Larry Brown is the only coach ever to win both an NBA title and an NCAA championship.
But here comes Billy Donovan, the 50-year-old Rockville Centre, N.Y., native, making a run at Brown’s historical mark.
With Oklahoma City’s elimination of San Antonio in Game 6 on Thursday night, Donovan and the Thunder are now in the NBA’s Final Four.
And all Donovan has to do to equal Brown’s historical achievement is get eight more wins….against Steph Curry and the Dubs and then most likely LeBron James and the Cavs.
No problem, right?
“There’s an opportunity to continue to grow for our team,” Donovan told reporters following OKC’s elimination of the Spurs.
The former Providence and Knicks guard has already won two NCAA titles at Florida in 2006 and ’07 with Joakim Noah and Al Horford.
His resume also includes four SEC Tournament titles, six SEC regular season championships and the FIBA Americas U18 Championship with the U.S. U18 team in 2014.
But the NBA is the most elite level of basketball in the world, and Gregg Popovich is among the greatest coaches of all time.
Popovich owns five NBA rings and will soon take over the U.S. National Team.
But in this series, the Thunder, led by Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Steven Adams, were more dynamic, athletic and motivated than an aging Spurs team that now faces serious questions about its longtime core of Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker.
And who knows, maybe this victory helps persuade Durant to remain in OKC after free agency, thereby making the Thunder automatic contenders for an NBA title for years to come?
But make no mistake: Donovan gets credit for beating Popovich head-to-head and remains alive for an NBA title in just his first year in the NBA ranks after leaving Florida.
“I want to congratulate Billy and his coaches, the players, the organization, from top to bottom,” Popovich said. “..Great series, did a great job. I’m thrilled for him. Going forward it will be a great Western Conference final, but congratulations to the Thunder, they did a great job.”
Last quick Popovich reaction, as usual the man loses with class #Spurs pic.twitter.com/C9yuDeb27k
– Jabari Young (@JabariJYoung) May 13, 2016
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While much has been made about the failures of college coaches who transition to the NBA — think John Calipari, Rick Pitino, Tim Floyd, Leonard Hamilton and on and on — Donovan is still just 50 and on the brink of perhaps something special.
Of course the Thunder will be dogs to Curry and the Dubs, against whom they went 0-3 during the regular season.
The way the Cavs are shooting the rock, the Thunder might be picked to lose a potential NBA Finals to LeBron and company, too, should Durant and company somehow pull off the upset.
But lost in all the talk of Duncan’s potential retirement and Durant’s impending free agency is this storyline: Billy Donovan is one year removed from the college ranks and only eight wins from history.
Eight monumental wins, to be sure, but he’s still coaching. And Pop isn’t.
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