An NBA season like no other
For Vin Bhavnani, it all started as a dream in his dorm room during senior year of college. “I had one dream. It felt real and I just started pursuing it,” says Bhavnani. With a background in engineering and no prior experience in team sports, Indianorigin Bhavnani set out to become an NBA coach. His singleminded pursuit and hard work paid dividends and now he is the assistant coach of Oklahoma City Thunder.
Fate could have taken him away from the sport, when he was oered a job as a sales executive in 2004. “It took me twoandahalf years to get the sales job after my parents said ‘Enough was enough!’,” remembers Bhavnani.
“And on the same day, the [New York] Clippers called me saying, ‘Hey, here’s a video opportunity’. I won’t even call it an internship, there was no label. It was database entry for potential scouting. It was just half a season of video coordinating at the Clippers and then I met the Spurs video coordinator and he called me over.”
He spent two seasons at San Antonio Spurs as the assistant video coordinator, before landing a role at Thunder as the lead video coordinator. Bhavnani is now embarking on his 10th season at Thunder, where he also worked as manager of scouting and player development for ve seasons before earning a promotion as the assistant coach in 2016.
Of the several highs and lows from his stint at Thunder, the rstround playos – a rst for the team after its rebranding from Seattle Supersonics — against Los Angeles Lakers, ranks special for Bhavnani. Thunder had captain Kevin Durant and rookie stars James Harden and Russell Westbrook going toetotoe against Kobe Bryant’s Lakers, which would go on to win the championship and complete a threepeat.
“We were down 02 and we came home to the most amazing crowd. I’m getting goosebumps right now. There was a stretch in that game in the third quarter, when we came back, cut the lead and took the rst lead of that series... the crowd reaction and our players’ belief, you could see it on their faces. It was such a beautiful moment. Then we won the next game. We lost in LA, we came back and lost on a tip against the best team in the league. That told us that we were good. I watch that segment on YouTube, that third quarter, regularly,” he says.
Thunder was on course for a fth successive playo place when the 201920 season was suspended due to the COVID19 pandemic. The pause in the season was publicly played out ahead of the game between Thunder and Utah Jazz. Both teams had nished their prematch warmups and were out on the court for tipo when confusion ensued. With the news of Jazz’s Rudy Gobert testing positive for coronavirus coming through, a Thunder medical ocial came out to talk to the referees. After a long consultation, the match was postponed leaving the spectators bemused.
Bhavnani, who had a ringside view of the proceedings, says: “The game was publicised, so I think it was very unique. I haven’t experienced stopping of gameplay. So just from a unique standpoint, that’s what I remember about that day.”
With NBA teams returning to training, Bhavnani claims the priority at Thunder is following the guidelines of the league to maintain safety and well being of everyone involved.
He concedes this is an unusual circumstance for the team, placed fth in the Western Conference. “You don’t have your hands on the players, but the training sta sends lms and workout routines,” he says.
On what will be the new normal for NBA, Bhavnani says, “I’m not sure. I just know that protocols are there right now and we follow them until we’re told otherwise. I do know there’s more video conferencing, there’s more communication, which is a great thing. The more the communication, I think the better your relationships are. I hope that would stick for a long time.”
With NBA teams returning to training, assistant coach Vin Bhavnani claims the priority at Oklahoma City Thunder is to maintain safety and well being of everyone involved.