Donovan’s future
This season will define the future of Billy Donovan in OKC, Jenni Carlson writes.
Sam Presti took to using baseball analogies a few weeks back. The Thunder general manager was having a news conference about the upcoming season on the hardwood but started talking hardball after reading “The Art of Hitting” during the offseason and being inspired by Ted Williams’ approach.
So, here’s a slugging simile for you — this season is teed up for Billy Donovan to hit it out of the park.
And he best give it a ride. Believed to be the last guaranteed year on the Thunder coach’s five-year contract, Donovan holds his own future in his hands. There’s little reason to think Presti and Co. will push him out before his contract ends in 2020 — the Thunder Way has never included knee-jerk reactions — but Donovan needs to build some momentum.
Have a good year, and the case will be strong to extend his contract.
Have a bad year, and next season becomes tricky at best, lame duck at worst.
The good news for Donovan is that the core of this roster has the most continuity of any team that he has coached in Oklahoma City. The most similarities to his best seasons, too. That means this is his best chance to truly mold a team.
The bad news is, excuses are gone.
Donovan has faced as much upheaval in his first three NBA seasons as any coach would in a career.
When he first came to OKC, he took over a team that was ready to win a title. In a lot of ways, Donovan was like a young driver getting behind the wheel of a Maserati. He just wanted to figure out how to handle the thing without crashing into a tree.
Considering that Thunder team beat a historically good Spurs team on the way to the Western Conference Finals, then had the Warriors beat — can't really blame Donovan for two first-ballot Hall of Famers forgetting how to simply hold onto the ball in the fourth quarter of the biggest game of their lives — the rookie coach did well that first season.
Then Kevin Durant left, and Donovan and everyone else in Thunder blue found themselves hanging on for dear life for a whole other reason.
Last season, Donovan had his first real chance to mold a team, to have it play the way he wanted, but then the Thunder acquired Carmelo Anthony. The aging superstar arrived the day before training camp started. Suddenly, Donovan was getting to know yet another new personality while also figuring out how to meld Melo into what the rest of the roster had already been working on during the offseason.
There are lots of reasons the Melo trade wasn't good, but stunting that roster's evolution might be at the top of the list.
Last year's team won 48 games, which is no small thing, but it also lost 15 games to teams under .500. That team didn't play the way most in franchise history have. It didn't play hard every night. It didn't respect the fact that just showing up isn't enough.
That rankled fans. Rankled people inside the organization, too. That wasn't a quintessential Thunder team.
But this season, the Thunder has a roster that looks more like what we've come to expect in the first decade of this franchise. Youthful. Athletic. Long. Fast.
Frankly, those traits are similar to those of Donovan's best teams at Florida. The Gators that won national titles had the likes of Al Horford, Joakim Noah and Corey Brewer. They could go. They could defend. They could run opponents ragged.
That's what the Thunder hopes to do this season — and it has the pieces. Russell Westbrook. Paul George. Steven Adams. Andre Roberson. Jerami Grant. Patrick Patterson.
Now it's up to Donovan to put the puzzle together.
He doesn't make the baskets. He doesn't play the defense. That falls on the players. But Donovan has to implement a system that maximizes this roster, then has to hold players accountable. If they freelance on offense, that can't be allowed. If they fail to be disciplined on defense — I'm looking at you, Russell — that must be addressed.
Such things are never easy, especially when dealing with the egos of pro athletes, but Donovan knows these players better than any group he coached in Oklahoma City. He should understand each of them. He should see how best to communicate.
No situation is perfect, of course. The Western Conference is filled with land mines, and the Thunder has been without two injured starters throughout the preseason and will certainly be without one for several more months. There's a chance, then, the Thunder could end up being much better and still not win as many games as it did a season ago.
That wouldn't bode well for Billy Donovan. He doesn't need to move the base runners. He doesn't need to bloop in a hit.
He needs to crush this season.