ADVERTISEMENT

How successful will Donovan be in NBA?

tank2009

Sophomore
Feb 12, 2009
1,500
102
63
I am of the opinion that he will flop in the league. I think he was a good, not great, college coach. In the league he will struggle with the strategy change. He is no Brad Stevens. In 5 years or less he will be back in college imo.
 
He will be as good as the NBA allows him to be. Professional sports has very little to do with the actual coaching, especially in the NBA. Roster management and player success will have the most to do with it.

I predict he will end up right back in College in 4 years. He's in a very unpredictable situation. I think its just something that he's got to try, for himself. Durant is a top 3 player in the league. Even if its just a year or 2 with him, he wants to risk it. Successful people are risk takers.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RD_Gator
He will be as good as the NBA allows him to be. Professional sports has very little to do with the actual coaching, especially in the NBA. Roster management and player success will have the most to do with it.

In the NFL it's pretty much all about coaching. That's common knowledge, it's why coaches like Spurrier couldn't adjust, he wanted to golf instead of spend every waking moment studying tape like the rest of the zombie NFL coaches. It's a pretty big myth that there's not much coaching in the NBA, not sure how anyone who watches could say that. Just watch a stretch of Warriors game from last year compared to this year and you'll see coaching makes a pretty big difference.
 
How healthy will Durant and Westbrook be? If they are healthy, then next year will be very good for Billy D. If next year is good, Durant probably stays.
 
The reason almost all college coaches fail in the NBA is they get sucky jobs with sucky rosters. Someone goes 21-61 and hires the big name college guy - who is destined to fail unless he somehow remakes the roster. Never happens. Donovan isn't in the same boat - he's got 2 of the top 10 players in the league (top 5?). I don't know if the team will stay intact long term, but so long as it does, he'll win.
 
In the NFL it's pretty much all about coaching. That's common knowledge, it's why coaches like Spurrier couldn't adjust, he wanted to golf instead of spend every waking moment studying tape like the rest of the zombie NFL coaches. It's a pretty big myth that there's not much coaching in the NBA, not sure how anyone who watches could say that. Just watch a stretch of Warriors game from last year compared to this year and you'll see coaching makes a pretty big difference.

Eh..... The NFL is just like any other professional sport, its about the personnel when it boils down to it. Of course if your heart isn't in something you're not going to last long, I don't care what level you're at.

I'm not saying these coaches are completely meaningless, but especially with the NBA and Donovan, theres only so much he's going to be able to do regardless of what he does with his clipboard.
 
Eh..... The NFL is just like any other professional sport, its about the personnel when it boils down to it. Of course if your heart isn't in something you're not going to last long, I don't care what level you're at.

I'm not saying these coaches are completely meaningless, but especially with the NBA and Donovan, theres only so much he's going to be able to do regardless of what he does with his clipboard.


Steve Kerr improved the Warriors from 51 to 67 wins and improved their offense from 12th to 2nd in offensive rating and they averaged 60 more passes a game. That falls on the coach. Style of play, rotations, managing minutes is huge in the NBA and most coaches seem to be bad at it. Mike Budenholzer took over the Hawks and took them to 60 wins in two years by embracing the Spurs style of ball movement and shooting the 3. Coaching is huge in the NBA but for some reason most people seem to discredit it.
 
He will be like the rest pitino cal etc

Those guys walked into impossible situations. Donovan is walking into a situation 2 top 10 players, plus talented guys like Ibaka and Kanter. How much he succeeds will be dependent upon how good of a working relationship he establishes with Durant and Westbrook.
 
I agree that there is much more to coaching in nba than a lot of pepple admit. Many people who like college hoops enjoy downing nba at every chance, but all the same strategies exist except different.

Be interesting who he has as his 1st assistant and 2nd. Not sure opie will help much in the league.
 
I wish him the best of luck, but now the sec will be weaker without him I think, moving on, looking to next years team, damn its gonna be a looooooong summer.
 
I am of the opinion that he will flop in the league. I think he was a good, not great, college coach. In the league he will struggle with the strategy change. He is no Brad Stevens. In 5 years or less he will be back in college imo.
if Durant & Westbrook are healthy...very successful
 
I see no reason why he shouldn't be successful in the NBA. He has been running the pick and roll for many years.
 
Steve Kerr improved the Warriors from 51 to 67 wins and improved their offense from 12th to 2nd in offensive rating and they averaged 60 more passes a game. That falls on the coach. Style of play, rotations, managing minutes is huge in the NBA and most coaches seem to be bad at it. Mike Budenholzer took over the Hawks and took them to 60 wins in two years by embracing the Spurs style of ball movement and shooting the 3. Coaching is huge in the NBA but for some reason most people seem to discredit it.

I agree that coaching matters in the NBA. But I'm not sure that Kerr is a good example of that (although he's obviously done a great job). Kerr had no coaching experience when he was hired this year.

