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The Oklahoma City Thunder’s decision to hire Billy Donovan as their next head coach is as good a move as General Manager Sam Presti has ever pulled off.
Replacing the passive Scott Brooks for the aggressive Donovan is exactly the punch the Thunder need on the sidelines, and they should be in terrific shape moving forward into next season with him at the helms as long as everyone comes back healthy.
While I completely understand Donovan’s reasoning for making the jump to the NBA now, I have to admit I am a little surprised at his decision to join the Thunder this season. There is a lot of uncertainty about the future status of Kevin Durant, who will be an unrestricted free agent next summer, as well as Russell Westbrook, who will come off the books in two years.
The Thunder’s future is very uncertain, but Donovan was clearly comfortable enough to make the jump given the star power he will be working with for at least the next season. This puts a lot of pressure on him to produce great results right away, but if the Thunder were able to be one of the best teams in the West with no discernible offensive playbook from Brooks for all this time, he should have nothing to worry about.
Unlike Brooks, who by all accounts seems like a great guy and terrific life coach for his young players, Donovan is not afraid to yell at his players and get nasty with them. The edge and control he has demonstrated during the last 19 years as head coach of the University of Florida will be a great shock to the system of the this team.
I just hope he does not end up regretting this decision should Durant walk next summer, although that will probably not happen.
It will be intriguing to watch how Donovan’s style meshes with his new players, who will have to adjust to their new coach’s system rather quickly next year if they hope to get back to their previous status as Western Conference titans next year.
Dan Schultz is an NBA sports writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on twitter @dschultz89. “Like” him on Facebook and add him on Google.
