The Clock is Ticking on Scott Brooks in OKC
As we approach the 2014-15 NBA season, the Oklahoma City Thunder are in a very familiar situation. Once again they enter the year with arguably the best young core in the league and along with that comes high expectations. They are now two seasons removed from a finals appearance that left them watching LeBron James win his first title with the Miami Heat and they haven’t reached the finals since.
One would think that over time, players in their early twenties would continue to get better and therefore so would the team. It is clear that the players are holding up their end of the bargain. Kevin Durant in now the reigning MVP, Russell Westbrook has improved his shot selection and decision making, and Serge Ibaka has gone from a raw athlete to one of the best all-around power forwards in the game.
So if the players are getting better and gaining valuable experience along the way, why hasn’t the team taken the next step towards a championship or at the very least another finals appearance? That question often leads to one man: Thunder head coach Scott Brooks. Because of this, Brooks has been on one of the warmest seats in the league for a while now and if the Thunder get off to a slow start this season it won’t take long for it to heat up.
Brooks is very well liked amongst the players. He has developed a special bond with many of them, most notably his superstar duo of Durant and Westbrook. This cannot be ignored. During a long season players must have a coach that they trust and can look to when things aren’t going their way, on or off the court. This trust in their coach is why time and time again the players have defended him against media scrutiny.
Although Brooks has been criticized by the media, it has gone a bit under the radar. For the most part members of the mainstream media tend to look at wins and losses as the only indicator of how good a coach really is. Because the Thunder have been one of the best teams in the league for a few years now, there are some people that look at him as one of the best coaches in the league.
But considering the talent on the Thunder roster, how much does Brooks really help the team? Many fans can see just by watching the games that his offense doesn’t call for many set plays and they are often frustrated by the lack of flow and movement in the half-court offense.
According to Synergy Sports Technology, the Thunder go to isolation 10.6 percent of the time they have the ball, including 15 percent of the time the ball is in the hands of Durant and Westbrook alike. This is somewhat justifiable by arguing that KD and Russ are two of the best isolation players in the league and that is true. Both players were in the top twenty in the league in scoring efficiency in isolation last year. The counterpoint to this is that both players are strikingly better in other parts of the game. Durant has a higher efficiency in a whopping five other categories, including cuts to the basket and as roll man in the pick and roll. Westbrook however is better in only two other categories, cuts to the basket and transition. This isn’t very encouraging if you are making an argument for Westbrook’s overall efficiency as a scorer but it is somewhat acceptable because he is the team’s point guard and his isolations are more likely to create opportunities for other players.
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Another result of the lack of set plays in Brooks’ offense is the freedom the players have. This is likely one of the reasons his players love him so much and when the team is clicking it can lead to some of the most fun to watch basketball imaginable. This freedom can also lead to some of the worst basketball imaginable when things aren’t going so smoothly. I don’t want to seem like I am picking on Russell Westbrook (he is by far my favorite player to watch in the league), but in last year’s playoffs Russ took 25 percent of his shots from behind the three point line and made only 28 percent of those shots. Obviously his fearless mentality that gives him the confidence to shoot any open shots he gets is what makes him so great and I would never suggest he change that, but at the same time, Scott Brooks needs to take control of a situation like that and put Russell in a better spot to score.
These are just a couple examples of ways Brooks needs to develop as a coach. The worry is that based on his past, it doesn’t seem likely that he will ever change. He has been known to be very stubborn with his rotations, something that has had myself and many other fans furious over the years. He has also stuck with the same offense that is totally dependent on his player’s talent to carry the team. No matter how good the players are, it will be very hard for them to overcome other talented and well coached teams in a seven game playoff series. If Brooks doesn’t change his ways and put his players in a better position to succeed, the Thunder shouldn’t hesitate to look for someone who will.