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Amid low expectations vis-à-vis to what the Oklahoma City Thunder have done this season, general manager Sam Presti believes that head coach Billy Donovan has a strong case for winning Coach of the Year.
The Thunder currently sport a 40-24 record for fifth in the ultra-competitive Western Conference. Note that they did this with a relatively young roster led by an aging guard in Chris Paul. From Presti's point of view, Donovan, too, should be given credit.
“I think he needs to be heavily considered for Coach of the Year, I’ll say it again. Relative to the expectations coming into the season, the thing I would always say is for us, the scorecard that matters the most is the one that we’re keeping inside. I do think that a lot of the expectations were probably based on the fact that a lot of people expected us to pivot off the team and not to finish with maybe the roster we had initially,” Presti said, per Woke Hamilton of USA Today.
Entering the 2019-20 season, not much was expected from the Thunder. After all, they had just given up stars Paul George and Russell Westbrook. Many believed that they were about to enter a long rebuilding process.
But as the season progressed, the Thunder kept on racking up the wins. Paul was still in tiptop shape while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander continued to develop under his wing.
Presti beefed up his argument by praising Donovan's leadership during the hiatus brought about by the pandemic.
Thunder general manager Sam Presti on the conference call today, highly complimentary of Billy Donovan's leadership this season and through the hiatus:
“I think Billy has done an excellent job. I think he needs to be heavily considered to be Coach of the Year."
— Erik Horne (@ErikkHorne) July 22, 2020
Whether or not Donovan wins Coach of the Year is a matter of wait and see. But Presti did raise some good points. Hopefully, the voters will consider.
