New OKC coach fits the modern era of NBA
Sam Presti's hiring of Mark Daigneault to replace Billy Donovan as the Thunder coach was unsurprisingly surprising.
We knew that Donovan's successor would come from a pool of low-profile candidates. Probably young. Absolutely inexpensive. Almost surely a first-time NBA head coach. Likely someone with Thunder (or Presti) ties.
Daigneault checks all those boxes.
Not one Thunder fan in a thousand could have picked Daigneault out of a lineup. One hour after we learned of his hiring and one hour before his introductory press conference, this was the
full entry of Daigneault's Wikipedia page: “Mark Daigneault (born 1985 in Leominster, Massachusetts) is an American basketball coach. He is currently the head coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball League.”
That's it. Thank goodness for The Oklahoman's collected wisdom with Daigneault in 2018 and our quick profile from a few weeks ago, else he would be one of the great stealth hires of all time.
Daigneault is a raging success story. Six years ago, he was on Billy Donovan's staff at Florida but not even a full-time assistant. A behind-the-bench guy. Now he's coaching Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Steven Adams.
Presti got to know Daigneault when the Thunder was scouting Bradley Beal down at Florida. The same network that created a Presti/Donovan relationship put Daigneault on Presti's radar, and Daigneault actually was hired to coach the Oklahoma City Blue a year before Donovan came on board.
Daigneault becomes the first G League coach to ascend to the parent franchise's top coaching job (though Daigneault spent the last year on Donovan's staff). That's a source of pride for the Thunder.
Presti loves innovation. He loves trying to stay abreast in the modern NBA, which changes every 15 minutes in policy, technology and even personnel.
Daigneault is 35. Younger than Chris Paul, I believe, although I don't have Wikipedia to confirm.
Daigneault is touted as having great relationships with players and co-workers. The Thunder was impressed by his connections with the medical team, the strength and conditioning people, the analytics department.
He appears to be a connector.
Will it work? I have no idea. Nothing's going to work for awhile, after the Thunder trades CP3, unless
Ben Simmons comes back in the haul. So patience is needed with Daigneault.
Good news for him, Presti will have patience for a stealth candidate fit for the modern NBA.
Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at 405-760-8080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. You can also view his personality page at oklahoman.com/berrytramel.