Mark Daigneault’s office at Oklahoma City Thunder headquarters sits almost 1,700 miles from his native Leominster.
But if you squint, if you study the Thunder’s style and purpose in their play, you see their head coach’s New England roots taking hold.
The fight instilled by his hometown.
“Growing up in Leominster, I learned how to compete,” Daignault said Wednesday.
The basketball IQ advanced during his college days as a manager for the UConn men’s basketball team and assistant at Holy Cross.
“They dominate a lot of analytical things, and their decision-making is pretty impeccable throughout the game,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said.
The Belichickian philosophy governing Oklahoma City’s elite defense.
“We are trying to make teams uncomfortable,” Daigneault said, “and to get teams to play away from their strengths.”
Daigneault, 39, is closing the books on his fourth regular season as the Thunder’s head coach. Oklahoma City has improved every year under his leadership, an ascension that includes an ongoing surprise run at the No. 1 seed in the West. The Thunder entered Wednesday’s tip-off in Boston at 52-23, a half-game back of the top spot and having already made a 12-game improvement from last year.
Oklahoma City is deep, talented and sound. Their roster construction is a credit to another Massachusetts native, general manager and Concord’s own Sam Presti. But Daigneault’s fingerprints are all over this NBA’s leading overachiever, which has made him the odds-on favorite to win Coach of the Year.
Coaching is what transforms good teams into contenders. And Daigneault, without a playoff win to his resume, has elevated himself among the league’s best, according to his peers. Just ask Mazzulla.
“He’s one of the best coaches in the league,” Mazzulla said Wednesday. “I think they’re well-coached. I think they do a great job of attacking the right things on offense and defense. … It’s a test of those margins, a test of the analytics, it’s a test of the effort.”
Not long ago, Daigneault was in the stands at TD Garden cheering the Celtics with family and friends. He played high school ball in Leominster, enrolled at UConn and then served as an assistant at Holy Cross. That led to a stint at the University of Florida, where Presti pulled him away to become the Thunder’s G League coach at age 29.
Five years later, Oklahoma City promoted him, and now Daigneault visits his home state once a year on business. He took time to reflect on that journey Wednesday.
“You know, we’re in the grind of the season, so there’s not many times where you kind of look up and are reminded of things to be grateful for, but this is one of them for me,” he said. “This is a building (where) I’ve seen a lot of games, watched the team on TV, grew up in a Celtics family, (a) Celtics fan. So to coach here is special, obviously, for me.”
During the Thunder’s lengthy road trip, Daigneault acknowledged he’s briefly caught snippets of the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, and spoke specifically about his alma mater. He called the UConn men’s run “unprecedented,” and highlighted the UConn women’s efforts in the Elite Eight under longtime head coach Geno Auriemma. Both of Daigneault’s descriptions mirrored how some around the NBA have described the Thunder’s growth at his direction.
“I didn’t watch the whole (UConn women’s) game, but I watched the first five minutes or six minutes of that game there. And I was like, ‘They have no shot in this game.’ I thought they were gonna get dragged by (USC),” he said. “And then I checked the score the next day and they ended up winning. I mean, what (Auriemma)’s done there is incredible.”
Because of Oklahoma City’s leap, it’s possible, albeit unlikely the Celtics could meet the Thunder in the NBA Finals. If not this June, future clashes could await.
Between its young talent and unmatched treasure chest of draft picks, no NBA team is better positioned for the future than Oklahoma City. The Celtics, meanwhile, have established themselves as one of the league’s elite for years and should stick at the top so long as Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown call Boston home.
Should Daigneault ever return home for a spring visit, it sure sounds like the kid from Leominster would relish it.
“Yeah, it’s surreal,” he said of coaching in Boston. “It’s surreal.”
