3) Who broke through with Chicago Bulls HC Billy Donovan
One of the true early breakthroughs that Donovan saw during his time as the Thunder head coach was with the offensive minded 6-foot-10 and 250 pound power forward/center Enes Kanter. “Enes the Menace” had some solid runs in the NBA with the likes of the Utah Jazz before landing with the Thunder during the 2014-15 season.
But the first season where Kanter really broke through to become one of the better big men in the NBA on the offensive end of the floor was during the latter half of the 2014-15 campaign, and early the following season, with OKC. In the 26 games he played in with the Thunder after landing there in the midst of the 2014-15 campaign, Kanter averaged 18.7 points per game (compared to just under 14 with the Jazz), 11.0 rebounds, and 1.1 assists.
The following season, Kanter played in all 82 regular season games with the Thunder (starting in just one of them). But the 2015-16 season was the first time that Kanter posted a player efficiency rating above 22.0 (24.0 in 2015-16), and a box plus/minus rating in the positive (1.2 in 2015-16). He rounded out his two and a half year run with the Thunder with a 24.1 player efficiency rating, 1.6 box plus/minus rating, 3.7 value over replacement player rating, and a whopping .208 win shares per 48 minutes.
Kanter saw his career launch when he was coached up by Donovan in OKC. Since then, he’s become a bona fide offensive force down low with different teams around the NBA like the Boston Celtics, Portland Trail Blazers, and New York Knicks. Maybe Donovan could do the same for a big man like Luke Kornet or Daniel Gafford with the Bulls heading into next season.