[high floorParticipant]

Remember when everyone criticized Scott Brooks for his so-called "unimaginative" play calling?

Fast forward to today and I would argue that Brooks has put together one of the most enjoyable & crowd pleasing offensive systems in the Eastern Conference. All while empowering young talents like Otto Porter and Kelly Oubre (averaging 26 mpg over his last 15 games) which have both contributing to Washington’s surge in the East.

I love the way John Wall and Beal are playing off each other in the back court. Otto Porter has become an extremely efficient wing as a compliment to Wall & Beal’s high usage. And both Gortat and Markief Morris are getting enough touches/shots to keep them interested and motivated to play both sides of the ball consistently. Their offense is clicking.

Cheers Scott Brooks. You endured a lot of ridicule, and I believe you’re winning that argument about your coaching acumen emphatically with each win you tally for the Wiz moving forward.

 

[HitsterParticipant]

Scott had a good reputation for being a coach of young talent at OKC but could never quite take them all the way. I had assumed when he got his next NBA job it might have been with a young rebuilding team which he would help improve. But he went for the further along Washington Wizards and after a slow start to the season has got them in a play off birth with a winning record.

The Wizards were 0.500 last season and had been in the play offs the two previous seasons advancing to the 2nd round so you could argue they were a fairly good team already. But I agree with High Floor that Scott is getting the best out of Porter, Oubre etc and having handled KD, Westbrook etc he can also probably get that bit extra out of Wall and Beal.

[ChoppyParticipant]

 He didn’t lose his job because of the players. From all reports Westbrook and Durant didn’t want him gone. Media and the OKC front office made that decision. 

[losnopesosParticipant]

 If Wall didn’t break his hand last year, the Bullets could have made some noise. 

[mgreener_34Participant]

Well to be fair most of the criticism that he received was because he played/started old vets who probably shouldn’t have been in the league anymore. Fisher and Perkins were absolute garbage for that team, single handedly lost them games, yet he still gave them the respect they had in their prime. Fortunately he doesn’t have any veterans on this team, so he is forced to actually play talented players. 

I also think that looking back we can see how difficult of a task he was handed. Russ, KD, and Harden are all MVP level talent, and all of them needed the ball in their hands to be successful. There was obviously some kind a riff between KD and Russ, and that stagnated the offense. 

He doesn’t have to worry about that now because his star player is totally unselfish, and so is his wingman. Wizards have one of the best starting 5 in the East, so Brooks next challenge is going to be fortifying that bench. He’s got some nice young pieces there, but he needs to get more out of them. 

Overall he’s doing a fine job

 

 

 

[SubZeroParticipant]

I’ll never get over Derek Fisher playing every 4th quarter in the Finals

[BiggysmallsParticipant]

 Lol at "the media and OKC front office made that decision"

Because the media has some sort of say. C’mon. 

Anyways, I don’t think Brooks was really to blame for OKC’s inability to get over the hump. Don’t think he’s a great coach but he’s not awful either. He had players who held the ball. Doesn’t matter what a coach draws up for Westbrook, Westbrook is going to do what he always does. 

The OKC offense didn’t change under Donovan. Hence their inability to get over the hump. 

Don’t know what (if anything) the Wizards are doing differently. Think it has more to do with Beal being healthy, Markieff Morris not being a psycho and Otto Porter continuing to develop. 

Won’t take credit away from Brooks because that team seemed to need a new voice, but this doesn’t change my opinion on Brooks. He is what he is at this point – a decent coach. 

 

 

 

 

 

[SubZeroParticipant]

The offense last year undoubtedly changed under Donovan, especially in the playoffs. Our “inability to get over the hump” was KD going ice cold, he and Russ turning it over in the clutch, and Klay having the best 3 point shooting game in playoff history.

[Jr. ROXASParticipant]

Yea, it was honestly OKC’s year last year. They demolished the Spurs who everyone thought was the one team that had a chance of beating the Warriors. 

And they actually had GSW on their heels as KD turned it up a notch on D and Kanter and Adams were dominating inside. Klay was hitting contested shots from beyond 30 feet in OKC’s closing game and let’s be honest, if OKC caught the Warriors in any other day they would have been champs by now.

 

[SubZeroParticipant]

Yup. If anyone ever says something about how us fans should get over KD leaving, they just don’t understand how heart wrenching it is to look back at the last 7 years and think about how much could’ve been different and how unlucky we had to be to have last year happen. Unless that person was a Magic fan in the mid-90s, then I might cut them a little slack

[DolanCareParticipant]

 Brooks is an above averagre coach, not a great one. The 2012 Finals remains his chief sin. He allowed Mike Miller to be a factor by keeping Perkins on the floor. 

The Wizards will need to make noise in the Eastern Conference Finals before he’s forgiven for this egregious sin. 

 

[Andv1 WaitingParticipant]

Brooks is good for a team that needs to fully develop(like okc was) or semi develop like the WIZ. But give 2-3 seasons and teams will know what he will do with them as he is this: Predictable… That is the biggest reason he was let go of by OKC when it came down to end of game situations he hardly tried new things or had multiple ideas to try vs Donovan who has more up his sleeve.

Prime example: Donovan loses K.D but this time he isn’t coming back at all(essentially the same as brooks last year with us).

Gains Oladipo(replacing Ibaka essentially) who is out for a stretch with a sprained wrist, ibaka was out for a stretch that year

Loses Kanter for 4-8 weeks.

Adams is out for a reasonable stretch with a concussion

and  Russell is basically(except a few more tripple doubles) doing what he did when K.D was out that season(minus the face injury and hand injury)

Yet Donovan has us in the Playoffs and Brooks couldn’t get us there or even win even with a healthy Reggie Jackson to man the PG spot while Russ was out..

Don’t get me wrong Donovan has his flaws also, but Brooks is what he is good for a couple of seasons of helping players take that next jump then an alright playoff run or two then thats it. As he really struggles to think outside the box and gets stuck in the predictable ”oh this works lets go to that”- See the dreaded hero ball he let K.D,Russ and Harden run far too much as examples of relying on the dreaded crutch that he does..

I am glad he is doing well in Washington and is using Otto porter the right way(something Randy W never did) but I’m calling it now give 2-3 seasons(after this one) and everyone will be saying old predictable at again and will want him gone again..

 

 

 

 

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