With 2008-09 Coach of the Year Mike Brown getting fired Monday, the COY Curse thing has become a hot topic of conversation. The last four Coach of the Year winners were fired within two seasons of winning the award. Avery Johnson won the award for 2005-06 and was fired in 2008. Sam Mitchell won in 2006-07 and was fired in 2008. Byron Scott won in 2007-08 and then fired in 2009. Mike Brown won the 2008-09 award and was axed this week. So who’s the dead man walking that won the 2009-10 Coach of the Year? OH CRAP.
Obviously, nobody sees any potential for Scott Brooks to get into hot water. Honestly, it’s pretty much inconceivable. I’m sitting here trying to conceive it, and I can’t. Brooks is darn near as popular as the highest profile players. He’s excellent with the media, he’s kind and he’s a pretty darn good coach. He fits the culture and philosophy of the franchise perfectly. But fanbases and front offices sour on coaches faster than a gallon of two percent left on the front porch. When things start to go bad, the coach is always the one that gets fingered for being the guy that screwed it all up. Read more…
Oklahoma City Thunder Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti announced today that the team has exercised its third-year option for the 2011-12 season on Head Coach Scott Brooks.
“We look forward to our players continuing to benefit from Scott’s consistent focus on their development, selfless approach to his work, and commitment to our organizational vision,” said Presti.
Brooks was named Thunder head coach on April 14, 2009, becoming the 16th head coach in franchise history, after serving as interim head coach for the last 69 games of the 2008-09 regular season. Brooks was awarded the Red Auerbach Trophy as the 2009-10 NBA Coach of the Year after leading the Thunder to a 50-32 record in his first full season as head coach. The Thunder posted a 23-18 road record (tied for 6th best in the NBA this season) and finished as the eighth seed in the Western Conference. Under Brooks direction the Thunder led the NBA in blocked shots (5.9 blocks per game) and ranked 7th in defensive field goal percentage (44.8%).
“I am very excited to have the opportunity to continue to work with the Thunder organization and this great group of players,” said Brooks. “The support that my family and I have been given by this community has been overwhelming and we are thrilled to be a part of it.”
(Good playoffs DTers. Thanks for your support of Daily Thunder. I hope this Saturday is everything you dreamed it would be. Rise Together.)
I had a lot of clips I was going to use for today’s Cartoon. One was Russell Westbrook’s facial on Lamar Odom. Another was the great intro video from Thursday night. Another was a crowd shot video of the Thunder finishing off LA. But I just couldn’t resist this video because I found it hilarious. First of all, picturing poor Scott Brooks stuck rooming with Sir Charles cracks me up. And then Chuck vacuuming at 3:30 AM? That’s too good.
Unless the press release I got this morning has Scott Brooks winning Most Improved, it will be announced today at a press conference at 4 PM that Coach Scotty will be named Coach of the Year.
A press conference has been called to announce an NBA Award, and Scott Brooks and Sam Presti will be the Thunder people present. So put all that together.
Well deserved award as Coach Brooks guided the youngest team in the league to a plus-27 game improvement. He got a young group to buy into a philosophy most young teams don’t. Of course I know we’ll all fear the curse of the Coach of the Year award, but I’m thrilled for Brooks and he absolutely deserves this recognition.
Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Scott Brooks paid a visit to Tulsa on Monday, March 8, to take a first-hand look at three of his players (Byron Mullens, Kyle Weaver, and DJ White) in action for the Tulsa 66ers. I had the chance to talk to Coach Brooks after the game to get his impressions on his players as well as the 66ers, a team that has won four straight and nine of its last 11 games to improve to 23-16.
Kevin Henry: After watching the game tonight (a Tulsa win over Fort Wayne), what were your overall impressions? Scott Brooks: I think they looked great. Nate (Tibbetts, Tulsa head coach) has done a terrific job. It’s never easy to integrate guys into your lineup during the season, but he’s done a great job. Watching tonight, you could tell it’s been a smooth transition and he has his team playing hard. Nate is a talented coach with a very bright future.
KH: What impressed you the most tonight? SB: The defense. I’m very impressed that Fort Wayne didn’t score for nearly eight minutes in the fourth quarter. Read more…
(Good Saturday. Thanks for your support of Daily Thunder. It’s appreciated.)
Short, but sweet. It’s the 1994 NBA Finals with the Houston Rockets taking on the New York Knicks. As you should know, current Thunder head coach Scott Brooks was a part of that championship Rocket squad. And after a big call doesn’t go Houston’s way, Rudy Tomjanovich begins to accost young Scotty Brooks. I don’t know why I found this so funny, but the look on Brooks’ face makes me chuckle every time.
Unless you’ve been out of circulation for awhile you’ve definitely heard that the Thunder and Coach Brooks have brought Mo Cheeks on board as an assistant coach and likely lead assistant at that. Cheeks was a very steady hand at the Point Guard position back in the day and won a championship with the 76ers in ’83. That was the year I became a basketball fan so I have very fond memories of the finals that year. I was a Junior in high school in a Seattle suburb and my best friend Jeff was a huge Dr.J fan. I was nominally aware that Seattle had a team of it’s own (sort of a middling team during that era), and I hadn’t been following them, but I watched the first four complete playoff games that I can remember that year and it was the finals with Philly and the Lakers. Magic and Kareem against Dr. J and Moses Malone. I became a basketball fan after that. During that series my friend was constantly explaining the nuance of the game to me. He was showing me on the screen how Moses would body up on Kareem and push him so far off his spot that he couldn’t hit the “sky hook” with regularity. He was explaining the pick and roll. He told me what a “field goal” was. The Sixers swept the vaunted Lakers (who had won the NBA title the season before with former Thunder assistant Paul Westhead as the coach) and I was hooked on basketball.
