Insider Article on how Billy Donovan and Fred Hoiberg will transiition into the NBA.
Edited as we can't post full articles. For full article:
http://espn.go.com/nba/insider/story/_/ ... slate-pros
For the gist of it:
Billy D's offense is slower, more Grizzlies like, Hoiberg faster paced, both post very good kenpom stats. Donovan focuses more on the boards than Hoiberg.
Defensively, Donovan's teams are a solid margin better in pretty much every way. They limit 3 point shooting, hold teams to lower assist rates, and rebound similarly. Both teams will play a different style than they have been if the coaches stay this way.
Of course, the results the Bulls and Thunder achieve will be based as much or more on the teams' veteran rosters than their new coaches. But taking a look at how Donovan's Florida Gators and Hoiberg's Iowa State Cyclones played offers a look at their stylistic preferences. For the past five years, I've averaged both teams' performance in several key stats relative to the average NCAA team. For additional help in how that translates to the NBA, I'll compare those adjusted statistics to the closest NBA comparison from the 2014-15 season.
Pace of play
Hoiberg: plus-5.0 percent (Golden State Warriors plus-4.6 percent)
Donovan: minus-4.1 percent (Utah Jazz minus-3.7 percent)
Efficient Offenses (Florida And Iowa St.)
COACH EFG% FTA/FGA OR% TO% 3A% AST%
Hoiberg +7.5% -8.8% -3.7% -12.6% +19.0% +9.1%
Donovan +7.1% -7.7% +8.6% -8.0% +13.5% +3.8%
On defense
As similar as their teams have been offensively, Donovan and Hoiberg diverge on defense. Under Donovan, Florida has pulled off the unique combination of effectively defending the basket and forcing turnovers. Again, the wide variance in college performance makes the comparison difficult, but the effective field goal percentage the Gators have allowed is better relative to league average than any NBA team managed this year. And their rate of forcing turnovers was similar to this year's Miami Heat.
Divergent Defenses (Florida And Iowa St.)
COACH EFG% FTA/FGA DR% TO% 3A% AST%
Hoiberg -1.8% -23.0% +3.8% -7.8% -0.3% -0.2%
Donovan -6.0% -15.5% +3.8% +6.0% -3.2% -5.5%
Overall
Donovan's style also could be a departure for the Thunder, who have played at a moderately fast pace under Scott Brooks. This season's Memphis Grizzlies are probably the closest match to how the Gators executed at both ends in half-court settings, but as the league moves toward playing faster, there's nobody who has been as balanced at both ends at a snail's pace as Donovan's teams. There's a history of Donovan playing a very different, more aggressive style, and he might want to rediscover that to get the most out of stars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook.
