Can Billy Donovan prove he deserves a clean slate with the OKC Thunder?
By Rylan Stiles
So, does Billy Donovan deserve another chance with the OKC Thunder?
Again, let’s establish what another chance means. Does that mean extending Billy Donovan tomorrow? No. Not even in the slightest. In fact, the total opposite.
Another chance simply means getting to coach these 82 games during the 2019-20 season with a clean slate and going from there. Evaluating what he does in these 82 games and not taking into account his past four seasons. All that hate you have for Donovan, all those times you have called for his job, wash that all away and start over.
Does he deserve that?
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I would say so.
Again, Billy Donovan was put in an impossible situation time and time again. You sign up for a job that features Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, two MVP caliber players. Durant leaves after year one and your General Manager mix and matches superstars for your last two seasons throwing a ton of egos into a room and hoping you adjust on the fly, still as a young coach trying to find your way in the NBA ranks.
That is the price of doing business, that is the job and the life of someone in the NBA.
However, Donovan has shown at Florida he is a good basketball coach, and he has shown signs during his OKC Thunder tenure, that success can translate to the NBA game.
So why not allow Donovan to coach this team that features only one superstar level player (in terms of name power) in Chris Paul, a player that has to show the NBA he can play a drama-free season for the first time in a long time.
Donovan’s player development with players like Jerami Grant, Terrance Ferguson, and on down the list has been his single most impressive attribute as an NBA coach. Let’s watch what he does with Ferguson who is looking to take yet another leap, Hamidou Diallo, Darius Bazley, and the most exciting of them all, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander who flashed a franchise player ability in year one, and has already taken on the “Prince of the Prairie” moniker.