Q. What's this experience been like, hooking up with the Thunder, Summer League, now you're at training camp with defending NBA champs?
BROOKS BARNHIZER: Yeah. It's definitely been a blessing. For me it's just been an opportunity to be kind of a sponge and kind of learn as much as I can, especially this is going to be my rookie year, going into my first year. So it's been a blessing to say the least. It's been a lot of fun so far. So I'm excited to get started.
Q. The welcome-to-the-NBA moment is kind of a thing for end of season but since you've been drafted what's been like the biggest shock and biggest like, hey, I made it for you?
BROOKS BARNHIZER: A little bit for me I think the coolest thing was I was able to go up to Toronto, kind of where Shai lives at. And he had a little mini camp. It was kind of cool. We were playing pick-up. A couple of other NBA players were in the runs that live in Canada, and it was kind of a cool just kind of gateway to see how this team operates and how close they are. To be kind of invited out there and to go out there and be up there was a cool moment for me to be around the guys.
I've been around a lot of the younger guys in Summer League, but to go up there and see the top guys was really a blessing. That was probably my biggest moment so far and it was a really cool opportunity.
Q. Toughest guy you guarded up there?
BROOKS BARNHIZER: I was actually on Shai's team both times. That was a lot of fun. I switched onto Chet a little bit. So probably Chet, those guys.
Hey, honestly, everybody up there was really fun to guard. So it was a lot of fun.
Q. What's something about all these guys that you didn't know or surprised you that we wouldn't know?
BROOKS BARNHIZER: I would say just kind of -- like, one, how funny they are, but, I think everybody sees how close they are. It's kind of how like the little details like they care about each other with, like whether it be I think a couple guys moved around a little bit this offseason, new houses. Talking about where did you get your furniture from. Just stuff like that. Little stuff that maybe a lot of people think kind of goes out of the window when you come to the NBA. I think here those things get amplified. Like they care so much about the little things that go into everyday life.
So it's been a lot of fun to be a part of a group like that.
Q. You played with Topic. Your initial impressions of him?
BROOKS BARNHIZER: Yeah, absolutely. Topic is unbelievable talent, especially passing the basketball. So it made a lot of kind of the guys that played Summer League's jobs a lot easier. So it will be cool to keep pushing the envelope with that chemistry in training camp and get out there and play with him again.
It was a lot of fun. He's so funny. I think the European boundary with communication sometimes can be really funny because you kind of get to like open up to each other in different ways than like normal people would. We opened up with basketball. So we just kind of see each other and just kind of start joking about random things. So it's been a lot of fun. I can't wait to keep building that.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports