"Planting seeds": Thunder's Gilgeous-Alexander, Daigneault talk about Raptors rebuild

If you’ve caught any Toronto Raptors games of late, you’ve probably noticed that it hasn’t exactly been the most exciting basketball team to watch.

Sitting at a record of 23-47 and currently on a winless streak that’s stretched out to nine games, this year’s edition of the Raptors is about as far removed as they’ve ever been from being an NBA contender in over a decade.

But for anyone who’s spent enough time watching the NBA, they’ve probably also noticed seemingly how quickly teams can make a quick turnaround.

One person who knows this NBA life cycle well is Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault, who is now in his fourth season on the job. He had his first two years with the franchise resulting in seasons of 22 and 24 wins, respectively.

This year, the Thunder are currently sitting with a record of 49-20, good enough for first place in the Western Conference and second in the entire NBA behind the Boston Celtics, after picking up a 123-103 win last night in Toronto.

“It’s not as hard as you think it is,” Daigneault said on Friday at Scotiabank Arena of coaching a team with a losing record. “A lot of these guys have a lot to play for in their careers. They’re trying to establish themselves. As NBA players, they’re trying to stay in the league or they’re trying to establish themselves in the league. And there’s a high level of motivation with that, that I think you can capture.”

Before taking the Thunder’s job, Daigneault spent a season as one of the team’s assistants behind current Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan, while also spending five seasons as the head coach of Oklahoma City Blue, the organization’s NBA G League team. Both of those roles — Blue head coach and Thunder assistant — were previously occupied by Toronto head coach Darko Rajakovic, with Daigneault taking the Blue job from the Raptors’ boss back in 2014.

So what has Daigneault noticed in what he’s seen of this year’s Raptors squad coached by his old pal?

“They play with some pockets of juice and some motivation,” he said. “And there’s positivity in what’s going on, on the court, at least from what I’ve seen on film.”

Part of that positivity for Oklahoma City comes from a clear team culture implemented from the team’s front office. Daigneault praised Thunder GM Sam Presti, who has held the job with the franchise since 2007, when team was still playing as the Seattle SuperSonics, for finding players aligned with the team’s long-term vision.

“Anytime we discussed anything personnel wise that he was dealing with — draft, free agency, trade — [Presti] just was not gonna let anybody through the door that was not moving in the same direction as we were,” Daigneault added. “We just had guys that were very, very aligned with what we wanted to get done.”

While Presti’s job was to find players that fit with the Thunder’s vision, it was Daigneault’s to execute the on-court development of those players.

“‘You’re planting seeds,” Daigneault said. “That’s not going to flower, before your eyes just like a garden wouldn’t, but you’re planting seeds that will flower at a later point in time if you hit that every single day. These are really valuable days and experiences for [the Raptors’] program, at least they were for ours.”

And while they’ve got several young players — Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, and Lu Dort — all playing big roles, the biggest success story for the Thunder comes in MVP contender Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who grew up closely following the Raptors in nearby Hamilton, Ontario.

Acquired from the Los Angeles Clippers back in 2019 as part of a megadeal that sent Paul George to the West Coast for five first round picks and two swaps, Gilgeous-Alexander has now become an All-Star in each of the last two seasons, while averaging over 30 points a game each year.

“I just try to be authentic to myself and how I lead,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “But there’s no force to it, just being on a basketball team with a bunch of guys I get along with.”

With Gilgeous-Alexander is expected to be one of the NBA players set to lead Canada at the Olympics this summer, taking on a leadership role on one of the league’s top teams can only be seen as a positive.

“I would just say just my maturity as a human and a basketball player,” Gilgeous-Alexander added of his growth in the last few seasons. “I’m a completely different player person from what it was back then.”

Toronto’s attempted a similar roster overhaul to OKC, making four trades this season that included sending out franchise icons in Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby. And while they won’t exactly see the organizational turnaround be complete anytime soon, they seem to at least be planting the seeds that might bloom one day.

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