The Oklahoma City Thunder fired Head Coach Scott Brooks on Wednesday. Brooks coached the Thunder to a 45-37 record, but barely missed making the playoffs for the first time since 2009. Is this a decision that Oklahoma City really needed to make?
Scott Brooks was hired as the Thunder Interim Head Coach on November 22, 2008. Oklahoma fired P.J. Carlesimo after a 1-12 start. Brooks wasn’t much better that season, coaching them to a 22-47 record. In 2009, his first full season as Head Coach, they went 50-32. They would make the playoffs before losing in the first-round to the Los Angeles Lakers. They would be in the NBA playoffs the next five years. 2012 was the most successful for Brooks. The team went 47-19 in the NBA lockout shortened seasoned. Brooks coached them all the way to the NBA Finals before they fell to the Miami Heat 4 games to 1.
This season Oklahoma City didn’t play bad basketball going 45-37. During the year, they lost Kevin Durant due to a knee injury. He played in 27 games. Serge Ibaka was out 18 games because of arthroscopic surgery in his knee. Even Russell Westbrook missed 15 games. With all those injuries, Brooks still almost coached them to the NBA Playoffs. They had the same record as the New Orleans Pelicans. The Pelicans had the tiebreaker over the Thunder because they won the season series 2 games to 1. Last week Brooks felt he was going to be back as Head Coach.
General Manager Sam Presti determined it was time to cut ties with Brooks. According to ESPN, Presti said in a statement, “This is an extremely difficult decision on many levels. This decision is not a reflection of this past season, but rather an assessment of what we feel is necessary at this point in time in order to continually evolve, progress and sustain. We determined that, in order to stimulate progress and put ourselves in the best position next season and as we looked to the future, a transition of this kind was necessary for the program.”
Superstar Kevin Durant was surprised by the news. He thought Brooks had coached well this year. He said, “He led us, man. He made sure everybody was emotionally stable because we had a lot of guys in and out of the lineup and he kept everybody together. That’s what your head coach is supposed to do. I can’t really say nothing about it because he did his job. He kept us together.”
In Brook’s seven years as Head Coach he had a regular season record of 338-207. That’s a winning percentage of .620 and is number one for coaches who haven’t won an NBA Championship. Brooks coached well in the playoffs with a record of 39-34. The only accomplishment missing was an NBA Championship.
Scott Brooks will now be looking for an NBA head coaching position. One team that should be interested is the Denver Nuggets. Brooks was an assistant coach in Denver from 2003 to 2006. The Nuggets want a coach with experience. He is probably the best candidate for the opening. He has proven he can win in this league and take a team far in the playoffs. The Nuggets should really consider hiring him for the position.
Where will Scott Brooks coach next season?
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Which one? Josh or Stan.