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Not really both games suckedYou were so wrong about tonightMan the NBA schedule makers really blew it this year. Two more lopsided match-ups on TNT tonight
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Not really both games suckedYou were so wrong about tonightMan the NBA schedule makers really blew it this year. Two more lopsided match-ups on TNT tonight
Brooks was about to take the Portland job the yr after the Thunder went to the finals. He had also interviewed for the Magic and Bobcats job IIRC. He and Presti were kind of far apart in negotiations, he wanted over 4m x 4 yrs, I think Presti was offering 11 for 3, so he committed to the Portland job and then KD sent a text saying something like, "Let's go get'em one more time," or something to that effect on the day of or before Brooks was supposed to sign, next thing you know Brooks gets his 4yrs 16-18mil deal. Some of the details are hazy, let me find the story.what text message?
When the clock ticked inside of what could best be described as a harrowing final hour of contract negotiations between Scott Brooks and the Oklahoma City Thunder last summer, the thing that ultimately kept the team's coveted free agent coach from now pacing the sidelines of the Portland Trail Blazers was a text message.
Photo - REACTION: Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks reacts during an NBA basketball game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Denver Nuggets at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Tuesday, March 19, 2013. Oklahoma CIty lose 114-104. Photo by Bryan Terry, The Oklahoman
REACTION: Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks reacts during an NBA basketball game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Denver Nuggets at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Tuesday, March 19, 2013. Oklahoma CIty lose 114-104. Photo by Bryan Terry, The Oklahoman
It came from Kevin Durant.
“It was like the day before they got something done,” Durant said. “I think that day was the toughest.”
The message moved Brooks, who had been tied up in tense on-again, off-again talks that had put his future with the Thunder in jeopardy.
“During negotiations, it can be stressful at times,” Durant said. “One day it looks like something's going to get done and then the next it might not. So I reached out to him and just told him I loved him and let me know what happens.”
Thunder assistant coach Rex Kalamian, a close friend of Brooks, facilitated the conversation, encouraging Durant to reach out to his head coach and tell Brooks how he felt. Kalamian thought it would do a world of good. It was one thing for Durant to communicate his feelings about Brooks to the other assistants. It was a whole other, especially during those final days that were filled with doubt and frustration, for Durant to dial up Brooks directly.
“I'm the leader of this team,” Durant said. “And I don't think he had heard from me until that time. So I wanted to let him know that I wanted him back and I really enjoy playing for him. So that goes a long way, and I guess that helped him a little bit with his decision. I'm glad he's back. I'm glad he's with us.”
When the deal finally got done — a four-year extension that will pay Brooks roughly $4 million annually — both sides put smiles on their faces and said all the right things in front of the cameras. Their united front belied the battle that had taken place, with both sides suffering bruises by holding firm to their positions.
Brooks had helped the Thunder blossom into an elite team, rapidly developing players alongside his staff while doing all the right things as a loyal employee on the notoriously tightly run ship that's been crafted in Oklahoma City. He took the team to the Western Conference Finals in 2011 and the NBA Finals in 2012 and wanted to be compensated accordingly, for his sacrifices and his successes.
On the Thunder's end, there was a desire for continuity, a chief tenet of the franchise. But when the consummation of a deal dragged, it was natural to wonder whether the Thunder thought Brooks ultimately was the coach who could captain OKC to the title.
The differing attitudes had created a chasm sizable enough to stall talks that had originated before the start of the 2011-12 season. Numerous reports last summer cited sources that said Brooks had turned down multiple three-year offers in the neighborhood of $11 million.
Thunder general manager Sam Presti tabled negotiations during the team's playoff run, which set off both an unexpected waiting game and a flood of press coverage. Presti, one of the league's new age analytical executives, is believed to have a formula for everything, including what price Brooks should have been penciled in at — and the data on championship coaches didn't point to up-and-comers like Brooks but slanted heavily to older, more experienced coaches.
Scott brooks is not a bad coach, hes an average coach at best pretty much every fanbase out side of a few complain about their coach every game there are very few "good" coaches in the nba
Good callMan the NBA schedule makers really blew it this year. Two more lopsided match-ups on TNT tonight
Man just imagine if KD never sent that text message the summer after the finals. Brooks would be coaching in Portland right now, don't know who the Thunder had in mind though at the time. I can't imagine Brooks is highly regarding amongst her colleagues in the profession, they have to see him as a guy who is just blessed with superlative talent.
Not really both games sucked
Cause im sure you really enjoyed those gamesGood call
Cause im sure you really enjoyed those games :x
Way to prove my point. anybody who thought the Lakers would be worthy of a prime time game this year should be fired. Even under the assumption that Kobe would be healthyThe "schedule makers" base the schedule off the performances of teams from last season. How else are they going to figure out primetime match ups? It's called "forecasting" for a reason, dude.
That explains why teams like the Blazers and Suns aren't on national TV as much and the Lakers usually get primetime games.
Rex is actually in charge of player development and even Harden for example gives him all the credit but if you want to give Brooks credit for an amazing track record of developing young players, I'm fine with that. But in terms of other things that go into coaching, adjustments, lineup management, x's and o's, he is below average. Take his unwillingness to adjust this broken *** starting lineup for example (especially against the Heat in the finals). His players like him and play hard for him so there's that, but again, what coach couldn't take this lineup and be contenders annually, particularly when you add that prior to Beverly's scrub *** gooning it up nobody on the Thunder had really sustained significant injury?
And at Fisher playing all hard that final possession to not let them get over 100 (they get a coupon for free queso if they do)
I hope ur not srs. The team runs straight isos. There is no system in place. Dude got lucky he had durant westbrook nharden make him seems o goodscott brooks is not a bad coach, hes an average coach at best pretty much every fanbase out side of a few complain about their coach every game there are very few "good" coaches in the nba
agree. that system don't look so good when Reggie Jackson, Sefolosha and Ibaka are the ones doing Iso'sI hope ur not srs. The team runs straight isos. There is no system in place. Dude got lucky he had durant westbrook nharden make him seems o good