At the start of the season, Billy Donovan’s tenure in Oklahoma City looked precarious. The Thunder did not do well in postseason against a beatable Portland team. People believed that a coaching change would make sense.
It is difficult to assemble a new core of players on the fly; it is easy to bring in a new coach. There was cause to believe that Billy Donovan should have been fired by Sam Presti. Donovan’s light touch style of coaching allowed Russell Westbrook to walk all over him.
This style does work, the NBA is a players’ league but Billy seemed to give Russell too much leeway.