Mussatto's Minutes: How Thunder coach Mark Daigneault met, learned from Bill Belichick

Mark Daigneault, back when he was a low-level assistant at Florida, once spent 40 minutes in a Gators basketball conference room with Bill Belichick, one of the greatest football coaches of all time.

How did a 20-something-year-old Daigneault get access to this one-on-one masterclass?

“Billy Donovan’s a good man,” said Daigneault, with a laugh, Saturday before the Thunder’s win against the Magic.

In this week’s edition of Mussatto’s Minutes, we’ll share a Sam Presti story about Jerry Krause and dive into some SGA and-1 data, but first, back to Daigneault’s encounter with Belichick.

More: OKC Thunder's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander leads way in win over Magic

Donovan, Daigneault’s boss at Florida and later in Oklahoma City where Daigneault succeeded Donovan as the Thunder’s head coach, is friends with Belichick, who parted ways last week with the Patriots after 24 seasons and six Super Bowl titles.

When Belichick would go to Gainesville, Florida, for the Gators’ football pro day, Donovan would have Belichick swing by to speak to the basketball team.

“(Donovan) knew how much I loved the Patriots and how much I respected Coach Belichick,” said Daigneault, who grew up in Leominster, Massachusetts. “And so (Belichick) was going to speak to the team at whatever time it was, call it 3 o’clock. He got to the office at like 2.

“I worked in this conference room when I was at Florida, and I was sitting there and (Donovan) brought him in, and there was a conversation between them that I was just observing. And then at like 2:15 call it, 15, 20 minutes in, Billy was like, ‘I’ve gotta go change for practice but Mark will take good care of you.’”

And so Daigneault, part Patriots fan and part sponge for coaching knowledge, got to pick Belichick’s brain.

“It was exactly what you would expect,” Daigneault said when asked about the conversation.

“I’ve always had a close eye on (the Patriots) as a fan, and then it evolved past that as I’ve gotten further along in my coaching career,” Daigneault said. “I just have great admiration for the way that (Belichick) runs a whole program. He’s done an incredible job of developing staff over the years, and replenishing staff even when he’s lost people. Same with his roster.

“I think he’s got one of the most unique combinations, I don’t know football, but of system fundamentals — they block and tackle and they don’t get penalties, generally, but also innovation. And those two things are really hard to balance. I think a lot of people get good at the system fundamentals, a lot of people are very creative. It’s very difficult to find people who are really good at both, and they were always the gold standard to me of being really good at both.”

More: Why OKC Thunder assists rising to franchise historical rates shows this team is different

Sam Presti’s Jerry Krause story 

The Chicago Bulls’ Ring of Honor ceremony last Friday was a debacle.

Thelma Krause, the widow of former Bulls general manager Jerry Krause, had to endure the boos of some ignorant Bulls fans when her late husband was honored.

I don’t care to litigate Jerry Krause’s tenure with the Bulls, but Krause being back in the news — albeit for an unfortunate reason — reminded me of this cool story Thunder general manager Sam Presti shared in his end-of-season media availability last April.

As part of a long answer about Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s path to stardom, Presti shared this anecdote out of the blue.

“One day I was driving along, and my phone rang, and it was Jerry Krause,” Presti said. “He was older and he was not in great health, but I didn't know him. He asked me to come up to his house in Chicago. I feel comfortable telling this story now. Obviously, he's passed away.

“So I went to his house, and we just sat together and he had a lot of questions for me. I did not know him. He just wanted to talk ball and scouting … He was talking about these — he called them ‘electric moments,’ when you're scouting a player where you see something.

“It's a glimpse of something, and you stand up and you look around and you go, ‘I hope that no one else saw that.’ He's got great stories because he's watched a lot of players and done a lot of things.

“I do kind of understand what he's saying with that. So when Shai made that finish it was like a bit of a buzz, like something is going on here, and then you keep doing the rest of your stuff.”

Presti was referring to a finish Gilgeous-Alexander made during a scrimmage at the OKC Blue practice facility, shortly after the Thunder acquired him from the Clippers.

“That caught my attention,” Presti said. “But it wasn't, ‘This guy is going to be an All-Star player.’ That wasn't it. It was that there are tools there. That was different.”

More: With rotation questions, what is Aaron Wiggins' past, present, future with OKC Thunder?

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s and-1 tour 

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander converted six and-1 opportunities Saturday night. Six made field goals through a foul topped off by a made free throw.

“After you get hit and you have a shot to make it a three-point play, it’s worth the second of focus to try and get three points,” said Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored 37 points on 13-of-20 shooting in OKC’s win over Orlando. “Sometimes you just throw it up there, but I try to focus after I get hit, for sure.”

As our man Joel Lorenzi noted, SGA’s six and-1s tied a record since such things have been tracked. Anthony Davis, Brook Lopez and Amar’e Stoudemire also had six and-1 conversions in a game (making the basket plus the free throw).

“It’s cool,” SGA said. “Surprised someone like Giannis hasn’t had more, but it’s cool.”

That was a good guess by Gilgeous-Alexander.

Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo leads the NBA this season with 60 and-1 opportunities. Second is SGA with 39. Opportunities is the key word here. Basketball Reference tracks field goals on which a player was fouled regardless of whether the ensuing free throw is made.

Here are the top players in and-1 opportunities this season. The list is full of All-NBA guys:

1. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bucks: 60

2. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Thunder: 39

3. Pascal Siakam, Raptors: 37

4. Luka Doncic, Mavericks: 36

5. Domantas Sabonis, Kings: 35

6. LeBron James, Lakers: 34

T7. Anthony Davis, Lakers: 33

T7. DeMar DeRozan, Bulls: 33

T9. Nikola Jokic, Nuggets: 32

T9. Tyrese Maxey, 76ers: 32

T9. Zion Williamson, Pelicans: 32

Joe Mussatto is a sports columnist for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Joe? Email him at jmussatto@oklahoman.com. Support Joe's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: How OKC Thunder coach Mark Daigneault met, learned from Bill Belichick