OKC Thunder focus on 'core principles' early in training camp

Training camp has begun for the Oklahoma City Thunder as the team looks to improve on their second place finish last year, when they lost in the NBA finals to the Miami Heat. Early on in their camp, the team is working on the fundamentals and core principles. Specifically, they'll be working on their defense and rebounding.

Last season, the Thunder were fifth in the league in rebounds, but were much better on the offensive side than the defensive, giving up 12.7 offensive rebounds per game. Thunder head coach Scott Brooks said at camp that those rebounds are one of the focuses:

"You have to be able to rebound in this league to have success. Just look at our rebound numbers. Every time we outrebound a team, our record was really, really good. We do so many things well defensively, I think that’s the one area that we really have to get better at."

The Thunder do have a much better record when out-rebounding their opponent than when their opponents out-rebounded them. They'll open their preseason against the Houston Rockets on Wednesday.