Billy Donovan
Billy Donovan
William John Donovan, Jr.is an American professional basketball coach who is currently the head coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association. He previously spent 19 seasons at the University of Florida, where his Florida Gators men's basketball teams won two NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championships in 2006 and 2007. Donovan has more wins than any other coach in the history of the Florida basketball program, and he coached the Gators to more NCAA tournament appearances,...
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth30 May 1965
CityRockville Centre, NY
difference fought game huge proud tennessee tie
I was really so proud of the way they fought their way back to tie the game up. . . . But there is a huge difference between Tennessee and ourselves.
ability best consistent credit defend defender front guys keeping lee might terms
Lee might be one of the best shooters I've coached, but what he doesn't get enough credit for is his ability to defend on his perimeter. He's probably our most consistent defender in terms of keeping guys in front of him and challenging shots.
assured best detail follow forget guys lee lost maybe minute overall rest schemes scouting shooting
Lee is one of those guys who understands scouting reports, schemes and how we are guarding. You can be rest assured that he is going to follow everything to the minute detail of what he has to do. So, forget about the shooting part of it, we have just lost maybe our best overall defender.
best credit forget gets lee lost maybe overall shooting
Lee gets a lot of credit for his perimeter shooting. Forget about the shooting part of it, we've just lost maybe our best overall defender. Lee is our most consistent, most disciplined, best defender.
accident bad car fell freak lee soon
Lee fell off his bicycle, that was pretty much it. That's all it really is, no car accident or anything like that. It was a freak thing that I feel bad about for Lee, but we've got to try to get him back as soon as we can.
chair maybe rocking
Maybe we can get him a rocking chair or something.
basketball believe difference experience great likes relation team
No one likes losing, but it's great for our basketball team to go through this. It is great because they need this. I really believe the difference was our experience as a basketball team in relation to their experience.
bad freak maybe needs soon training
Maybe it was defective spokes, maybe he needs training wheels, I don't know. I just know he slipped off his bike. ... It was a freak thing that I feel bad about for Lee, but we've got to try to get him back as soon as we can.
maybe needs training
Maybe it was defective spokes, maybe he needs training wheels, I don't know.
confident creeps crowd gets home looser maybe pressure reason teams wish
Maybe the crowd has something to do with it. I don't know what the reason would be. There are some teams, they feel more pressure at home and they play looser on the road. There are some teams that feel a lot more confident at home and they aren't as confident on the road. What gets into it, creeps into the mindset, I'm not really sure. I wish I had the answer.
build scratch start win
When you can start something from scratch and build it up to win a championship, that's something special.
coach difficult guy honest
Chris, really, to be honest with you, was a very, very difficult guy to coach in his first two years here. And he has really grown.
chris great himself improve seen strides terms tribute understanding work
Chris has seen himself improve and get better. And I think that is a tribute to him really making some great strides as a person in terms of his work ethic, in terms of competing, in terms of understanding what we want as coaches.
guy leader player team year
I have never had a player go from a 10-minute-a-game guy one year to being a team leader on the floor. It's pretty unusual, but so is he.