Tag: Mark Daigneault

Windhorst pod: Mark Daigneault ‘deserves legitimate Coach of the Year attention’

Mark Daigneault for Coach of the Year? The OKC Thunder have a losing record, but this came up on Brian Windhorst’s podcast.

In a recent episode of “Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective” podcast, the panelists brought up an interesting point about the Oklahoma City Thunder and Chicago Bulls.

At the time, OKC had a 20-27 record. The Bulls were 19-27. Yet Chicago had just traded multiple first-round picks to go all-in for a playoff chase, while Oklahoma City was shutting down Al Horford. The Thunder organization was trying to follow its plan to tank, but their on-court performance was making it hard.

“Mark Daigneault, the coach of the Thunder, I think deserves legitimate Coach of the Year attention,” said analyst Tim Bontemps. “They’re winning games, to (Tim) MacMahon’s point, with lineups that should not be winning games.”

The Thunder were projected to finish the season with 15 wins. They’re already at 20. Players who other teams either didn’t want or didn’t consider important parts of their future were traded to the Thunder, including Horford, Kenrich Williams and Ty Jerome. All of three have been solid contributors or better for OKC.

Young players have stepped up. Moses Brown, who played nine games for the Portland Trail Blazers last season before joining on a two-way contract, has broken out in his second year. Isaiah Roby is impressing with a variety of skills. Theo Maledon and Aleksej Pokusevski have grown as rookies.

When the starting lineup was in, the Thunder failed to lose consistently enough to ensure itself a top pick. Even with a losing record, some think this has earned Daigneault Coach of the Year buzz. Or maybe, he’s actually doing a terrible job?

“No, their coach should be fired. He is completely failing to execute the obvious strategy of the franchise,” MacMahon joked.

The group on the podcast laughed at this. Horford has been benched. Shi Gilgeous-Alexander is out until at least mid-April. Darius Bazley’s shoulder contusion has prevented him from returning in a timely fashion. If the Thunder continue to win without them, what other avenues can the organization use to tank?

“They’re going to bench their coach,” MacMahon laughed.

“Mark Daigneault is going to leave, he has personal (problems), he may not return,” Windhorst added, jokingly.

Daigneault is not going to win the 2021 Coach of the Year award while the Thunder have a losing record. It’s likely going to be Utah Jazz head coach Quin Snyder, unless Monty Williams can elevate the Phoenix Suns over the Jazz to the top of the Western Conference standings.

But Daigneault has been coaching so well, some national analysts are starting to say he deserves to at least be mentioned when talking about the best coaches of the 2020-21 season.

[lawrence-related id=443783,443664]

[listicle id=443764]

Moses Brown contract conversations started right after G League bubble

The OKC Thunder started discussing a standard contract with center Moses Brown shortly after he dominated the G League bubble.

Moses Brown’s new contract with the Oklahoma City Thunder may have been announced the day after the first 20/20 game of his career, but conversations for a standard contract began weeks before that.

Head coach Mark Daigneault said the organization started discussing a deal with the 7-foot-2 center when he returned from playing in the G League with the OKC Blue.

“When he got back from the bubble, this conversation kind of started,” Daigneault said. “It had been apparent that he was a worker and he’s a really good kid and that he’s somebody that had showed improvement by that point.”

Brown, who only played in 33 minutes as a rookie with the Portland Trail Blazers, joined Oklahoma City on a two-way deal. He got spot minutes for the team in the first half of the season before going to play for the Blue.

In Orlando, he broke out, averaging 18.5 points, 13.9 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game. He earned a Player of the Week honor there and was named to both the All-G League First Team and the Defensive Team.

By the time Brown returned, the Thunder were ready to get a look at him in the NBA. They thought the 21-year-old could continue to improve at the professional level.

“That’s why we put him on the court the way we did right away coming out of All-Star break, and he’s progressed nicely,” Daigneault said. “It’s only the beginning, hopefully, of his time here.”

This is the third year in a row that the Thunder have converted a two-way deal into a standard contract midway through the season. Last year, Lu Dort received a contract from OKC, and the season before it was Deonte Burton.

