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Scotty Brooks has come a long way and so has his team. The matchup was just too good to give up on for either party and so today it was no wonder that both Brooks and his boss Thunder GM Sam Presti were all smiles.
“It’s an exciting day for our organization and for our team,” Presti told a room full of reporters and cameras, “We’re thrilled to have Scotty with us, he’s been an integral part of what’s happening here.”
In typical Brooks fashion he started with a joke, “yeah at the start of the season Sam told me, okay it’s NBA Finals or adios!”
Then he got serious, “I’m excited that we worked it out and I knew we would, this is where I wanted to be. This is the best situation for me, I couldn’t ask for a better place to coach and to live and I’m excited about the opportunity ahead of me.”
No terms of the contract are being released by the Thunder but it’s believed the deal is for four years at roughly $18 million dollars. At an average of $4.5 million per season Brooks will earn about a million dollars more in one year coaching the Thunder than he did during his entire 11 year NBA playing career.
Presti and Brooks each recalled the long, dark days of the first season in OKC, all the losing, a 3-29 start and all the wondering if things would turn around.
“There were some long walks out of the arena where we would reflect back on the game and see if we could find one positive thing from the 48 minutes,” Presti remembered, “and to think that through that process we continued to evolve and today are able to see him continue to move us forward is really special for the organization. He’s grown into one of the top coaches in the NBA.”
“Sam and I have been together for five years and like he said we had a lot of times together where it didn’t look like we would be able to get through it, or at least I wouldn’t.”
But that 3-29 start turned into a promising finish in that first season in Oklahoma City and then came a 50-win season and a Northwest Division title and then 55-wins with another division crown and an appearance in the Western Conference Finals topped this season by the conference title and a trip to the NBA Finals.
Steady improvement all along the way and growing expectations for future successes so this is no time to start slowing down.
“You have to get better, you can’t stay in this position and not keep improving,” Brooks acknowledged. “We still have work to be done. We’re not at a point where we can rest and relax, if you do that the NBA catches up and it kicks you right in the butt.”
Presti will have a busy summer. Now that he has secured his coach he can start trying to secure a couple of high profile players.
“We obviously are gonna start having conversations with James (Harden) and Serge (Ibaka) in efforts to try to figure their situations out.”
Both players, along with backup point guard Eric Maynor are eligible for extensions and Harden and Ibaka especially could command big raises.
How much OKC’s ownership can afford and how much Harden and Ibaka will settle for will be the key questions this summer.
SCOTT BROOKS AND SAM PRESTI
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Randy Renner has covered Oklahoma sports for more than 30 years and contributes to NBA.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @Randy1340OKC.
Ok, so Presti has tied himself to Brooks for 4 more years. His choice.
http://www.dailythunder.com/2012/07/thunder-interested-in-devin-ebanks-and-roger-mason/#more-21149
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@diddoff who tweeted this? don't see it on Woj or spears twitter
@OBoymuzik @basketballtalk retweeted it, but again: NOT TRUE
@diddoff @basketballtalk those fake twitters are sneaky
@diddoff What a ring chaser.
@MisterJohnsonOKC Sorry. Fake Wojnarowski account caught me.
Do anyone think rob would actually trade for bynum OoO i mean its just like having dwight bynum expires after this season and will command 85+ m next season.
@Lost Ones I do. Bynum is one of those players that if he isn't frequently touching the ball he becomes disinterested. His ego is the reason he is inconsistent. But in Orlando he would be the man unlike LA so you would assume he'd be more consistent for them. The trade would be a gamble for both teams in a sense but I think they are willing to risk it.
@Lost Ones i would rather have bynum over no superstar at all
our new big 3 is Ebanks, Thabeet and Mason...move over KD, russ and James
@OBoymuzik I just became dizzy
@OBoymuzik I thought our big three was reggie, lazar, and cole?
@EatSleepThunder cole needs to lose another tooth and then they can be the big 6
@EatSleepThunder Lazar is a shoo-in for 6th man of the century
@OBoymuzik Could you imagine the possibilities? Reggie running our point, mason at the 2, ebanks and cole at the forwards, and thabeet manning down the middle. Then we throw in lazar as the sixth man, that team would be unbeatable.
if we get Ray Allen Seattle folks will be so unhappy
@tydude I would be very happy, actually.
@tydude Someone said he refused to work out for us? Not sure if that's true or not. I couldn't find anything on it.
Hey, Ray Allen Come To OKC
Signed Lostones.
@Lost Ones
Love me some Ray...especially this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yzw_SUvLq4A
@courtsense @Lost Ones Damn!! Wilkins, Watson, Wilcox, Petro, Collison... did I see Fortson in there too? I think he and Evans were gone by then but can't recall... man those were some painful years...
@ThunderBelize @Lost Ones
Great insight there, TB...Hard to comprehend all the ugliness perpetrated during that forgettable era by the Two Stooges: Howard "The Sonics are a 'Civic Trust' and we have a '5-Year Plan' to compete for a championship" Schultz and his lackey Wally "Reign of Error" Walker.
