The decade has come and gone, and in that time things have really picked up for the OKC Thunder. So who is on the All-Decade team for the 2010s?
Whoa, where did the time go? In a blink 10 years have passed you by. No, this is not a cheap imitation of the song “Time” by Pink Floyd on the best album in music history “Dark Side of the Moon” but it is true. I can not believe how fast we got to this point. The OKC Thunder is now 12 years old and it is time for the first real all-decade team for the team.
The 2000s decade saw just two iterations of the Thunder, so really just being on the roster put you on the all-decade team. Since that first season in 2008 though the OKC Thunder has seen a ton of success, arguably the second most by any franchise in this time period.
So, if you can not tell by now, this is the start of a series going through the OKC Thunder all-decade team. There will be a few surprises along the way, some controversy, and in true Thunder fashion a ton of heartbreaks and what-ifs.
Here is how it will work, I will go through each position of Head Coach, Point guard, shooting guard, small forward, power forward, center, and sixth man and give the candidates and who I ultimately settle on. From there, after the series wraps up, fans can vote on Twitter to tell me if they agree or disagree with my list. I will then compile that list and release an article of the fan-voted all-decade team which you all, our lovely readers, have full control over. Today, let’s start with the head coach.
This decision is pretty easy, P.J. Carlesimo does not make the cut as he not only went 1-12 with the Thunder but did not coach in this decade. So given the fact that the team has had just three coaches that narrows it down to a pair of contestants: Scott Brooks and the heavily scrutinized Billy Donovan.
Scott Brooks, who now heads up the Washington Wizards, went 545-338 with the OKC Thunder after being an assistant in Seattle/OKC for two seasons, and in Denver and Sacramento as an assistant for the four years prior. Brooks also brought home a Western Conference Championship to Oklahoma City. He was the 2009-10 coach of the year and won the coach of the month award three times this decade.
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In the postseason for the OKC Thunder, he went 73-39 good enough for a .534 percent clip. Brooks was eventually fired in April of 2015 making way for Billy Donovan to take over.
Donovan had an incredible rookie year as the OKC head coach, the team got healthy and bounced back in a big way making it to the Western Conference Finals that took a magical run to knock off the Spurs before the squad blew a 3-1 lead to the Golden State Warriors.
Throughout his career in Bricktown, Donovan has gone 207-140 (and counting) in the regular season and ends the decade going 15-19 in the postseason for a .441 playoff winning percentage. His first year at the helm was also the only year that he made it out of the first round of the NBA Playoffs.
Brooks finished without a first-round series win just three times in his 7 seasons with the OKC Thunder, missing the 2014-15 playoffs all together due to injuries to his squad that ultimately got him canned.
So who is the head coach for the decade? I think it is obviously Scott Brooks.
The runner up: Billy Donovan, by default.
The winner: Scott Brooks
Up next: The starting point guard for the OKC Thunder all-decade team.