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Bench Warmer
Oklahoma City Thunder rookie James Harden's first training camp is off to a rough start.
The No. 3 overall pick in this year's 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. That's the game," coach Scott Brooks said. "You can't go a game or a season without being nicked up sometime. Hopefully he gets his out of the way early."
Brooks said Harden's injury isn't 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.
"He's in great shape," Brooks said. "We're just going to be careful with his minutes."
"We definitely need some reps, but we're 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. He's 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 it's still too early to tell if he'll miss Oklahoma City's preseason opener at Memphis on Oct. 7.
"He's 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 you'd 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.
The No. 3 overall pick in this year's 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. That's the game," coach Scott Brooks said. "You can't go a game or a season without being nicked up sometime. Hopefully he gets his out of the way early."
Brooks said Harden's injury isn't 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.
"He's in great shape," Brooks said. "We're just going to be careful with his minutes."
"We definitely need some reps, but we're 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. He's 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 it's still too early to tell if he'll miss Oklahoma City's preseason opener at Memphis on Oct. 7.
"He's 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 you'd 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.
