Wednesday Bolts – 4.14.10

Art Garcia writing about the importance of coaching: “Scott Brooks is the Coach of the Year favorite because of his fit with the Thunder. Among the lowest paid in the league, Brooks has guided the NBA’s youngest team into the playoffs after a four-year franchise drought. Sure, he has Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Jeff Green to work with, and Brooks is the first to heap praise on his players. But those in Oklahoma City cite Brooks’ demeanor, style and consistency as just as valuable to the Thunder’s growth. Brooks understands the front office’s long-term vision while focusing on daily improvement. OKC has more than doubled its win total from last season and figures to be a tough out in the postseason.”

ESPN.com revealed their MVP votes yesterday Kevin Durant finished second: “Points per game don’t do it for me. But all-out nonstop effort at both ends of the court, profound improvement in almost every facet of the game, and all that winning … that’s awesome.”

And Scott Brooks is the Coach of the Year.

David Aldridge’s award ballot: “The logical place to start, it seems, would be to ask why wouldn’t you give the MVP to James? In what way has he not proven himself superior to the league’s elite? Do you really think he couldn’t overtake Durant for the scoring title if that was important to him? Haven’t his Cavs swept Kobe’s Lakers?”

NBA.com power rankings have OKC 10th and make a good point: “More important than where they land in the standings may be that the Thunder just aren’t playing their best basketball. Though they shut down the high-octane Suns on Friday, their defense hasn’t been strong of late, with a 106.7 rating over the last month.”

KD on the finish to the season: “We would have liked to have finished the season out stronger than we did,” Durant said “But we’re still in the playoffs. We just got to take the opportunity to go out there and play our hardest and leave it all on the floor. Nobody expected us to be here.”

Oklahoma product Ekpe Udoh is entering in the draft.

Aron Phillips of Dime says KD should win MIP: “At just 21 years old, his name is already being mentioned in the MVP discussion after he’s helped his young team to almost 50 wins. But with all that said, basketball insiders have been asking the following question: Why shouldn’t Kevin Durant win the Most Improved Player award? My answer: He should.”

John Krolik on that topic too: “I understand that the NBA likes to spread its awards out and recognize players who normally wouldn’t get late-season publicity. And I doubt Durant will care that much (read: at all) about not being considered for an MIP trophy. But wouldn’t it be something to give out the Most Improved Player award to the player who actually made the biggest improvement this season?”

Phil Jackson is already trying to mess with Kevin Durant: ‘It didn’t take long for Lakers Coach Phil Jackson to start working the referees. A day after the Lakers found out they’d play Oklahoma City in the first round of the playoffs, Jackson pointed out that Thunder forward Kevin Durant got a lot of favorable attention from referees. “Yeah, by the calls he gets, he really gets to the line a lot, I’ll tell ya,” Jackson said Tuesday. “There’s a couple plays in the last game where I was pretty curious how he got there.”