Burton is no longer rostered, but Dort’s final two seasons were guaranteed by the team last month.

Brown will now have the opportunity to receive the same. His contract is worth $6.8 million over four years, according to ESPN’s Royce Young, and only the first year is fully guaranteed.

“Our scouting, our guys pound the pavement scouting all over the world. They do an unbelievable job. And scouting’s kind of a thankless job … 99% of their evaluations are not guys that end up playing for us,” Daigneault said. “It’s great when we can pick up the development of that player. It shows great alignment, great synergy in the organization.”

[lawrence-related id=443686,443655,443629]

After recent late letdowns, Thunder dominate 4th quarter in win over Raptors

The OKC Thunder beat the Toronto Raptors behind a dominant fourth quarter led by Svi Mykhailiuk’s scoring outburst.

In the loss to the Memphis Grizzlies a week ago, the Oklahoma City Thunder led midway through the third quarter before falling apart and losing. Against the Boston Celtics on Saturday, the OKC went into the fourth with a lead but only managed 14 points in the final frame.

Against the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday, the Thunder flipped the script, holding the Raptors to just 14 fourth-quarter points to get a comeback 113-103 victory.

“Tonight I thought we did it with stops,” Daigneault said. “We kept them off the scoreboard and held them to one shot per possession down the stretch.”

Oklahoma City was able to do this short-handed. In addition to the absences of usual starters Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Lu Dort, Darius Bazley and Al Horford, rookie Aleksej Pokusevski, backup guard Ty Jerome and big Mike Muscala were also injured.

This left nine active players, none of whom has a full season of starts under his belt, and only one of whom has even reached 60 total starts in his career.

But the Thunder absolutely dominated the glass, out-rebounding Toronto 64 to 35, and grabbed 19 offensive rebounds, including seven from Moses Brown and four from Isaiah Roby.

“On the offensive [rebounding] end, I just thought it’s a good barometer of our competitiveness. I thought we made great extra efforts and kept balls alive,” Daigneault said. “I just thought we went after it. The competitive level was really, really good for 48 minutes.”

The rebounding, the tough second-half defense that prevented Pascal Siakam from getting back to the free throw line after he had 10 attempts in the first half, and a scoring outburst from Svi Mykhailiuk helped the Thunder put it away.

Here’s the fourth quarter, based on quotes from the team:

Poku’s double-double, 3-point barrage leads Thunder over Grizzlies

Aleksej Pokusevski became the youngest Thunder player to score 20+ points in OKC’s win over the Memphis Grizzlies.

No rims were harmed in the Oklahoma City Thunder’s comeback victory over the Memphis Grizzlies.

No, seriously. The Thunder went 16-for-31 from 3, and during a long stretch in the fourth quarter, they made seven in a row and seemingly hit nothing but net. Oklahoma City was missing four of its usual starters but was able to take down the Grizzlies 128-122.

Theo Maledon was out with an ankle injury. Lu Dort, who had playmaking duties on Saturday, sat with a toe injury. Darius Bazley remained out with a shoulder injury and Al Horford sat for rest on the second game of a back-to-back.

Forward Aleksej Pokusevski took on quite a bit of the playmaking, including running the point during the 14-2 run in the fourth quarter during which the Thunder tied the game. When Gilgeous-Alexander checked back in midway through the fourth, the star guard took over, making eight points in less than three minutes to help increase that to a 32-12 run.

The Thunder stepped onto the court with all the qualities of a tank job: Not only were four starters out, but three players who were in the G League a month ago were inserted into the starting lineup.

It wasn’t enough. Oklahoma City simply refuses to go down easily.

Pokusevski had the best game of his career. His 23 points made him the youngest player in Thunder history to break the 20-point mark. He hit five 3-pointers, becoming the second-youngest player to LeBron James to record that many since 3s became an official stat.

The 19-year, 78-day old forward’s shot looked silky and confident. He set his feet and released without hesitation. It’s unclear what changed between Saturday and Sunday, but he looked like a different player.

