After outcoaching Steve Kerr and (debatably) Gregg Popovich in the 2016 NBA Playoffs, Billy Donovan failed to replicate his rookie year magic as a sophomore.
Last postseason, Billy Donovan was a godsend for the Oklahoma City Thunder. When the Thunder faced off against the San Antonio Spurs and the Golden State Warriors (who boast prestigious, accomplished coaches) Donovan not only did an excellent job of matching Kerr and Popovich, but he debatably out coached both of them. This postseason however, was different as Donovan made a myriad of questionable decisions. In case you lost track of them here’s the list:
1) Letting Roberson Decide The Thunder’s Fate At The Line
I’m going to say this in the nicest way possible: Andre Roberson is awful from the free throw line. In the Thunder’s series with the Rockets, Roberson shot 3/21 from the free throw line. I repeat: In the Thunder’s series with the Rockets, Roberson shot 3/21 from the free throw line.
There isn’t even a superlative to describe how bad shooting 3/21 from the free-throw line is. Egregious? Nope. Abysmal. Nope. Abominable. Nope. A-W-F-U-L. Nope. Literally, no single word does 3/21 from the free throw line justice. It’s just so bad.
And, the worst part is this: Despite Roberson’s free throw woes, Donovan continued to leave him in, down the stretch of games when he knew that Mike D’Antoni was going to deploy the hack-a-Roberson strategy.
It’s not like Donovan let this happen once, either. He let it happen repeatedly.
Donovan should’ve subbed Roberson out in favor of a shooter who would’ve done two things: (1) Disallowed D’Antoni to deploy the hack-a-whoever strategy and (2) Given the Thunder much-needed floor spacing on the offensive end.
I’ll end my argument with this: In the final four games of the Rockets-Thunder series, a combined 16 points decided the games. Roberson left 18 points at the free throw line over the course of the series. Ouch.
2) Mismanaging Russell Westbrook
I’m certain of two things regarding the management of Russell Westbrook in the first-round of the 2017 NBA Playoffs: (1) I’m not paid to know how to manage Westbrook — the $1.16 in my bank account can attest to this — and (2) Billy Donovan is paid a lot of money to know how to manage Westbrook and he had no idea how to!
Throughout the course of the series, Donovan sat Westbrook at all the wrong times. My favorite was when he sat him at the end of the third quarter in Game 4 and the Rockets went on like a 55-2 run. But seriously, why did Donovan repeatedly sit Westbrook during big, momentum changing stretches? How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop? The world may never know!
Donovan’s mismanagement of Westbrook was both alarming and costly. I’m not sure exactly when he should’ve sat him, but the answer definitely isn’t what Donovan thought it to be.
3) Continuing To Play Steven Adams
This is going to come off as a bit hypocritical because just one week ago I wrote an article advocating for the benching of Enes Kanter. That article, however, was written under the impression that Steven Adams wasn’t playing with a traumatic brain injury. Wait, what? Honestly, that’s the only explanation that makes any sense.
Adams was flat out catastrophic against the Rockets. He somehow posted a 4.0 defensive box plus/minus — a statistic which I now have grave doubts about — but by all accounts of the eye test, he was AWFUL on the defensive side of the ball. And, trust me, he wasn’t any better on offense.
Although I originally said the Thunder should bench Kanter, I would’ve actually went back on my word and played him. Why? My original reasoning for benching Kanter was because despite his great offensive output, he can’t defend the pick and roll. Well, guess what? Apparently, Adams cant either. There was literally three or four plays in a row in the fourth quarter of Game 5 in which the Rockets got Adams switched onto Harden in the pick and roll and he just got roasted every time. Like capital R capital O capital A capital S capital T capital E capital D, ROASTED.
And Worse:
Adams was literally backpedaling so hard he looked like he was running away from a mass murderer or a ticking time bomb. Honestly (and I truly believe this) I could’ve done a better job defending the pick and roll than Adams did in Game 5 down the stretch. At least I would have tried to stop Harden. Hell yeah he would’ve roasted me too, but I’d have given it a decent effort.
How does this tie into Donovan? Well, while he ultimately listened to me about giving up on Kanter, he should have given him another shot. Kanter would have been roasted in similar fashion on the pick and roll, but at least he would have countered it with an offensive punch on the other end. Adams was just awful and Donovan let him be awful right until it killed the Thunder.
Look…
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- Aleksej Pokusevski sidelined approximately 6 weeks with ankle injury
- Damian Lillard does not fit with the OKC Thunder
I get it, the Thunder were never supposed to win this series against the Rockets. But here’s the thing that stings for them: They could have won this series.
The series went five games but it was really so much closer than that. A few minor coaching changes and the Thunder might be prepping for the San Antonio Spurs right now.
But, those coaching changes weren’t made, so that’s neither here nor there.
We’ll chalk this up to a sophomore slump for Billy Donovan, hope he learns from his mistakes, and comes back better next year.