As the calendar turns to October and the weather begins to shift to the lower end of the thermometer, the NBA off-season comes to a close, with teams starting to get back into the swing of things as the preseason begins.
That means practice, media days and scrimmages are lined up for players, and they have the opportunity to reflect on the past season and share their expectations for themselves, their team, and the league for the upcoming season.
At Clippers media day, former Gamecock legend Sindarius Thornwell did both.
Competition is the name of the game in the NBA. Thornwell carved out his spot in the rotation and averaged free agency. The rebuild allowed Thornwell to come in and compete for playing time immediately.
Competition is the name of the game in the NBA, and Thornwell carved out his spot in the rotation, averaging 15 minutes per game and serving as a plug-and-play defender in the Clippers’ backcourt.
This season, the competition aspect of the game remains the same as Thornwell is one of many fighting for minutes in a crowded backcourt that features talented players from every point of the experience spectrum in the NBA.
“A lot of the guys, in guards in particular, are competitors,” Thornwell said. “We all are hard playing guards, and so it's going to be tough when we get out here to training camp b'cause we know that everybody's going to come out and play hard, everybody's competitive, nobody one wants to get out-done.”
While the competitive aspect of the NBA is always there, Thornwell can say he has his rookie season out of the way. He acknowledged that there were struggles throughout that first year.
“It’s a long season," Thornwell said. "In college, you’re the guy. And when you're a younger guy coming in and ... not being that guy, you have to learn to accept the role and accept your job. You can’t lose your confidence in accepting a role that you’re not comfortable in. And I think with myself, I lost confidence in myself because I wasn’t used to playing the role that I was playing. You can’t do that. Without confidence, you can’t play this game. Once I found my confidence in myself and in the role that coach asked me to play, I think that's what was the biggest thing for me, just keeping my confidence throughout everything.”
The Clippers' roster is currently packed with 17 players on the squad, two over the final roster limit. As a result, some players will have to spend time in the G-League, a road that Thornwell learned to travel during his first year in the league.
“I went down [to the G-League] for one game and I thought I was going to do numbers, because you see everyone all year doing numbers so I’m like, ‘it’s my turn,’” Thornwell said. “I get down there and guys are going at me every play ... the guys on the G-League team were like, ‘yeah, bro, you’re what they want to be,’ at halftime they had to tell me that because I wasn’t thinking like that. I was just like ‘I’m down here, I can do whatever I want to do’ but then I was getting my tail busted and ... it was like a culture shock for me.”
The motivation to stay on the active roster is high for Thornwell as he faces off against nine guards, all capable of contributing valuable minutes on the court, for a spot on the roster. With such a loaded backcourt, there won’t be enough minutes to go around for everyone, but Thornwell is not shying away from the challenge.
“I’m just looking forward to competing,” Thornwell said. “Everybody's going to compete and bring the best out of each other.”