His passing was also excellent. He was decisive, ran the floor well, and the ball movement on the court was remarkably crisp for a team that relied upon a 7-foot tall 19-year-old to handle the flow.

In the fourth quarter, head coach Mark Daigneault put out a rotation of wings Pokusevski, Darius Miller and Kenrich Williams and bigs Mike Muscala and Isaiah Roby. It didn’t hamper the ball movement.

“I didn’t think the ball stuck at all. They didn’t care who made the play, who took the shot, they just had it spraying around,” Daigneault said. “And I thought Poku’s playmaking tonight was particularly helpful in that unit.”

That second clip actually cut off half the play, which was filled with similarly quick ball movement set up by Pokusevski. The fact that no Thunder player recorded more than five assists doesn’t show just how impressive their passing was as a team, and similarly, the four Pokusevski recorded doesn’t properly reflect his performance with the ball.

Throw on 10 rebounds to that line and Pokusevski has his first NBA double-double.

“He all in all looks so much more comfortable out there — rebounding, blocking shots, getting his hands balls,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Driving, making the next pass, extra pass.”

Miller also shined in that unit. He had 11 points, went 2-for-3 from deep and had a four-point play in the fourth quarter, but his most impressive play was a pass.

Seemingly everyone had a moment.

Moses Brown got his first career start. He scored 13 points on 5-for-6 shooting and grabbed four rebounds in 24 minutes of play before fouling out trying to contain Jonas Valanciunas , who finished with 16 points and 14 boards.

Jerome also had his first career start. He had 12 points, six rebounds and five assists, and showed impressive quick-thinking with this pass:

Roby, who finished with 10 points, eight rebounds and two blocks, had this ridiculous finish:

And then there was Gilgeous-Alexander. By the time he checked in during the fourth quarter, the Thunder had turned a 12-point deficit into a four-point lead.

Gilgeous-Alexander took it from there. He finished with 30 points on just 17 shots.

After trailing the Grizzlies by 10 points entering the final quarter, the Thunder outscored Memphis 38-22 to get the win.

“Defensively, you can’t trade baskets in this league. Fourth quarter, we started getting some stops,” Williams said. He added that the big unit in the fourth quarter helped secure boards. The Thunder out-rebounded Memphis 46 to 32, even with Valanciunas playing 30 minutes.

“We were able really to rebound the ball well, and I thought Poku did a really good job of getting the team organized, getting us in our positions and making plays,” he said.

The 38 points were the most the Thunder had scored in a fourth quarter all season. The fact that it came with the wacky guard-less rotation, down four starters and George Hill, and kickstarted without Gilgeous-Alexander on the court said all the much more about the team and about Daigneault as a coach.

The Thunder now have 17 wins and moved to two games back from the Grizzlies’ spot as the 10th seed.

“This win was born out of an exploratory mindset, which was one of our objectives coming into the season,” Daigneault said.

No matter what they explore, the Thunder have found a way to compete consistently. On Sunday afternoon, they got the win.

[vertical-gallery id=443044]

[mm-video type=video id=01f0kkxbbrgmz3gxx7 playlist_id=01f09kz5ecxq9bp57b player_id=01eqbvq570kgj8vfs7 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01f0kkxbbrgmz3gxx7/01f0kkxbbrgmz3gxx7-ccffcafd27889bea625e39969f2bb0c1.jpg]

Danilo Gallinari once went shoeless in Thunder 3-point contest — and won

It’s not quite Larry Bird, but last year’s Thunder shooting contests were typically a question of who’s coming in second — even when Danilo Gallinari wasn’t wearing shoes.

When Danilo Gallinari set an Atlanta Hawks record by making 10 3-pointers on Wednesday against the Boston Celtics, his former teammate had a bit of a flashback.

At the end of Oklahoma City Thunder practices last season, players including Gallinari and Mike Muscala took part in 3-point shooting contests. Most of the time, it was Gallinari winning.

“He was a really fun guy to play with, a great teammate, and I definitely miss having him around — but not those shooting games, because, uh, he was pretty consistently winning those games,” Muscala said. “So it’s kinda nice not having him around this year for that.”

