Thunder End of the Year Report Card: Mark Daigneault

Mark Daigneault navigated injuries and a rebuilding squad to reach the 40-win mark.

When Mark Daigneault stepped in as the Oklahoma City Thunder’s head coach, he wasn’t dealt the best hand. He had Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, which helped accelerate things, but the squad was due for a couple sub-30 win seasons.

With a rebuilding squad and an injury to Oklahoma City’s No. 2 pick Chet Holmgren, Daigneault was, once again, not dealt the best hand to compete.

Daigneault led the Thunder through injuries and trials to a 40-42 record and one play-in game win.

Overall Grade: A

It’s hard to dock Daigneault too much this season. Again, Holmgren was out of the lineup all season and the Thunder saw injuries to Aleksej Pokusevski, Kenrich Williams and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, which saw extended missed time for both of them. There were plenty of games where Daigneault was forced into small-ball lineups, yet he succeeded.

Reaching the 40-win mark, the Thunder upped their win total by 16 games from the last season played. Given the fact that they were without their second pick, this was an impressive year-to-year jump.

With the resume he had, Daigneault was a finalist to win the Coach of the Year award, though Sacramento Kings' head coach Mike Brown is likely to take home the hardware. 

Offensively

The squad averaged 117.5 points per game on the season, which ended up being the fifth-ranked points per game in the league. This was made easy as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 31.4 points per game on the season, but the Thunder’s unique, drive-heavy offense was generally successful.

Daigneault implemented the drive-heavy style and they did it plenty. The Thunder averaged a league-leading 64 drives per game. In second place, the Indiana Pacers drove 55.7 times per game.

Though the overall pace and scoring has increased from year-to-year, the Thunder’s 117.5 points per game is their best mark since moving to Oklahoma City.

Defensively

The Thunder allowed an average of 116.4 points per game this season, which is the 19th-best mark. All things considered, this could be much worse.

The Thunder’s defensive identity was simple. They were clearly outmatched and undersized often, but Gilgeous-Alexander, amidst his first All-Star selection, helped set the tone defensively despite being a 30-plus points per game scorer.

Without size in the paint, the Thunder didn’t allow the ball deep into the paint, avoiding situations where they would need an elite shot blocker. They did so by often throwing double-teams and rotating greatly, which Daigneault had the team executing on well.

The Thunder also turned teams over well. Overall, Daigneault played his cards well, despite not having the most size or length to be working with. The reasons Daigneault deserves such a high grade on both ends of the ball is because of how he managed the talent and frames he was working with. 

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