Will Oklahoma City Blue Head Coach Mark Daigneault Join Thunder Staff With Billy Donovan?

While it may have initially been shocking to see the Oklahoma City Thunder part ways with head coach Scott Brooks recently, it should not have been a surprise to see the team name Florida head coach Billy Donovan his replacement on Thursday.

After all, just last offseason, the organization hired Mark Daigneault (who worked under Donovan as Assistant to the Head Coach for the previous four seasons at Florida) as head coach of the Oklahoma City Blue, the team's NBA D-League affiliate.

Coach Daigneault led the Blue to a 28-22 record over the course of his first campaign at the helm, but the team fell to the eventual champion Santa Cruz Warriors in the first round of the postseason.

Still, make no mistake: the Thunder organization must believe in the Florida brand of basketball and what Donovan and Co. had going for them down there.

With that in mind, could Daigneault join Coach Donovan in Oklahoma City as one of the first assistants hired to his staff? Such a promotion would be a strong and intelligent move, given the pair's familiarity with one another, coupled with the D-League head coach's experience with the Thunder organization to date.

Of course, sometimes longtime assistants enjoy serving as head coach, even on a lesser level, because it empowers them with the ability to make the most pressing of basketball decisions. Still, moving on up as an NBA assistant soon after starting off in the D-League (and the collegiate level before that) could ultimately put Daigneault on the fast track to eventually becoming a head coach in The Association.

In the same respect, keeping Daigneault as head coach of the Blue could ensure continuity between the NBA and D-League affiliates with Donovan coming to town as well.

It'll be interesting to see where he and the organization decide to go from here.