On the day the Oklahoma City Thunder fired longtime coach Scott Brooks, team general manager Sam Presti said they would consider a college coach as his replacement.
The admission comes as rumors swirl about Florida boss Billy Donovan and UConn coach Kevin Ollie being names on the Thunder's short list.
"We're not going to limit ourselves or limit the scope of people we would look at for this position," Presti told reporters Wednesday afternoon. "We haven't had contact with anybody."
On Wednesday, one report from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports had Donovan being considered a serious candidate by the Thunder, while another by Ken Berger of CBS said that Donovan is ready to make the jump to the NBA.
Neither Donovan or Ollie have coaching experience in the pros. It's a vastly different dynamic – one example being the NCAA being a coaches' system, the NBA being a player's league. The most recent example of that jump is Brad Stevens – although the Boston Celtics are in the midst of a rebuild (despite their playoff appearance in the weak East) and departing a mid-major like Butler is different than leaving a powerhouse like Florida or UConn.
But Berger reports that Donovan is the front-runner and would be looking for a contract similar to the five-year, $25-million deals that Steve Kerr and Derek Fisher received last year from the Golden State Warriors and New York Knicks, respectively.
Meanwhile, former Thunder coach P.J. Carlesimo – the man who preceded Brooks – ripped the organization's dismissal of the coach, calling it a terrible decision.
They made it impossible for Scott Brooks to coach. Terrible, terrible decision. He did a great job. If they were gonna do this they should have … what would have happen(ed) if Kevin Durant played and they were a 1-, 2- or 3-seed, which they would have been and still been playing? Would they’ve changed direction because they don’t like the way it’s going? It’s just a very poor decision; a very unfortunate decision.
San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich lent his support to Brooks Wednesday night as well.
Gregg Popovich on Scott Brooks being fired: "He won't have to wait very long to be a coach again in this league. He's a quality guy."
— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) April 23, 2015
