Harden leaves Thunder practice for 2nd day
October 1st, 2009 Posted in NBA basketball newsOklahoma City Thunder rookie James Hardens first training camp is off to a rough start.
The No. 3 overall pick in this years draft got poked in the eye on his first day of training camp. On Wednesday, he had to leave practice again after rolling his ankle.
Those things happen when you play hard and compete. Thats the game, coach Scott Brooks said. You cant go a game or a season without being nicked up sometime. Hopefully he gets his out of the way early.
Brooks said Hardens injury isnt severe. The Thunder have opened training camp with back-to-back sessions of two-a-day practices.
Brooks also held center Nenad Krstic out of practice to let him rest after playing this summer for the Serbian national team. Serbia made it to the finals of the European basketball championship before losing to Spain only 10 days ago.
Hes in great shape, Brooks said. Were just going to be careful with his minutes.
We definitely need some reps, but were going to monitor them in practice and in games, he added. (For the season opener), we want him ready and fresh and full strength, and he will be. Hes been around the game a lot of years and he knows how to get his body ready.
Forward Nick Collison sat out for a second straight day with a sprained ankle and is considered day to day. Brooks said Collison was walking better Wednesday, but its still too early to tell if hell miss Oklahoma Citys preseason opener at Memphis on Oct. 7.
Hes a winning basketball player and I understand what he does for our team, Brooks said. He creates a lot of situations that help us win games. He knows his role as well as anybody on our team, but youd like to have him out. He would like to be out there.
Mike Harris became the fourth non-roster invitee to training camp, joining Ryan Bowen, Tre Kelley and Michael Ruffin.
