Eh - this is what people say about all non-experienced coaches. People questioned the hiring of Brad Stevens. Mark Jackson. Steve Kerr. Jason Kidd (twice). And on and on. Similarly, people questioned lots of non-experienced coaches that failed miserably. At the end of the day, NBA coaching experience is not necessarily the key to being a successful NBA head coach.
Agreed. I'm a KD fan as well and I want him to succeed wherever he at. It'd be better if he was with us but still
Low risk, high reward. OKC is in a rebuilding phase, and there's a good chance the team won't look the same next year. Westbrook wants to be "The Guy." There's only a certain amount of time left until he and Kevin cannot coexist. That is obvious. Donovan is a great coach at the college level, and his hiring looks to be a "cleaning house" move. Scottie did a decent job, but he's not close to the coach Donovan is, regardless of NBA versus NCAA. Billy knows how to win, and he's done that without talent like KD and AngerBrook. I think he's going to have one of the two and restructure the offense so that it doesn't rely so heavily on one guy to take 30+ shots on a nightly basis.
Rondo led Boston in ASTs, while Green had the highest (or maybe second highest) PPG on that team. So, statistically, Boston's two best players were traded away, and instead of giving up on the season, Stevens had his team fight and become the 7 seed. Just because Rondo didn't work out in Dallas doesn't mean he's a terrible player. And Green has been a decent bench player for the Grizz.
I agree. However, I firmly believe you need a staff to deal with the potential egos and growing minds of young NBA players. The impulsive behavior and lack of life experience with some is challenging to manage. If you don't have experience with NBA-caliber players on a psychological level, your team chemistry will suffer. It reminds me of a guy I have who is built for the NBA (will be drafted) because he only knows the court, in the sense that it is "his" court. Both rookies and vets need a coach who can facilitate a variety of personalities. I don't know if Donovan is ready for Durant, but especially Westbrook. Both of those guys appear to be somewhat difficult to coach. But, hey, at least Rondo isn't on the team. I'm not sure where Scottie will go. He may be too soft for a lot of teams. I think Westbrook ran the show this year.
I mean, you guys DO realize that (for next year at least) Donovan only has to be better than Scott Brooks, right?
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Billy Donovan is signing a five-year contract with the Thunder, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.</p>— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/WojYahooNBA/status/593826020664434688">April 30, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Statement from Billy Donovan: <a href="http://t.co/dZqy5sEV2J">pic.twitter.com/dZqy5sEV2J</a></p>— Royce Young (@royceyoung) <a href="https://twitter.com/royceyoung/status/593845961706737664">April 30, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Look what Billy D did with that 2013 Florida team, he took them to the Final 4 and not one player on that team got drafted. Good pick up for OKC in my opinion.
OKC is in the west. I'm not trying to take away from Stevens' abilities or anything but he's coaching in the east. The job might be a little easier.
They made it to the Elite 8, in a Region that blew up everyone's Brackets They drew #14 seed (Northwestern State) #11 seed (Minnesota) #15 seed (Florida Golf Coast) in the sweet 16. then Michigan beat them by 24 point in the Elite Eight The starters were 3 Seniors and 2 Juniors, with a true freshman off the bench who will get drafted this year. You can't just look at NCAA Tourny and who got drafted -- bad measure. Good teams are often ones who are high in chemistry with Seniors and Juniors as starters -- and nearly by definition, not NBA draft worthy; otherwise, they would have bolted by then. Plus the luck, as seen in that path to the Elite 8. Final Four was two years ago, as a #1 seed. No surprise. And faced #11 Dayton in the Elite 8 to help. Again, heavy on Seniors with a great regular season record, with some young players who will get drafted eventually....two early to say how high. I don't know much about him at all. Just saying that a prominent state school like Florida has a enough of a recruiting advantage to get a high seed a lot. Looks like Donovan also valued experience on his teams over one and dones.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Billy Donovan's five-year deal with Oklahoma City is worth approximately $30 million, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.</p>— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/WojYahooNBA/status/593877642828451840">April 30, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">KD on Donovan: "You can’t just downplay what he’s done in the college ranks & just automatically say he’s not going to be great in the pros"</p>— Darnell Mayberry (@DarnellMayberry) <a href="https://twitter.com/DarnellMayberry/status/593910677678465024">April 30, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
