Oklahoma City Thunder GM Sam Presti is coming to the aid of Russell Westbrook following a fairly contentious recent run by the OKC centerpiece, which has included a public feud with local media and a brief five-game first-round exit in which he put up a career-low postseason shooting percentage. On Monday, Presti backed his 30-year-old star, though if you read through the lines it would appear he's admitting that the whole overly dramatic situation has some shades of grey.
"Russell Westbrook has been here 11 years. The reason there's so many people in the room and people watching is Russell Westbrook has helped us acheive a certain level," Presti said. "With all that being said, he's not perfect, none of us are. I'm not going to let 11 years of his contributions and performance be completely overshadowed by a couple of pretty tough months."
He went on: "As a leader of the team and face of the franchise, we'll have those conversations. Would we prefer he handled a few things differently? Yeah, we've talked about that. He made an adjustment to that particular approach and I think that's a sign of growth."
In addition to addressing the situation with Westbrook, Presti also relayed that he anticipates coach Billy Donovan coming back to the club to see through the final year of his contract.
"I wouldn't expect anything to change [with Billy]," the GM said. "I haven't had the chance to sit down with him. I do think getting his perspective on things is important because there's nobody that works harder than him. If anything, I think he needs to take some time to think through the season himself and have a really good conversation."
The 2019-20 season will mark the fifth and final year of Donovan's current deal. He had been hired after 19 seasons heading up the Florida Gators, following OKC's firing of Scott Brooks, in 2015. This past December the team exercised a team option on his deal to keep him around for the upcoming year.
Presti conceded that the Thunder had a "disappointing" and "frustrating" season this past year. They had been 37-19 in mid-February, but went 12-16 down the stretch to finish sixth in the West. They also got bounced in the first-round for the third straight time.
"I don't think you can discount the fact that we got our ass kicked in the playoffs," Presti admitted. "There's no getting around that. But I think anyone objective and anybody that is more than a momentary problem solver would probably take a step back and look at the whole thing. To try to answer your question, it's to say, I don't have that answer, and I would think that if I did, you shouldn't listen to me because I would just be coming in here with an emotional perspective, which as a leader I can't do that."
In four years in Oklahoma, Donovan has gotten the Thunder to the playoffs every season. Thus far the peak of his tenure came in his first year, when the team had a 3-1 Western Conference Finals lead over the 73-win Warriors. You already know what happened almost immediately after that.
"When we were going through the Western conference playoffs in 2016, within two minutes of going to the Finals, I thought he did an excellent job," Presti said." I don't think he's any different than he was there."
ESPN notes that Donovan is believed to have good relationships with the roster, specifically stars Westbrook and Paul George, who both had nice thinks to say about their coach last week.
"I've never had a problem with Coach Donovan," said Westbrook. "We've always been straightforward with each other and always had a good communication of respect for each other's jobs and respect for how hard we both work at what we want best for this team."
Adding to that George said: "I think that's the best thing about Billy is he takes our input, and it's always an open dialogue, and he's open with coaching and adjustments. It's great communication with Billy."