I became a big Sonic homer after that, but I still remember some of the lesser known guys in that finals series, Kurt Rambis with the big birth control horned rimmed glasses, Andrew Toney with an amazingly sweet stroke, Bobby Jones doing the dirty work and Michael Cooper’s lock down defense. I also sort of remember the guy who facilitated the Philly offense: Mo Cheeks.
It always amazes me when I player or a coach who I’ve sort of been keeping tabs on for years winds up on my team. It’s happened more times than I can remember. Cheeks is one of those guys. Never flashy, just sort of a classy, a bit above average coach who has been bouncing around the league learning his craft. He’s two games shy of a career .500 record in parts of 8 NBA seasons which is nothing to sneeze at. He’s a guy that can only enrich the coaching ranks for the leagues youngest team with a rookie at the helm. Read more…
Remember when Scott Brooks played basketball? I really don’t, seeing as I was like six at the time of this clip. I do vaguely remember him playing for Rockets during both of their title runs, but I more remember Sam Cassell’s alien skull over anything else off that team. And how Robert Horry looked just like the Fresh Prince. And oh yeah, Otis Thorpe. What an old-sounding name. But I’ve always heard about what a scrapper Brooks was and how he kind of was to basketball what David Eckstein is to baseball. And this clip really shows it. He looks like a little kid when he breaks away for a fast break layup. Legs churning, that blonde mop on fire and dang determined to put the ball in the basket. I like having a coach that played with such a hard-nosed style. Makes me confident that he can pass that sort of mentality on to other players.
Thunder head coach Scott Brooks will be on center stage before a nationally televised audience when the lottery balls are drawn for the NBA Draft Lottery on May 19. The Thunder announced that Brooks, who became the team’s full-time head coach on April 15, will sit at the podium inside the NBAE offices in Secaucus, NJ, when the Thunder learns where it will draft in the June 25 NBA Draft.
Second-year forward Kevin Durant represented the organization at last year’s event, when the team drew the No. 4 overall pick that it eventually used to select guard Russell Westbrook out of UCLA. The Thunder finished its inaugural season in Oklahoma City with a 23-59 record, giving it an 11.9% chance of landing the first overall pick of the 2009 NBA Draft.
I would like a full history of Scott Brooks’ luck. Like does he come out on top more than 50 percent of the time in games of rocks-paper-scissors? Or in coin flips? Has he ever won a radio call-in contest? When he fins a penny on the ground, which side is face up most times? Better yet, what’s the most amount of money he’s ever found laying on the ground? Or is he even-steven, like Jerry Seinfeld? These are things we need to know. I assume Sam Presti already has done a full background check on Brooks and has this information handy and that’s why he chose him. I guess Brooks is technically undefeated in his in NBA head coaching career. So that’s a plus.
I thought I would wait until the end of the season to do it. I figured it would be best to wait and survey the completed product and then make an informed judgment. But the heck with it — I officially endorse Scott Brooks as the next coach for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Drop the interim tag. I want Brooks. I know the rumor is that he’ll be named the head man anyway, but quit waiting. I’m ready for it.
I know that the team could potentially hit a skid and lose a number of games. And in that case, if OKC loses its last 10 of 11 or something and the season finishes on a sour note, it may seem like I jumped the gun. And if that happens, I may be sneaking back on here late at night to delete this post and then take a stand saying I never said that. But the fact is, I really like Coach Brooks and I really think the guy can coach. He’s clearly made the team better and most importantly, he’s somehow created an excited atmosphere for the team where the chemistry is off the charts. I don’t know how you inspire a nine-win team like this, but he’s done it. But why Brooks? Why not Avery Johnson or Sam Mitchell or Eddie Jordan? Here’s 10 reasons why: Read more…
Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE/Getty Images
Unless you’ve been out of circulation for awhile you’ve definitely heard that the Thunder and Coach Brooks have brought Mo Cheeks on board as an assistant coach and likely lead assistant at that. Cheeks was a very steady hand at the Point Guard position back in the day and won a championship with the 76ers in ’83. That was the year I became a basketball fan so I have very fond memories of the finals that year. I was a Junior in high school in a Seattle suburb and my best friend Jeff was a huge Dr.J fan. I was nominally aware that Seattle had a team of it’s own (sort of a middling team during that era), and I hadn’t been following them, but I watched the first four complete playoff games that I can remember that year and it was the finals with Philly and the Lakers. Magic and Kareem against Dr. J and Moses Malone. I became a basketball fan after that. During that series my friend was constantly explaining the nuance of the game to me. He was showing me on the screen how Moses would body up on Kareem and push him so far off his spot that he couldn’t hit the “sky hook” with regularity. He was explaining the pick and roll. He told me what a “field goal” was. The Sixers swept the vaunted Lakers (who had won the NBA title the season before with former Thunder assistant Paul Westhead as the coach) and I was hooked on basketball.
