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But if you ask Royce Young: “Here’s the reality, though: 2016 is a ways away. A lot can change. A lot can happen. And if the Thunder have taken steps back or aren’t putting a product on the floor that can compete for championships, Durant may want to leave. As of today, the team is good, the future is bright and everything is fine. Durant is smart enough to know that soundbites can come back to haunt you and if he emphatically declared he’d never leave the Thunder — like he has before — that that kind of thing might get replayed in his face if he felt it necessary to leave in a few years. He’s just covering his bases.”

Speaking of the Thunder, here are Five Things to Watch this upcoming season, courtesy of SheridanHoops’ Zebulun Benbrook: “However, there is hope for the ever-elusive title run this season. Despite the Thunder’s losses, they still boast one of the youngest cores in the NBA, with room for improvement and growth as time goes on. All of the other potential contenders in the Western Conference are either dealing with age issues, injury issues, or will need to adjust to new personnel in key areas. The Thunder will surely make some noise in the West. How loud that noise is depends on a variety of factors. It’s impossible to chronicle them all, but here’s the five most important things to watch this season.”

New Orleans Hornets’ Center Jason Smith has still not been cleared for contact yet: “New Orleans Pelicans forward/center Jason Smith says he doesn’t feel pain in his surgically repaired right shoulder that he experienced last season and forced him to miss the final 24 games. But he still hasn’t been cleared to participate in contact work yet during volunteer workouts. Smith is hoping to be cleared just before the Pelicans open training camp on Oct. 1. That’s best guess right now because you never know if things will flare up when you hit somebody,” Smith said earlier this week after participating in the team’s volunteer workouts at the Pelicans new practice facility. “You put in the time to rest and recover and you put in the work to strengthened it and get back in shape. That’s all I can do right now is try to get in the best shape that I can.”

How good is Kobe Bryant? One of the best Centers of all-time, Hakeem Olajuwon, has an interesting compliment for him: “These words should come as no surprise as Bryant has had some of the NBA’s best footwork both on the perimeter and in the post. As his athleticism has declined with his age, he’s spent more time in the post every year. Bryant took his trip to Houston to visit Olajuwon after the 2009 Finals win over the Magic. Another guy who took a trip to see Olajuwon was LeBron James. James, however, made the trek to Houston after losing the 2011 NBA Finals to the Dallas Mavericks. Olajuwon said that James was incredibly professional and looked great in the post after three days of work.”

“Kobe is a genius, you know. He understands, he loves the post. He told me, ‘Big guys, they’ve come out of the post because they don’t love the post.’ If he could stay there all day, he’d stay in the post.

Now he wants to get more fluid in the post. And what you see these last couple years, he’s maximizing in the post.”

Ben Baroff is a basketball journalist who blogs for SheridanHoops.com. Follow him on Twitter here.