He was dominant. Current Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault, who was an assistant last season, told a story that’s almost reminiscent of Larry Bird winning the real shootout back in 1988 when he didn’t even take off his warmup jacket.

“One day, he didn’t think they were playing, and he walked off the court and he took his shoes off. Then they yelled at him, they were like, ‘Gallo, you not playing today?'” Daigneault recalled.

“So he came back — but he never put his shoes back on. And he won the game barefoot.”

Who’s coming in second?

Gallinari now returns to Oklahoma City to take on the Thunder for the first time since the sign-and-trade that sent him to Atlanta.

Injuries cost him 12 of the first 14 games of the season, and he played no more than 20 minutes in the next eight games, so he hasn’t posted his usual scoring averages. He’s averaging 11.8 points while shooting 42.1% from 3, both of which are obviously beefed up by the Wednesday game. With that said, he’s averaging just 20.8 minutes per contest, and his per-36 numbers aren’t much lower than those of last season.

Coming off his 38-point performance, the fourth-highest total of his career, maybe he’s catching fire.

“Gallo’s a heck of a scorer, a heck of a shooter,” Muscala said. “He went off last night … hopefully he has a cooler hand.”

The Thunder and Hawks are scheduled to tip off at 7 p.m. Central Time.

This post originally appeared on OKCThunderWire. Follow us on Facebook!

Daigneault wanted to challenge the Diallo goaltend. Would he have won?

Hamidou Diallo’s goaltend was not a smart play, but OKC Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault wanted to challenge it. Would he have won?

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Hamidou Diallo had one of the most ill-conceived plays of the season at the end of the third quarter of the 97-95 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Friday.

Nuggets guard Jamal Murray heaved a shot from the right side of the halfcourt line. It was actually on target, hitting the backboard and bouncing toward the rim. But Diallo was in the air at the rim trying to do … something. He touched the ball when it was on or near the rim. It was ruled a goaltend.

Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault went to argue with officials. In the postgame press conference, he acknowledged Diallo’s play wasn’t smart, but Daigneault thought it might not have been goaltending.

“Had I had a challenge, I would have gone and tried to get that one,” he said. “The ball has to have a chance to go in the basket in order for it to be a goaltend. I just thought the angle that he called it from, and the fact that Hami was on the other side of the rim, I thought was a pretty challengeable play.”

Daigneault had used the challenge to contest an offensive foul call on wing Lu Dort in the first quarter. It was unsuccessful. Now, at the end of the third quarter, he didn’t have it back.

Would he have won it? Let’s take a look at the replay, which ended up on NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal’s “Shaqtin’ a Fool” segment (for good reason).

It probably wasn’t going to go in — the way it ricocheted off the backboard, the power it had when it hit the rim likely would have directed it away — but the ball was still over the cylinder when Diallo touched it.

The referees would have to be very, very generous to the Thunder to rule conclusively that it had no chance of going in.

The reaction of Mike Muscala, who had the best angle in the entire arena, says it all. It was a goaltend.

Daigneault, who never publicly criticizes his players, said it wasn’t a good play but managed to put in a compliment toward Diallo.

“Hami I’m sure would love that play back … it’s Hami’s spirit that makes him good. That certainly wasn’t intentional,” Daigneault said.

If it’s any consolation, Diallo’s not going to make that mistake again. That’s not a mistake a player forgets.

This post originally appeared on OKCThunderWire. Follow us on Facebook!

[lawrence-related id=441975]

[vertical-gallery id=441989]

3 improvements the Thunder made to beat Rockets on Wednesday after losing Monday

The OKC Thunder put on a show against the Houston Rockets, playing strong defense that led to great pace on offense that stunned Houston.

The Oklahoma City Thunder found different avenues of scoring without guards Shai Gilgeous-Alexander or George Hill.

The rotation players put on a show on both ends of the court against the Houston Rockets on Wednesday as the Thunder bounced back from the Monday loss to the Rockets with a 104-87 win.

