This can’t be a surprise to anyone after Chris Paul basically gave a farewell speech to Oklahoma City the other day. One would assume Danillo Gallinari will be gone as well as the rebuild in earnest in Oklahoma City will begin.
Donovan seems like a nice person and he and his agent are going to land him somewhere where winning next season won’t be as difficult as it will be in Oklahoma City.
Who’s to say if at the college level North Carolina, Duke, and Kansas could possibly be in play if one of those prestigous jobs open. Donovan might consider one of those plums, no?
Billy has a son who works for the Spurs…who’s to say it wouldn’t be an immense honor to follow Pop in San Antonio if that job was to open? There’s an unbelievable piano bar on the River Walk. Best I’ve ever been to.
Billy Donovan will have a nice job next season and I hope he does something special for Chris Paul as a gesture of thanks for the new job. Maybe they go somewhere together like Al Pacino and Jamie Fox in On Any Given Sunday. How cool would that be?
Without Kevin Durant, Billy Donovan never won a playoff series again during his tenure with the Thunder. From the point the Thunder were up 3-1 verus the Warriors the Thunder went a combined 7-18 in post season games played against the Rockets, the Jazz, the Trailblazers, and the Rockets again.
What I’m saying is that none of those four teams went on to make the NBA Finals. These were not four NBA squads of the ages like the 2016 Warriors.
Like I wrote last week … as someone who watches SEC basketball because of Bruce Pearl at Auburn–I’d have Billy D behind both Calipari and Coach Pearl in the SEC currently.
What Donovan did by backing out in Orlando in 2008 was smart from a career resume point of view. He would have failed then and there like so many other college coaches have done at the NBA level. John Calipari and Lon Kruger come to mind immediately.
I would look for Billy Donovan to land a pretty nice job fairly soon.
As far as the Thunder…I love Nick Collison. He’s the type of ex-player who usually becomes an excellent coach. You could put Nick with the core of SGA, Dort, Bazely, and all those draft picks and I think the Oklahoma City Thunder fanbase would be patient with the rebuild.
I’ve always liked Dave Joerger as a coach … but he might be too abrasive for Sam Presti. If you were going to hire a young black coach…. I love Mike Boynton at Oklahoma State. I love his coaching personality. I know for a fact he can interview like a stud hoss and comes across like a Chris Paul-Colin Powell combo.
Sam Presti give Mike Boynton a call and see if he’s interested in an interview. Why not?
I love the ending. It’s life is what it is. It’s fighting for those inches which separate living and dying. It’s competing. Al Pacino who’s about to be fired in Miami holds a presser, retires, then announces he’s just taken the head coaching job in Albequerque and just signed Willie B. as his quarterback in New Mexico.