OKLAHOMA CITY — First-year Thunder coach Billy Donovan may be new to many people in the NBA, but not to first-year Nuggets coach Michael Malone.
They go back many years to when they lived in Rockville Centre, N.Y.
“Billy went to St. Agnes (Cathedral), a Catholic high school in my town, and played for Frank Morris, who was a very well-known coach on Long Island,” Malone said.
And because of that relationship, Malone knew for a long time that Donovan would eventually coach in the NBA. Donovan coached at the University of Florida before landing the Oklahoma City job.
“If you look, the success he had at Florida speaks for itself,” Malone said. “The guy has done a tremendous job. He almost stepped in and took the Orlando job (in 2007), then went back (to Florida). And obviously he’s no dummy; if I had the chance to coach (Thunder stars) Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, I’d jump at the opportunity too.”
Donovan is part of a movement of college coaches getting a chance in the NBA. It used to be that NBA teams steered clear of college coaches, but times have changed.
Donovan in Oklahoma City and Fred Hoiberg in Chicago are the latest two coaches to go from college to the NBA. Boston hired Butler coach Brad Stevens in 2013.
“A lot of times, they were saying that college coaches weren’t good NBA coaches. Well, a lot of times, college coaches were getting jobs that were very tough jobs,” Malone said. “Billy’s going to have a chance to succeed because he’s with a great organization. Fred is going to have a chance to succeed because he’s with a very good organization that’s been a playoff contender in the Eastern Conference. So, those guys will do a good job, and they’ll set up the trend for maybe some other guys to come up.”
Footnote. Malone said center Jusuf Nurkic (knee) remains out “probably until sometime in November, early December.” And forward Wilson Chandler (strained hip) is seven to 10 days from a possible return, Malone said.