“I thought we had really good carryover from the stuff that we addressed yesterday from the first game,” head coach Mark Daigneault said.

“I give our guys credit just not getting too emotional after that last game. No one likes giving up 130, losing by 30, but I don’t think we got too low after that one, just like we won’t get too high after this one.”

Forward Kenrich Williams led the Thunder with 19 points in 23 minutes off the bench while forward Darius Bazley had 18 points and 12 rebounds, Al Horford had 17 points and six rebounds and Hamidou Diallo had 16 points and nine rebounds.

Rockets big Christian Wood had only eight points and forward P.J. Tucker was scoreless.

Name an area of the game. The Thunder improved in it. Like the mini-series against the Los Angeles Clippers, they followed a poor loss with an impressive comeback performance.

Daigneault said that it is a skill to to forget about performances like Monday’s and move on to put something together like Wednesday. Williams agreed.

“It’s a skill, and it’s trying to be resilient and just putting the past game behind us and coming out and competing,” Williams said.

Here are three specific areas of improvement that won Oklahoma City the game.

Thunder coach Mark Daigneault: Riot at U.S. Capitol ‘appalling,’ ‘surreal’

OKC Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault spoke about the riot at the U.S. Capitol building.

The United States of America paused on Wednesday to watch as a pro-President Donald Trump protest at the U.S. Capitol turned violent as rioters breached the building and forced a pause to the electoral vote count as the Senate chamber was evacuated.

Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault spoke about the events during a Zoom press conference prior to the team’s night game against the New Orleans Pelicans.

“It’s appalling and pretty surreal. This is a great country, but it’s also one where there’s times where it’s hard to recognize ourselves,” Daigneault said.

“The distance between who we want to be, and who we think we are, and who we really are, sometimes, is vast, at certain times, and this, along with a long string of events in recent history, is yet another reminder of how far we have to go.”

The Thunder had yet to meet as a team when Daigneault spoke on Wednesday, but he expects to discuss the events in Washington D.C. with the team before they take the court to play the Pelicans.

Tipoff for the Thunder (2-5) and Pelicans (4-3) game is scheduled for 7 p.m. It will be aired on FOX Sports Oklahoma and broadcast at WWLS 98.1FM OKC.

[lawrence-related id=440549,440526]

Charles Barkley was unaware of who Thunder coach Mark Daigneault is

Charles Barkley was asked by his NBA on TNT co-hosts which team Mark Daigneault coaches. He was unaware it was the OKC Thunder.

Let’s play two truths and a lie about Mark Daigneault.

  1. He is the head coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder
  2. Born in Canada, he has a hockey background
  3. Charles Barkley was unaware of who he is up until the other day

The first one is true. The second one, as far as we’re aware, is the lie, though if we’re being completely honest, he hasn’t been asked about hockey in an interview since becoming the Thunder head coach. The third one is true.

On the NBA on TNT segment “Who He Play For,” a piece of the show in which Barkley’s co-hosts ask him to name which team journeyman NBA players are currently on, Ernie Johnson ended with a bonus question. On the screen was Daigneault, and Barkley was asked which team he coaches.

“Oh that’s easy …. I know that one,” Barkley said. “…The Indiana Pacers?

Wrong. Barkley started cracking up on the screen as he finished his day 0-for-6 in the guessing game.

“He’s got a hockey name! I bet he’s from Canada!” Barkley said.

Daigneault was born in Leominster, Massachusetts, a bit south of Canada.

It’s only been three games following a shortened offseason, so we can forgive Chuck for not knowing — especially considering he earned goodwill from the Oklahoma City fan base in August after betting Shaquille O’Neal $500,000 that the Thunder would beat the Houston Rockets in the first game of the playoffs.

But still … let’s get down these coaches’ names.

[lawrence-related id=440197]

Vucevic too much for Oklahoma City Thunder, who fall to Orlando Magic

The OKC Thunder’s short bursts kept them in the game throughout, but it was not enough to take down the undefeated Orlando Magic.

