OKC Thunder head coach Billy Donovan enters do-or-die season
By Noah Schulte
Can Donovan advance OKC Thunder in the playoffs?
Even though he’s proven that he can at least roll the ball out for a playoff-caliber team, he still hasn’t shown whether he can do anything when he gets there. The OKC Thunder exited the playoffs stunningly early last year despite clearly having more talent.
The fact Donovan’s squad has significantly more experience in playoff settings is also unsettling. Sure, the Utah Jazz entered the playoffs on fire, but the fact that the Thunder completely and utterly collapsed reflects on Donovan.
Their system was fatally flawed from the start. Although some of OKC’s stars are partially to blame, the onus is still on the coach to take command of his team. As a coach, you can’t just let players commit turnovers like this on a consistent basis and expect to win much in the playoffs:
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Sure part of this is just Russ being Russ, but at some point Donovan needs to implement some sort of structure if he’s going to win.
And that’s really the biggest issue here. The structure that Donovan has set up–built on isolation basketball and the creativity of Russ–hasn’t translated to any postseason success for the Thunder.
Playoff defenses notoriously clamp down on opposing offenses harder than in the regular season Game after game of playing against one team, you can generally figure out what they’re going to do with remarkable reliability.
When an offense is already predictable heading into the playoffs, they usually get exposed before the end of the first round. So, can Donovan change the system going into this season?
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Or is this team headed for another disappointingly early playoff exit?