Weathering the Storm: Daigneault Postgame, Thunder vs. Suns (October 26, 2026)
1. Good Awareness
“I thought we had a good awareness. We were in foul trouble tonight, so that explains some of the zone.”
Reflection
I didn’t watch this game, but what stood out to me is that they were ready. Going zone in foul trouble might sound basic, but it’s still something you have to think through and practice before you need it. At my job, we have to maintain a contingency plan document, which lays out what we do when there’s an issue. If things go wrong, what’s the process? Who do we reach out to first? What does tier one do, and what does tier two do? It made me ask what that looks like in my own life. It’s the spare tire in your car. You don’t always need a backup plan, and sometimes you can wing it. But when things don’t go the way you want, do you have a plan?
2. A Radar on Booker
“We had a good awareness of their personnel. We were able to both play zone and maintain a radar on Booker.”
Reflection
They had less than 24 hours after a tough night, and they were still prepared. It goes back to planning for Wemby and Jokić: they knew who mattered and where he was. James Allen wrote, “Having conceived of his purpose, a man should mentally mark out a straight pathway to its achievement, looking neither to the right nor the left.” When you know your purpose, you can mark out the path and stay focused on it.
So three questions. What is my game? Do I have a game plan for when my first approach doesn’t work? And am I keeping my eyes on what matters?
3. Seeing Past Your Own Storm
“Last night was a tough night. By the way, I appreciate you guys’ ability to read the room and your empathy last night with both myself and the guys. You guys were great. So I appreciate that.”
Reflection
You really get to know a person when things aren’t going well. The night before, he’d just watched two of his players go down, and his presser was short. Less than 24 hours later, with so much going on at once, the first thing he did was thank the reporters for how they handled it. He didn’t have to. It takes real emotional maturity to see past your own hard moment and still notice how other people showed up for you. That’s the kind of person I’m hoping to be.
When things go wrong for me, do I still notice the people around me?
4. Honed, Not Given
“He just has a great instinct and sense for what’s going on environmentally, and just knowing what the team needs at this point. And he’s honed that. That’s the thing that’s beautiful about him as a player and as a leader: he’s forged himself into this player and leader just continuously. And it’s really impressive. So the stability that we have in these sorts of situations is a huge reflection of the stability that he brings to every situation.”
Reflection
Shai has two things. One is the skill of basketball. The other is the instinct to read the game, and that’s a skill of its own. You can be a really good player and still not know how to read the game: it’s go, go, go, even when they’re double-teaming you and you should pass. Instinct isn’t something anyone calls from the sideline. When the game is slipping away or the other team is coming back, he has to feel it. Do I defer, or do I take over?
The words that stand out to me are “honed” and “forged.” It didn’t come naturally to him. Like walking off at 17 points against the Nuggets, it shows character, and character gets built. James Allen wrote, “A noble and Godlike character is not a thing of favour or chance, but is the natural result of continued effort in right thinking.” When you work on yourself like that, he says, you become “the wise master, directing [your] energies with intelligence.”
So, what’s my craft, and am I honing it? And beyond the skill itself, am I learning the feel: when to push, when to step back, and what the moment needs?
5. What We Can Control
Question: “In the second half, Dillon Brooks took exception to something with Mara and gave him a little shove, and then Kenrich came in and sort of took up for him. Can you talk about the juxtaposition of Mara being the rookie getting that treatment, and the vet Kenrich stepping in?”
“I thought Tony and the crew tonight did a good job of managing the game, and it’s our expectation. All we want is fairness and consistency, and we expect those guys to run the game, and that crew tonight ran the game. So we can’t control what anybody else does.”
Reflection
When I first heard this, I loved it. The easy answer would have been, “I love the way my guys stood up for each other.” He didn’t let the question lead him. He gave the referees credit, and then went straight to what’s in his control. That feels like a Thunder core philosophy. Outside circumstances can affect how you perform and behave, but at the end of the day, you own your effort, not the outcome. James Allen put it this way: “You are the custodian of your deeds, but not of the results which flow from them. Be therefore concerned about what you think and do, rather than about what may or may not come to you.” An ownership mindset isn’t about controlling everything. It’s taking care of your part.
So, when something happens to me, do I let it lead me, or do I take ownership of what I can control?
6. We Take Pride
“He started on Booker, and I thought he set an important tone there. We take pride in making it difficult on the great players in the NBA. And I think for the four games, we’ve done a great job of that. And we continued to tonight, despite missing really impactful point-of-attack defenders. We did it as a team, but his willingness to take on that challenge and his edge to start the game, I thought, had a lot to do with that.”
Reflection
I love that word, “pride.” It isn’t “we take pride in scoring.” It’s “we take pride in making it difficult on the great players.” That’s a philosophy and an identity. Against the Nuggets, they didn’t find their defense when the shots stopped falling. It was already there. Kenrich doesn’t always get his name called, but because he lives by the same philosophy as the rest of the team, he could plug right in and start on Booker. I’m sure they have plenty of other principles, like owning what they can control. But this is one of their core ones.
I don’t think identity only shows up when things go wrong. A lot of the time it’s built during the good times, and it comes out when you need it.
So, as a person, in my family, or on a team, what’s my core philosophy? Not what other people say about me, but what I’d say myself. What do I take pride in?