How can a non-coach go to the NBA and have such great success? Coaching in the NBA is more about roster management, motivational tactics, substitution patterns, etc. All of that is part of "coaching" but it is not the X's and O's type coaching that so many of the great college coaches excel at. That is less important IMO, or at least is something that a good basketball savvy assistant (Tex Winter for example) can handle while the head coach manages the whole enterprise.
 
I agree that coaching matters in the NBA. But I'm not sure that Kerr is a good example of that (although he's obviously done a great job). Kerr had no coaching experience when he was hired this year.

How can a non-coach go to the NBA and have such great success? Coaching in the NBA is more about roster management, motivational tactics, substitution patterns, etc. All of that is part of "coaching" but it is not the X's and O's type coaching that so many of the great college coaches excel at. That is less important IMO, or at least is something that a good basketball savvy assistant (Tex Winter for example) can handle while the head coach manages the whole enterprise.

Kerr is a perfect example of how coaching matters. He never coached no, but he worked in the front office for the Suns and has been around the NBA for a long time . He changed their offense from a iso heavy offense to a free flowing ball movement offense. He took away David Lee's minutes and gave them to Draymond Green early and inserted Barnes into the starting lineup over Iguodala. Plus there's all kinds of data to show how he's improved them. Even the good ole eye test shows they're a different and better team under him.
Here's a couple of pieces on how he's improved them. The SI one is really good.

http://www.si.com/nba/2015/02/20/go...ve-kerr-stephen-curry-klay-thompson-joe-lacob

http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2015/1/10/7524605/golden-state-warriors-steve-kerr-mark-jackson
 
Last edited:
I am of the opinion that he will flop in the league. I think he was a good, not great, college coach. In the league he will struggle with the strategy change. He is no Brad Stevens. In 5 years or less he will be back in college imo.
brad stevens didn't do very well in his first year
 
He'll coach there about 4 or 5 years, then Pitino or Cal will retire and he'll decide to go back to college, and be the next coach at UK or UL. It's all gonna depend on who retires first. Could also see him being Coach K's replacement, or going back to UF if their new coach doesn't pan out. I don't have any doubts he'll be back in the college game sooner rather than later.
 
The reason Brad Stevens is successful is because he gets to rebuild the roster from top to bottom. Now, Donovan already has a really good roster in place. His main job is to convince Durany to stay. If he doesn't, they'll either let him rebuild around Westbrook or fire him. We'll know by year 3 if we'll see him in college again.
 
Well hell I mean he's set up for success. who could screw that up when your handed a damn team that features Durant, Westbrook, Ibaka, Kanter, and Waiters and a pretty deep bench. They'll be one of the best teams in the league next year. I just love Kanter too. I love the way he pissed off Utah too, and came out taunting the crowd, LMAO. He's got that swag that I love so much. I just wish he had got to play here.
 
He'll coach there about 4 or 5 years, then Pitino or Cal will retire and he'll decide to go back to college, and be the next coach at UK or UL. It's all gonna depend on who retires first. Could also see him being Coach K's replacement, or going back to UF if their new coach doesn't pan out. I don't have any doubts he'll be back in the college game sooner rather than later.
This may happen, of course. However given the talent on this team chances are he will succeed. Also, if he did come back to the college game, I would be fine with it as long as it wasn't in the SEC. It sucks having to play Spurrier every year. I'd be fine and happy for him if he replaced K. Also may not hate Duke as much... not sure though.
 
He has 2 of the top 5 players in the nba. Ibaka has been an all star and Kanter is a solid inside player. OKC won 45 games with Durant only playing in 27 games this season.
 
He will be like the rest pitino cal etc


Probably if he'd inherited a team like they did. Not a chance with the group he's got though.

He was smart and waited until he could cherry pick an ideal situation to jump into.
 
I am of the opinion that he will flop in the league. I think he was a good, not great, college coach. In the league he will struggle with the strategy change. He is no Brad Stevens. In 5 years or less he will be back in college imo.
Donovan will be great in the NBA
 
I am of the opinion that he will flop in the league. I think he was a good, not great, college coach. In the league he will struggle with the strategy change. He is no Brad Stevens. In 5 years or less he will be back in college imo.
I think it will depend on how much control he will have. If its going to be X's and O's, substitution, and calling plays he won't be there any longer than you suggest.

If his duties are going to include being the General Manager , in charge of who is drafted, traded, etc.,and have a say in the general operations then he will be successful.

There is no doubt in my mind that Donavon can coach, He is the top 5 group in my opinion.

The NBA is a challenge for anyone. Anytime your players make more money than the coach, its going to be a problem, not even mentioning the fact that ego's have to be managed also.

In Donovans case the money has to be huge, becasuse he is leaving one the better coaching jobs in college

Wishing him well.
 
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT