Thunder’s Mark Daigneault is NBA Coach of the Year after leading young team to No. 1 seed in West
Associated PressOKLAHOMA CITY — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander joked at first when asked what makes Oklahoma City Thunder coach Mark Daigneault good at his job. “Working with a bunch of young guys and getting all these young guys to buy in on a championship level — I don’t think people understand how hard that is to do,” Rivers said before the Thunder beat the Bucks late in the regular season. Oklahoma City went 22-50 in Daigneault’s first year as Thunder head coach, and then 24-58 in his second before signs of a turnaround surfaced. Last season, Oklahoma City went 40-42 and reached the play-in tournament, and Daigneault finished second in the Coach of the Year voting. Sacramento’s Mike Brown, the unanimous Coach of the Year last season and the winner with Cleveland in 2009, was impressed with how Daigneault created a strong team so quickly with the talent general manager Sam Presti stockpiled.
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Closeness, chemistry propel young Oklahoma City Thunder toward the playoffs
New York Times)
Ahead of New Season, New Head Coaches in NBA 2020-21
News 18
Thunder promote assistant Daigneault to head coach
Associated Press
Billy Donovan out as Thunder coach after 5 seasons
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