Thunder’s Billy Donovan unites team in 1st year as NBA coach
Was new head coach Billy Donovan capable of converting the Thunder’s potential into results?
[...] 1-1 in the Western Conference finals against top-seeded Golden State, the Thunder can say, “I told you so.”
Led by a first-year coach, third-seeded Oklahoma City ousted the second-seeded Spurs in the conference semifinals and then won Game 1 of the West finals in Oakland.
Donovan is one of three college coaches to take NBA head-coaching jobs in the past three years.
The move away from hiring college coaches makes sense considering the decade of mediocre performances preceding it.
From 1994 to 2004, eight college coaches were hired to lead NBA teams, and only two of them made it to playoffs.
P.J. Carlesimo was the other, and he took the Trail Blazers to the playoffs three years in a row from 1995 to 1997 and again led the Nets to the 2013 playoffs.
Donovan said his learning process hasn’t been about adjusting to the NBA so much as getting to know a new group of players.
In the regular season, Oklahoma City ranked behind only to Golden State in adjusted offensive rating (points scored per 100 possessions, adjusted for strength of opponent defense) and Thunder stars Durant and Russell Westbrook ranked second and third in player efficiency, after the Warriors’ Stephen Curry.
The team turned the ball over an average of 15.9 times per game in the regular season and struggled with defensive consistency.