Five scattered thoughts on Scott Brooks’ departure

For the first time in seven years, the Thunder will have a new coach next season. Scott Brooks has been let go, and the Thunder are now in a position to go find a new voice to lead them into what’s their most important season yet.

After the Thunder walked off the floor in Minnesota last week, it seemed like there was no chance this would happen. But the momentum has been building the past few days, with it finally snowballing to the point of Brooks officially being fired today. It comes as a surprise, if only in the sense Brooks seemed likely to be given grace for this past season. Instead, the Thunder are using it as a chance to move in another direction.

Here are five thoughts about it all:

1) Yep, I thought Brooks deserved another year.

I still do. I don’t feel like I need to restate my position as to why, but Brooks had accomplished a whole lot with this team and the failures had very clear justifications. I’ve always been able to see and respect the opposing viewpoint on that. And apparently, that’s the one that won out in the end.

The case against was that he had taken this team as far as he could and the Thunder need fresh ideas and a new voice. I can’t argue with that. The Thunder have had a lot of the same problems the past five years, and there was a fear of plateauing internally.

Still: The reason I felt Brooks should come back is that he had earned the chance. A fully healthy roster was going to be a contender next season, whether coached by Brooks or a highly intelligent ferret. There’s that much talent there. And with everything that has happened since going to the Finals in 2012, there was enough reason to believe Brooks could maybe be the guy still.

It wasn’t necessarily that I saw Brooks as the right guy. I just thought he should have the opportunity to still try and prove it.

2) Brooks did his job.

And he did it well. When Brooks took over for P.J. Carlesimo in 2008, he inherited a group of 20-year-olds that were 1-13 and had zero idea how to win. They fell to 3-29, and after finding a win on New Year’s Eve, finished out the season 20-30, a fairly respectable clip.

He was named head coach on the final day of the season, and turned around and led them to 50 wins the next year, and a six-game series against the eventual champion Lakers. He installed a culture of grit, hard work, and toughness, illustrating how hard work is what builds a great team. He cultivated togetherness an chemistry, helping a roster of young guys grow and mature into a perennial contender.

The results are there. I’m not going to list them out, because you already know. Brooks wasn’t a master tactician, or brilliant in-game adjuster, but he did two things exceptionally well: 1) He got his players to play hard and 2) he got them to practice harder.

3) The move is supposed to be about what the Thunder can do, not what they didn’t.

Presti said it himself in his statement:

“As we all know, this past year we had unique and challenging circumstances and as I have conveyed, not many people could have accomplished what Scott and this team were able to. Therefore, it is very important to state that this decision is not a reflection of this past season, but rather an assessment of what we feel is necessary at this point in time in order to continually evolve, progress and sustain. We determined that, in order to stimulate progress and put ourselves in the best position next season and as we looked to the future, a transition of this kind was necessary for the program.”

Let me run that through my Google translate: Basically, that means Presti felt the Thunder might be stalling out in their developing, outgrowing Brooks’ rah-rah message and in need of a more intricate, specialized plan.

So it wasn’t about missing the playoffs this season. In all reality, Brooks did a tremendous job with the team, keeping it afloat despite a number of challenges. To win 45 games playing only 27 with Durant, and missing Ibaka and Westbrook for a month each is impressive. Especially in the West.

What this is more about is where the Thunder go next. You can make other parallels, like Doug Collins and Phil Jackson or Mark Jackson and Steve Kerr, but that’s at least the thinking. The Thunder felt like they weren’t going to keep growing under Brooks. And that they needed new leadership in order to. Change is hard — I know I don’t like it — but sometimes it is indeed necessary to stimulate growth.

4) Next season’s pressures had a lot to do with it.

Everyone knows the situation. One season guaranteed left with Durant, which creates a whole new level of expectation and tension. What if the Thunder started slowly, going 8-7 in November? With Brooks in the last year of his deal and pushing for an extension, things could begin to get pretty awkward and distract-y.

So Presti viewed this as a chance to anticipate and not react. Instead of trying to salvage a season that could everything riding on it, they’re trying to re-establish something more concrete, trying to remove some of the uncertainty.

There’s been an idea that Durant and Westbrook would never sign off on Brooks being let go, but that was always overstated. You may have noticed that’s not something I’ve ever said. Brooks was always well liked and respected by his players — Westbrook even called him his “friend” — but that doesn’t mean they weren’t ready for a change as well. They can appreciate the job Brooks did with them while at the same time being excited for new, fresh ideas.

I do know that the decision to move on from Brooks was not one made with the input from Durant and Westbrook, which might seem risky from Presti, but that’s also a way to protect players. They’re supposed to be loyal to their coach, and they were. They said all the right things at exit interviews. But when it came down to it, they were ready for change as well.

5) Who’s next?

One has to assume this move was made with a very short list already in mind for a replacement. This isn’t firing an embattled coach of a bad team where you canvas the league trying to find the next guy. This is firing a good coach to go try and find a better one for an already very good team.

I was told by one person that would know that accountability with players was definitely an issue. It was a bit of an inmates-running-the-asylum kind of thing, which obviously was successful, but maybe not for long as they approach the future. So whoever’s next has to be able to gain the ear of the team and most especially, Russell Westbrook, who kind of does his own thing.

I don’t think the Thunder are the type of team set to recycle a coach. I think you can cross off Mark Jackson or Mike Malone. Tom Thibodeau might garner some consideration if he departs from Chicago, but he doesn’t really strike me as the kind of fresh start Presti’s talking about.

Rick Carlisle has always been very highly regarded by the Thunder, and if things go so far south for him in Dallas that he’s ready for change, maybe that’s a possible candidate. Plus, the writing is on the wall for the Mavs; wouldn’t Carlisle be interesting in extending his coaching life possibly a whole other decade with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook?

Another could be Brad Stevens, a coach Presti was always infatuated by, but missed his chance on by sticking with Brooks when Stevens made his jump to the NBA. Though it doesn’t seem likely to be able to pry him away from the building Celtics.

Another longshot I’m throwing out there is Mike Budenholzer. While obviously unlikely he leaves his post in Atlanta, Presti and him are close from San Antonio. Worth mentioning, at least.

I think the most likely replacement will come from college. Three names: Billy Donovan, Kevin Ollie and Fred Hoiberg. Donovan already is close with Presti, and one of his former assistants was hired last year (Mark Daigneault) to run the OKC Blue. Ollie obviously has connections with Durant, Westbrook and the organization. And Hoiberg is someone that’s very highly thought of by Presti.

Sure, maybe it would seem like a reach to go that direction, especially with such a big year ahead, but all three of those guys are well equipped to handle it. If I were putting money on it, I’d lean Donovan for now. But we’ll see.