Mark Daigneault Earns High Praise From One of NBA's Best Head Coaches

The Oklahoma City Thunder have been one of the best teams in the NBA this season and their bench boss Mark Daigneault is being recognized around the league for it.

Oklahoma City has enjoyed one of the best records in the NBA, topping the Western Conference at 44-19 after their thrilling win over the Miami Heat in the Paycom Center. 

While this loss dropped the Heat to 35-28 on the year, Mark Daigneault called the Eastern Conference foes the "competitive standard of the NBA." 

The praise was not one-sided as former coach of the year and a member of the top-15 coaches of all times list the NBA put out during their 75th anniversary celebration Erik Spoelstra had raving reviews for the OKC Thunder bench boss. 

"He is very good. I think he has built a system that really makes sense. I don't know if it does to the outside, but when you watch them and you scout them and after you've played them it just makes a lot of sense. Their spacing, their actions, how their system benefits their best players but then role players fit in and add to that," Spoelstra said. 

The Heat head man was quick to point out the defensive end of the floor as well saying "Defensively, they are very underrated. I do not think people talk about their defense enough...They are extremely disruptive. They can get you out of rhythm by forcing turnovers and getting after you." 

It is a rarity for young teams to be committed on that end of the floor, you "typically don't see that," according to Spoelstra adding "I think Mark [Daigneault] is a big part of that, he has done a great job this year." 

The Thunder head coach is currently the odds-on favorite for the NBA's Coach of the Year award according to FanDuel.

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