Washington Wizards are sitting fifth in the Eastern Conference, but their head coach Scott Brooks hasn’t gotten the recognition he deserves.
Scott Brooks wasn’t a sexy hire. Everyone saw it coming.
The Washington Wizards were hellbent on trying to make themselves appealing to Kevin Durant, who had no interest in returning home. They hired one of his former high school coaches and the next step was to hire the man who coached him in the profs for the vast majority of his career.
Washington justified the hiring by noting Brooks’ coaching success during his time in Oklahoma.
He’s a former Coach of the Year and took the Thunder to the NBA Finals – the youngest team to ever make it.
But there were still questions surrounding the hire.
Ernie Grunfeld didn’t interview another candidate. They spoke to Brooks and made it clear that he was their guy. They didn’t speak to any other coaches who they were linked to, including Mike D’Antoni, who’s likely going to win Coach of the Year this season.
After a few months of waiting for results, the Wizards finally have a large enough sample size to gauge what type of coach Brooks really is without the help of Durant and Russell Westbrook.
Midway through the season, the Wizards find themselves in the fifth spot, owning tiebreakers against the Chicago Bulls and Milwaukee Bucks.
The Wizards have put themselves in prime position to make the postseason and much of it could be attributed to some of the ways Brooks has coached.