For the first time this season, the Oklahoma City Thunder game on Tuesday was not decided in the final second.

They lost to the Orlando Magic 118-107 and fall to 1-2 on the year. The Magic remain undefeated at 4-0.

Even with the double-digit loss, this was not a bad game for the Thunder. This wasn’t one of those times when garbage time buckets make the scoreboard look respectable. Oklahoma City played well and kept it close, actually tying it with the first basket in the fourth quarter, but ultimately slipped without usual starters Al Horford or George Hill in the lineup.

“There were times where we didn’t compete and we had lack of energy, and things like that is what cost us the game today,” said guard Hamidou Diallo. “All in all we played hard. … It’s just little things that we gotta clean up and get better on to start winning these close games.”

There were multiple times it looked like the Thunder were about to fold, but they continued to put together short bursts to hang in until the final few minutes.

About three minutes before halftime, for instance, the Orlando Magic went up by 10. The Thunder were struggling to make 3s. If they let the lead slide any further, it would blossom into a huge halftime deficit.

That wasn’t the case; OKC cut Orlando’s lead to four by the time the break began.

Midway through the third quarter, the Thunder had a three-play span in which Shai Gilgeous-Alexander threw a pass to nobody that went out of bounds, Darius Bazley airballed a 3, and then an alley-oop attempt to Diallo in transition went awry and resulted in another turnover. This was OKC’s worst stretch of play since the closing minutes of the first game of the season, and Orlando extended its lead from three to seven during this time.

But they didn’t fold here, either. It took just a few minutes for the Thunder went on a 9-2 run and tie the game at 80.

In the fourth quarter, they fell behind 101-92, but quick baskets from Gilgeous-Alexander and Justin Jackson put them back within four points.

“There were a couple times where the game could have gotten away from us and we made a play or got a stop,” said head coach Mark Daigneault. “Just didn’t get enough in the fourth.”

In the end, there was not one singular moment in which Oklahoma City collapsed. Orlando would take a lead, the Thunder would inch near it, and then the Magic would put together a run slightly better than the previous OKC burst. It wasn’t that there was one key area the Thunder lost on; they couldn’t keep up the hot 3-point shooting from Monday, they couldn’t stop Nikola Vucevic, and they couldn’t sustain consistent runs.

In other words, they were missing Horford and Hill.

This was the first game this season in which the Thunder didn’t have a chance going into the final minute, but it wasn’t a bad game. This type of game — competitive but not good enough – is likely the type the organization expected when it traded away its veterans to jumpstart a rebuild and can accept now.

“Another competitive night from our guys and a scrappy night, and obviously it just didn’t go our way,” Daigneault said.

Isaiah Roby, who started in place of Horford, was excellent. He had 19 points on 9-12 shooting and seven rebounds in 28 minutes of play. He only appeared in three games last year, but he stretched the floor, used his length and had the play of the night.

“He played a great game. He was ready,” Diallo said. “That’s really big for you to start and go out there, being in all the reads and all the coverages that we’re in. That’s really tough for him, and he came out there and he showed that he belonged.”

Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 23 points on 8-for-10 shooting and made all three of his 3-pointers. He was efficient on limited shots as the Magic focused the defense on him, often sending multiple defenders his way in an attempt to trap him off pick-and-rolls.

“I expect a lot of that going forward, and I feel like I handled it OK,” he said. “Had a few too many turnovers, but I’m going to watch film and get better from it.”

Lu Dort had 15 points and made three 3s – he is now 9-for-19 from deep on the season – while Diallo and Mike Muscala combined for 27 points and 13 rebounds off the bench.

The best player on the court, though, was Vucevic, who tore the Thunder apart. He posted 28 points on 12-for-18 shooting and made three 3-pointers. He did all that despite only getting to the line one time, which was an and-one opportunity.

Oklahoma City fell, but it was not a bad loss. They got to see players who had yet to take the court this season, saw a type of player in Vucevic they had yet to face, and remained competitive. At this point in the season, competitive is what the organization is asking for.

[lawrence-related id=440293]

[vertical-gallery id=440311]