The Oklahoma City Thunder appear to have finalized their coaching staff after hiring former Detroit Pistons head coach and former Thunder assistant coach Maurice Cheeks to become the last piece of new head coach Billy Donovan's staff. Cheeks last coached in the NBA in the 2013-14 season, where he coached the Pistons for only 50 games before getting fired and replaced by interim coach John Loyer. Prior to that, he was an assistant coach for the Thunder for four seasons.

Cheeks has never been known as a great coaching tactician, but knows a lot about the game from his playing days as one of the best point guards in the 1980s. His "older brother, I've been here and done that" routine worked very well during his time with the Thunder, especially with Russell Westbrook. Cheeks was known as the "Westbrook whisperer," possessing the ability to talk to and calm the mercurial point guard down during his raged moments. Although Westbrook seems to have matured past those moments in the two seasons since Cheeks was last on the Thunder's bench, having Cheeks on the staff can only be a positive for Westbrook from this point forward.

The organization isn't stupid either. They know they have one job to do in the next two offseasons after this one, re-sign Kevin Durant in the 2016 offseason and re-sign Westbrook in the 2017 offseason. Aside from his coaching acumen, the hiring of Monty Williams was probably done in part because of his relationship with Durant. A similar comparison can be drawn with the hiring of Cheeks and his relationship with Westbrook.

Prior to his assistant coaching stint with the Thunder, Cheeks was an assistant coach for Philadelphia for seven seasons, a head coach in Portland for three seasons, and a head coach in Philadelphia for three more seasons. Cheeks adds head coaching experience to a staff that already includes former New Orleans Pelicans head coach Monty Williams and former Alabama Tide head coach Anthony Grant. The staff will be rounded out by Mark Bryant and Darko Rajakovic, who were retained from the previous coaching staff.