Head Coach Mark Daigneault Praised by Team at Thunder Media Day
Near the end of last season, the broadcast caught head coach Mark Daigneault and Thunder forward Darius Bazley in a heated exchange.
Unfounded conclusions were drawn on both.
But one thing was clear on Monday’s 2021 Thunder Media Day: Mark Daigneault is beloved in the OKC locker-room.
One after another, each Thunder gave insight into why Daigneault is the nucleus of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
“Yeah, super humble and super personable” said Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, OKC’s most important on-court function. “Those are the easiest things to be coached by. You know where he's coming from, so when he's yelling in your face, you know it's from a good place. At the end of the day he's going to talk to you, and you almost don't feel like he's the head coach and you're the player. It's human-to-human conversation.”
Bazley, visibly smiling at just the mention of Daigneault’s name, echoed Gilgeous-Alexander’s sentiment.
“Mark is an amazing, amazing person. Bazely said. “I'm so grateful to be being coached by him. On and off the court, I feel like he's helped me already so much. He's helped me grow so much. He's one of the reasons why I feel so comfortable coming into this year,”
“I think he's able to have the impact on us and the relationship just because he cares. It's not just X's and O's. Like it's way beyond that when it comes to him. He doesn't really view it as like a coach and player relationship; we're both working together to help each other. I have a lot of respect and just a lot of love for him.”
The list goes on and on: Sam Presti, Luguentz Dort, Mike Muscala.
Amid all the uncertainties surrounding Oklahoma City’s roster right now, one thing is certain: Daigneault will enter his second season as a head coach with his team behind him.
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