Washington Wizards Q and A: Thunder Writers Discuss Scott Brooks
By Ben Mehic
3) Player development seems to be one of the reasons why the Washington Wizards pursued Brooks. He was credited for helping develop some of the Thunder’s younger talent. What can we expect from Brooks in that aspect?
J.A. Sherman (@WTLC):
This is a difficult question to answer. If we’re talking about the first 2/3 of Brooks’ career, then I think there is great reason for optimism.
Brooks allowed Durant & Westbrook to go through some pretty bad stretches in the hope that they’d figure out how to win games together, and they did.
Brooks turned over the entire second unit to James Harden during a time when many NBA pundits were arguing that Harden was a bust.
Brooks brought a young Serge Ibaka into the starting lineup and watched his team morph into an outstanding defensive unit. They were well ahead of schedule when they made it to the Finals in 2012.
However…the last few seasons of Brooks’ tenure were marked by poor management of his young talent.
Brooks had a tendency to try to develop the young talent early in the season only to have the Thunder front office acquire aging veterans halfway through the season and soak up all the available minutes. In particular, Derek Fisher and Caron Butler were late season acquisitions who undermined the growth and contributions of players Reggie Jackson, Jeremy Lamb, and Perry Jones.
My hope is that Brooks will learn from his mistakes and realize that the commitment to young players has to be a year-long ordeal; otherwise, they will never be ready to contribute when the playoffs arrive.
Shawn Woods (@Shawn_Woods15):
There were questions about whether it was Brooks or the Thunder’s developmental staff that had more to do with the young players’ progress, but either way, Brooks should get some credit for that.
The problem with that thinking with the current Wizards’ roster is the Thunder players were all rookies, or close to it, when Brooks got to develop them.
There is evidence that Brooks is good at developing players from the beginning of their careers to some point in the middle, but there is little to no evidence that he can develop players in the middle of their careers and get the absolute most out of them.
That’s not to say he can’t do it, but he hasn’t had the opportunities to show that he has that ability.
Next: Common Misconceptions About Brooks