Per league sources, the Oklahoma City Thunder have hired Billy Donovan from the University of Florida to be their new head coach. The team and Donovan agreed to a five-year contract, with the terms yet to be disclosed. The hiring comes after the Thunder parted ways with long-time head coach Scott Brooks after the season.

Donovan coached at the University of Florida for 19 seasons, garnering two national championships (2006, 2007), four SEC titles, and three SEC Coach of the Year awards. With an impressive NBA player tree that includes names like Joakim Noah, Al Horford, Chandler Parsons, Mike Miller, and Bradley Beal. Donovan's ability to coach NBA-ready players is second only to Mike Krzyzewski and John Calipari. His coaching tree is starting to pick up steam, as young coaches like Shaka Smart, Donnie Jones, and Anthony Grant, who were previous assistants at Florida under Donovan, have started to leave their marks in college basketball.

The system of OKC's new coach is tailor-made for the NBA. His pick-and-roll-heavy offense plays for the Thunder's personnel. The addition of Enes Kanter as an interior scorer should make this offense that much more dynamic. Donovan's defensive approach will also play well into the Thunder scheme of pressuring the ball and defending the paint. The Thunder will have more chances to transform defense into offense under Donovan's coaching. Donovan is known for his great rapport with his players, but also for holding them accountable for their actions on the court. That's one area where he and Scott Brooks will likely differ. Donovan's system has slowly been making its way to Oklahoma City, as the Thunder's D-Leage team head coach is one of Donovan's former assistants (Mark Daigneault) and the Thunder's basketball information analyst, Oliver Winterbone, is a former video coordinator under Donovan.

Billy Donovan comes into a situation many will deem as a dream and also a possible nightmare. While the first job of many head coaches involves a struggling, rebuilding team, Donovan has been gifted with two of the best players in the world. The Thunder will enter next season with championship aspirations, as they have the last four seasons. But with Kevin Durant's impending free agency in 2016, every misstep will reverberate even louder than it normally does. For a coach that has never coached in an NBA game, it will be tantamount that he know how to handle that pressure. Golden State's Steve Kerr and Cleveland's David Blatt faced similar pressures as first year head coaches heading into this season, and both have been successful.

At least Donovan has two NBA scoring leaders on his side. Will the former Gators coach bring a title to Loud City? The NBA shall find out next season.

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About the author
Alex Roig
Jordan introduced me to the love of the game. Civically connected to all Oklahoma teams (yes, even you, OSU). If there's a ball and a court/field, I'm playing. Hoping to turn this blogging thing into a profession.