Early season report card: Billy Donovan is on thin ice
Make or break season for Donovan:
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- Damian Lillard does not fit with the OKC Thunder
At the end of the day, Donovan isn’t a bad coach. OKC is one of the best teams in the West and the team’s defense is as good as it has ever been.
I’m not here to petition for his termination. It’s just hard to start 0-4 and not wonder about Donovan’s future.
One thing we know about Presti is that he doesn’t make impulse decisions when it comes to coaches.
Brooks was head coach for seven seasons before Presti pulled the plug, but Donovan appears to be going down a similar path.
If Presti was giving Donovan a pass before, it can’t go on much longer. Westbrook is now 30 years old and we only have Paul George for a guaranteed three years. Presti has clearly pushed all in on this group and they won’t stick around for as long as the original group did.
It’s a new chapter in Thunder basketball and winning is critical. If they hit another rough patch or lose early in the playoffs again, Donovan could be on the chopping block.