[CynthiaParticipant]

Sam Presti said yesterday that Donovan is safe and will be returning as the OKC coach next season.

Presti really puzzles me, one day he’s one of the best GM’s in the league, the next day he makes some really head-scratching decisions. I don’t agree with this decision, I think Donovan is a great college coach but he can’t cut it in the NBA. The players have minimal respect for him, you can tell in sideline interactions that he has no real voice of authority over the players. On top of that the fans don’t like him either, all season long I’ve heard nothing but "we need to get a new coach". Even my Grandmother makes fun of his lack of confidence/talking ability during interviews.

I just don’t understand why Presti wouldn’t at least give it some time and interview a few coaches, there’s some good ones out there for the picking. Instead barely a few days after elimination he says Donovan is definitely coming back.

[frogmanParticipant]

You can’t interview coaches and then say ‘ah screw it, Billy’s probably our best bet’ and then keep him.  You either have to publicly state you are keeping him or fire him. 

I don’t know if Red Auerbach with Phil Jackson and Gregg Popovich as assistants would be able incorporate their preferred style of play with Westbrook at the helm.  This is why I’m interested if Scott Brooks can do anything with the Wizards.

 

 

 

[SeattleSuperChronicsParticipant]

 Give it three more years and the Thunder will be as irrelevant as the city they represent. They had a true dynasty at their finger tips and traded it away. Karma for Clay Bennett’s “good faith” effort to keep the Sonics. 

[Dazzling Dunks and Basketball BloopersParticipant]

To be honest, I don’t think it’s that attractive of a job. You have an extremely ball-dominant superstar player who is already established as the alpha of the locker room and is convinced his way is the best way to do things. You can talk all you want about establishing an offense with more movement but when your franchise player won’t execute it what are you really going to do?

To make matters worse, you have a past his prime melo who still thinks he is a superstar and is still getting paid like one. He has already said he won’t accept a bench role and I highly doubt he is going to opt out considering his options so it’s very likely to become a toxic situation.

The roster as constructed isn’t good enough to compete with the best teams in the league and they are capped out (even if pg leaves as expected ) so they don’t really have a lot of means to improve it. 

As long as Westbrook is around, there is going to be tremendous pressure to win, and any failures to do so will likely be looked at as failures of the coach. It’s a job where you won’t get much credit for winning but will get blamed for losing. Im not sure Donovan is really the perfect guy for the job either but in a way I don’t think he’s ever gotten to coach the team the way he really wants to and I’m not sure anyone else would either

 

 

 

[BeastMode716Participant]

 It is what is

[220Participant]

 The biggest surprise for me is I thought Billy Donovan would clean up the offensive worse the Thunder had under Scott Brooks. Unfortunately the Thunder’s offense is basically the same now as it was under Brooks. Unless for some strange reason management is happy with the Thunder’s offense, this is a problem. I’m not sure what the Thunder can do to change things.

[HitsterParticipant]

Billy Donovan is under contract so Presti could not interview other people for the job with Billy in-situ. Billy would likely sue for constructive dismisal and the Thunder would have to settle up with him. 

They would have to remove Billy before they could start interviewing for a replacement, people could be sounded out if Presti had decided Billy had to go and was going to remove him but no formal approaches.

Billy is apparently on about $6 million a year and has a couple of years left on his deal so removing him would be costly. Assistants may also leave as new HC may want to bring in his own people so that is extra cost plus new HC would likely want a salary similar or larger than Billy was on.

Throw in Westbrook into the situation and things aren’t that easy.

 

 

 

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