Head coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder Mark Daigneault announced his resignation, citing his exceptional performance that culminated in him being named Coach of the Year.
NEW ORLEANS: It was Game 3 on Saturday, the third quarter. The New Orleans Pelicans had cut the Oklahoma City Thunder’s sizable lead to just ten points, and center Chet Holmgren was ready for a second-half nap.
It would have been simple to play it safe and predictable early in the series, especially with a 2-0 lead and a weak opponent.
However, Mark Daigneault, the Thunder’s coach, doesn’t do predictable and safe. Rather, he perceived a chance to undertake a completely other action: Insert Gordon Hayward at center. Gordon Hayward!
In addition to failing to score in the postseason, Hayward is a huge departure from the typical center at 6-foot-7, 225 pounds, who has only blocked one shot in his 26 games with the Thunder.
This was an extraordinary lineup, even by Daigneault’s standards; the other four players were guards Shawi Gilgeous-Alexander, Jordan Williams, Isaiah Joe, and Carson Wallace.
Over the next four minutes, the Thunder increased their advantage from 10 to 19, limiting the Pelicans to just two points during that time. Holmgren then came back, ultimately ending the game despite the Pelicans’ small stature.
After one possession, the Pelicans responded by removing their own center from the floor and starting Dyson Daniels in place of Larry Nance Jr. This successfully eliminated the initial deficit that Daigneault’s move had caused.
It maintained many of the motifs that have helped Daigneault succeed greatly throughout his four seasons as an Oklahoma City assistant coach: focusing on small ball, deterring opponents, and counteracting some of his own team’s inadequacies on the glass by forcing opposition big men off the court.
After practice on Sunday, Daigneault remarked, “Some of it is the opponent, if they give us a lineup if (we) think we can do that with.” Furthermore, we aim to maintain a degree of unpredictability.
We want teams to observe us, much as New Orleans is currently observing us, unsure of exactly what we’ll do and when, and demonstrating a willingness to act in a variety of circumstances. It merely broadens the menu for which they must get ready.
After leading the Thunder to a 57-win regular season and the top seed in the Western Conference playoffs, the 39-year-old’s strategies paid off as he was voted NBA Coach of the Year on Sunday night.
The Thunder had their first 50-win regular season since Kevin Durant left in 2016, and it was a 33-game increase in just two seasons from the 24 games they won in 2021–2022.
Despite the announcement occurring on a day when the series was not playing, Daigneault stated he and his staff had “no plans” for the 5:30 p.m. local time window when the news was made.
Daigneault’s squad leads New Orleans 3-0 and is certain to win its first playoff series since 2015–16. As for Daigneault, the TNT coverage featured him in what appeared to be an ordinary hotel room rather than popping celebratory shots on Bourbon Street.
Naturally, a major factor in this prize is talent acquisition. Among other noteworthy transactions, the Thunder front office under Sam Presti traded Paul George for Gilgeous-Alexander, selected Williams with one of the five first-round picks obtained in the trade, and selected Holmgren with the second pick in the 2022 draft to rebuild the deteriorating and costly post-Durant core.
“The games are beyond me,” Daigneault declared. “I can’t win games, but I can lose as a coach.”
Even in the Thunder’s losing seasons, though, Daigneault was a constant threat to opponents because he was adept at using little advantages to his advantage, often surprising them with defensive or lineup adjustments that made it difficult for their opponents to settle in.
It was a stark contrast to the autopilot years of Billy Donovan and Scott Brooks, when the Thunder relied solely on teams who were more talented and executed than their opponents.
Daigneault is an expert at the little things that add up to extra tenths of points. Despite the fact that Daigneault has maintained an eccentric style even as the Thunder have grown more dominating, some of his moves may have been viewed as longshot underdog tactics for a 20-win team that might not be appropriate for a top seed.
His traps on CJ McCollum at the end of the first and third quarters in Game 1 against New Orleans, for example, scared the Pelicans into errors that cost them last-second opportunities to score. A two-point victory depended heavily on those possessions.