@courtsense @Lost Ones Watched a few other Ray Allen reels on youtube... forgot just how good he was during his years in Seattle... And how terrible the rest of the team was around him... hows this for a line-up of bigs... Jerome James (who?!?! LOL @NY), Danny Fortson (Who??!!??), Robert Swift (Meanest looking, yet softest white boy ever!), Johan Petro (Bonjour?!?), Mohammed Sene (Who!!??!!), Chris Wilcox, Reggie Evans. Lets not forget the likes of Sweet Lew and Radman!! 6-10 guys scared shitless of the paint!! In all this mess I feel bad for Ridnour and Collison - those two kept getting 2nd stringed by 'potential talents' and I blame those years for why they are type cast as back-ups for the rest of their careers.
@Lost Ones F Ray Allen
Terry to Boston a done deal.
@C-Wil This makes Allen going to Miami now a most likely thing IMO.
@C-Wil whoa.. Dallas becoming pretender instead of contender..
@neo12 @C-Wil Because they let a 34 yr old 6th man go... when they could sign Deron Williams in the cap space created and/or sign some younger guards?
@neo12 I think if Dallas let's Terry go they'll try and sign someone like Jamal Crawford to take his place. They've always been a team that likes their 6th man.
@Prye05 Yeah that's true, wonder if it will play any part in Deron's decision. Would love to have Terry move to Eastern conference..
Deron is supposed to say where he is playing before the time is up on terry's contract so they can still bring him back (they get 3 days to match the contract when it's signed).
Dwight is a much bigger probably not going to happen. Deron could still be on his way there (he is only meeting with Dal and the Nets after all.
@Prye05 @C-Wil They aint going to get Deron or Howard. Terry for 5 million/yr is good deal even though he's aged. They broke up championship roster just to land DWill or DHoward, and doesn't look like either is going to pan out. But we just have to wait and see.
@Prye05 @neo12 @C-Wil Of course, if they don't get D-Will, then all their efforts have went to poo. I live in this area, so that's all I get to hear about. Dragic or Nash could be the two they target if they don't get D-Will.
@Prye05 @neo12 @C-Wil I wonder if that means Boston knows Allen is gone.
For all Brooks flaws and blunders, I must say I am happy that he is back. I wanted him back just as much as I want Ibaka and Harden to stay long term but, i can't shake this feeling that Presti has a 2 year "Ring or Adios" plan already in the works.
So we've got Thabeet, Ebanks, Roger Mason so far. Anymore to add to the all mediocre team?
@C-Wil You mean the role players who are barely getting paid anything so you take what you can get and hope they have potential?
It's not like this team is looking to sign another Durant... they're looking to fill out the bench and maybe player 8,9,10 in the rotation.
@Prye05 hoping for some decent to good players who might be in a bad situation and would want to come play for a young, hard working team that just made the Finals and just needs a few minor fixes to get over the top.
@C-Wil Sadly to most of these players it really is. There is a reason most players don't play for the team that drafted them. It's because they care about getting paid those most.
@C-Wil @Prye05 I understand that, but who would be getting the boot/demoted to D-League? Reggie and Cole are obvious choices, and I wouldn't care if we booted Lazar off the team. Kinda like a tryout, where the best players make the team, is that where we are going with this?
@Prye05 I forgot that money is everything.
@C-Wil The problem is still the money... if the Thunder aren't going to pay them even as a better team than others, players would rather play more and/or get paid more for other contenders. As unfortunate as that might be.
@C-Wil none of them can create there own shots. might as well play cook if we are going with them.
@Lost Ones @C-Wil Idk, I'd rather play Ebanks then Cook
@Lost Ones @dancassidy35 @C-Wil We've already got Lazar and Ivey. What is the point of adding more unnecessary players?
@dancassidy35 @C-Wil me too i dont want cook on my team.
Just because I was bored... here are a list of players who weren't drafted who were in ESPN's top 60 that could be REALLY cheap players:
Scott Machado #46, PG Iona, Terry Stoglin #42, SG Maryland, Kevin Jones #45 PF West Virginia, Hollis Thompson #49 SF Georgetown, Drew Gordon #56 PF New Mexico, Henry Sims #57 C Georgetown, Garett Stutz #58 C Wichita St
@Prye05 Kevin Jones already signed with Cleveland
@diddoff For summer league or for the season?
@diddoff Also adding to the list that most people won't read anyway... Ricardo Ratliffe is a good efficient but undersized big man, William Buford and Tony Mitchell can shoot and play multiple wing positions. J'covan Brown would be a 6th man type scorer and Tu Holloway while he's gotten into some trouble over the years... has a bit of talent.
@diddoff Still leaves some other names out there. For those calling for a better passing big man - Sims is solid.
For those of the let's trade Maynor variety (Machado was the 4th highest rated PG or something like that in the entire class).
@Prye05 Three years, partially-guaranteed