It was an exciting prospect for the Thunder organization to bring its Development League team, the Blue, to Oklahoma City. Almost a year later, the level of optimism remains equally high.
The 2014-15 campaign was a successful one for the Blue, and the man at the helm, Mark Daigneault, came away from his first year as head coach feeling optimistic, grateful and excited about the program he has helped create and foster in the INTEGRIS Blue Development Center. Off the floor, in practices and on the road, Daigneault and his staff helped create an environment of learning and growth.
“Moving the team here and having the team here for the first year was kind of a blank canvas,” Daigneault said. “We were really hyper sensitive to the fact that we needed to create a culture in this building again for the first time in a number of years since the Thunder left – a culture of development, a positive culture and a purposeful environment.”
On the floor, the Blue continued to grow as a team and individual players progressed throughout the season. The team managed a 28-22 record in addition to helping both rookies and veteran players with their individual skills and as they found their roles as professional basketball players. Despite the ebb and flow of new players in and out of program, in addition to facing teams who played differing styles and use the Development League for different objectives, the Blue stuck to its principles and found a groove.
“We hit our stride as a staff and as a team probably mid-way through the season,” Daigneault said. “The offseason now has been really enjoyable for me because now there is an element of predictability to next year. I know what a D-League season is like, what some of the challenges are and what to expect.”
“The biggest challenge is probably the roster turnover more so than the opponents,” Daigneault continued. “We can’t control how our opponent plays and it’s not going to dictate how we play. We have an idea of what we want to get done, and regardless of who we’re lining up against we’re going to set out to get that done.”
Despite all of the challenges and change, Daigneault and his staff helped the Blue not only accomplish its goals of improvement and player development but also propelled the team into the D-League Playoffs. Unfortunately it fell in the first round, but the race to make the postseason was both enthralling and educational for a group of young players seeking growth both in the physical and mental aspects of professional basketball.
“It was fun for our guys and our guys took it seriously,” Daigneault explained. “The fact that we were able to get in was a fun experience for those guys. I was happy for those guys that they got to experience that this year. Making the playoffs is not an end-all, be-all at this level. There are priorities that we have much higher than that.”
Besides the Blue’s playoff berth, the team also had another interesting experience throughout the 2014-15 season. The Thunder’s first round draft pick from last June, Mitch McGary, played in eight games with the Blue, scoring 16.4 points, grabbing 7.8 rebounds and making 1.9 steals per game.
In one case, McGary played a game with the Blue, then less than 48 hours later delivered a 19-point, 10-rebound performance for the Thunder in 23 efficient minutes. On the season, McGary appeared in 32 games, scoring 6.3 points and grabbing 5.2 rebounds per contest while shooting 53.3 percent from the field.
“Guys who are assigned to the D-League who are under NBA contracts in their rookie year could handle that in a number of different ways,” Daigneault said of McGary. “I never felt like we were coaching an NBA player. We were just coaching another basketball player. Mitch came in and gave us the same level of investment, work and attitude that he gives with the Thunder. That helps our culture here and it helps him ultimately. It requires a great day of humility for a player to do that.”
In addition to having a member of the Thunder with his team during portions of last season, Daigneault also had the opportunity to attend Thunder games last season, getting a deeper sense of the level of competition his players are working towards. Spending time with Thunder coaches, players and staff and watching NBA games from a new perspective was a valuable opportunity for Daigneault as he applies those lessons to Blue players next season.
“It just gave me a refresher on what the end of the road looks like for some of these players,” Daigneault said. “What do they need to be able to do? How do they need to handle themselves? What level of professionalism do they need to have?”
With that experience with the Thunder in mind, Daigneault and his staff have a better grip on where it can improve and how they can better usher in improvement amongst their players next season. The Blue will constantly be searching for ways to increase the results it gets in terms of development. By taking a look at its 2014-15 season as a whole, Daigneault has identified areas where he hopes his program can improve when the fall rolls around.
“It’s just bringing better definition and sharpening the things that we established this year,” Daigneault explained. “Your culture is never a finished product. It’s always capable of taking steps backwards. It needs constant maintenance.”
“The minute you take your eye off the ball when it comes to culture development, you’re falling behind,” the Blue head coach continued. “That’s always a priority for us. The development of our players being more purposeful, more defined with greater clarity where we are deliberately moving the needle in specific areas for specific players.”
Until the Blue reconvenes for its own work in four months, Daigneault and his staff will be hard at work at the INTEGRIS Thunder Development Center, helping new head coach Billy Donovan and company get prepared for their 2015-16 campaign. With Thunder players in and out of the building and prospective draft selections in the building, it’s all hands on deck for Blue coaches to help out and develop their own coaching skills even further.
“We’re going to contribute to (the Thunder) as much as we can and when it comes time to break away next November for our training camp, we’ll be prepared for that too,” Daigneault said.