Thunder End of the Year Report Card: Mark Daigneault
One of the Oklahoma City's most surprising additions happened to be off the court.
In just his first-ever season as an NBA head coach, Mark Daigneault quickly made his name known with smart but fiery coaching.
Here are SI Thunder's grade for the first-year head coach:
Nick Crain’s Grade: A-
Mark Daigneault was spectacular in his first season as an NBA head coach. The only reason he doesn’t get a perfect grade is because we haven’t yet seen him coach to win for a full season.
Early on, when the roster was healthy, the Thunder were pretty competitive and Daigneault showed positive signs as a coach. However, what was just as impressive is how much he got out of his players down the stretch when the roster was thin constantly changing. Again, it’s still unclear whether he will be the right guy for the job when OKC is a playoff team again, but for now during the rebuild, he’s perfect.
The youngest head coach in the NBA, Daigneault has many years in the league ahead of him. A natural climber, he’s gone from a graduate assistant at the college level to a head NBA job in just a decade. If history continues, he’ll be one of the best coaches in the NBA in no time.
Being in the Thunder system for quite some time now, working his way up the ranks starting with the OKC Blue in the G League, Daigneault has full control of the locker room as the respect of his players.
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Derek Parker’s Grade: A
Even after a season of partial winning, its clear Mark Daigneault fits in well in the NBA coaching scene.
Daigneault was surprisingly good in the X’s and O’s area of coaching, consistently finding ways to keep Oklahoma City in the game while in their early competitive stretch.
Daigneault helped orchestrate multiple game-winners and buzzer-beaters.
Daigneault was more fiery than I initially anticipated. He was never afraid to tell players when they were wrong or fire right back.
All too much there are great basketball minds that aren’t great motivators, and Daigneault showed plenty of positives in both areas.
With Daigneault being the youngest coach in the league, he has a chance to grow alongside Oklahoma City’s players. The Thunder are in good hands.
