Billy Donovan's charge in taking over the Oklahoma City Thunder wasn't to ensure that Kevin Durant stays. Or to guarantee a championship.
It was to take a very, very good team and improve it to great. And then let the rest just take care of itself.
A quarter of the way into his first season, how's that going?
Ehhh ... well.
The Thunder sit at 13-8, which is somehow still good enough for third in the West, but the gap has widened between them and the class of the league, and not just in the standings where they're already nine games behind the Golden State Warriors.