Drawing on championship experience, the veteran guard warns that past success offers no shortcuts, challenging a targeted Oklahoma City squad to embrace the grueling 82-game climb ahead.
Alex Caruso has been around the NBA long enough to know there isn’t a shortcut to winning a championship.
When he first arrived in Oklahoma City, Caruso was the only player on the Thunder roster who had already won an NBA championship. Now, after helping the Oklahoma City Thunder win one of their own, he is also the only player on the team who knows what it feels like to come back the following season or a couple seasons later and try to do it again.
The difference?
According to Caruso, there really isn’t one.
“I think it’s the same climb when you’re referencing a mountaintop. It’s the journey, and it’s not any different. It doesn’t have favorites. There’s no – there’s no secret formula to it. You’ve got to play really good basketball and get to the playoffs, and then when you get to the playoffs, you’ve got to play your best.
“And you know, you’ve got to make sure that you’re in the right spot to take advantage of opportunities. And I think that’s kind of the biggest thing. It’s like it doesn’t really matter, you know, what you do last year, in the summer, you know, everyone comes back and like, oh, I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been and I’ve worked so much harder than I ever worked.
“It’s like you’ve got to go play 82 games, and then you’ve got to make the playoffs, and then you’ve got to win 16 games to get there. It’s going to be hard. Nobody has ever won a championship and it’s been easy. I don’t think there’s much difference to it. It’s very difficult each and every time.”
That may be the biggest lesson Caruso can bring to a Thunder team that now has a championship banner hanging over its head, lost last season and is trying to get back.
Winning it once doesn’t make winning it again any easier. If anything, the expectations are different.
Last season, Oklahoma City was trying to prove they could finish the job again. Now, the Thunder enter the season knowing exactly what they’re capable of, while also knowing that it’s not that easy to get back just because you’re the defending champions.
Caruso has seen how quickly things can change in the NBA. A team can have a great regular season, but none of that matters once the playoffs begin. The work starts all over again.
That’s why he doesn’t seem interested in spending much time looking back at what the Thunder accomplished or what players did during the offseason.
Everyone can say they’re in the best shape of their lives. Everyone can say they worked harder than ever. Eventually, though, they have to play.
That’s the part Caruso keeps coming back to.
There are 82 regular-season games standing between the Thunder and the playoffs. Then comes the part that Caruso knows better than most: winning 16 games against the best teams in the league.
The championship a couple of seasons ago may have changed the expectations surrounding Oklahoma City, but it hasn’t changed what the team has to do to get back there.
The Thunder still have to show up every night. They still have to deal with the ups and downs of an NBA season. They still have to find a way to be at their best when the playoffs arrive.
Caruso has already made that climb.
Now he’s preparing to do it again, knowing just how difficult it will be.
