Donovan Pushes Thunder to Clean Up Mistakes

The Oklahoma City Thunder couldn't have asked for a better start to the NBA reboot, but Billy Donovan Says there are still some things to clean up.

The Oklahoma City Thunder didn't exactly pick up where they left off before the NBA shut down. In some ways, they've gotten better, in the Thunder's 110-94 pounding of the Jazz we saw a healthy, Hamidou Diallo, a more confident shooting Lu Dort, and if you can believe it, a more athletic Darius Bazley. 

This camera angle of CP3 threading the needle 😯

(via @okcthunder) pic.twitter.com/uXT0pT1hI3

— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) July 24, 2020

Still, with all that positive news, every coach has things they don't like. For Billy Donovan, the 21 turnovers, the "stagnant" offense in the second half, and playing defense without fouling are areas he would like to clean up.  

"We're gonna be in a lot of games where it's gonna be 48 minutes."..."Not to say you're gonna play perfect for 48 minutes, but we just don't want to have lapses for minutes at a time." 

"I thought in the first half we were who we wanted to be, and I think the second half we could have done a little bit better there." 

 The Thunder is relearning how to play together, what was once muscle memory, is now buried in the subconscious. The issues they were having against Utah aren't going to be fixed in one practice or one game.   

"I always think they can do a little bit more, and we can be a little bit better."..."You can't take four and half months off and in two weeks expect these guys to be back where they were." 

Donovan has seen the Thunder grow since they started practicing in early July, but it's just a matter of pushing to get better to overcome what deficiencies they have.