was late July when Dennis Schroder and Steven Adams walked up to each other and started talking about the pick-and-roll.

Each summer before the Thunder comes together in preseason, the players and coaches gather in Los Angeles for informal workouts. Fans hungry for their offseason basketball fix will have inevitably seen clips of Schroder, Adams, Russell Westbrook and Raymond Felton playing pick-up ball, but those team workouts are where relationships can expand.

There's arguably no more important relationship in the NBA than that of the ballhandler and screen setter in the pick-and-roll — an action that defines many of the offensive outcomes in the game.

It's preseason, not a Thunder game has been played, and Schroder is coming off the bench when Westbrook returns from injury. That doesn't mean the chemistry Schroder and Adams are developing in the pick-and-roll is any less important.