There has been a lot of talk about how the Oklahoma City Thunder locked up Russell Westbrook to a contract extension, giving them both Westbrook and Durant for a few more years. Now, contract talks move to the next round of players, James Harden, Serge Ibaka and Eric Maynor. Of course, these are the important players to look at because they are the ones under a salary cap.

Scott Brooks
Wikimedia Commons

However, there is another contract coming due that has nothing to do with a salary cap.

Head coach Scott Brooks is in the final year of his contract as head coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder. I understand the urgency of getting Westbrook’s contract extended but Brooks needs to be locked up right now and he needs a long term contract for all he has done for the Thunder.

When the Thunder moved to Oklahoma City from the city of Seattle, the team was a mess. However, there was a star on the squad named Kevin Durant and a great role player named Nick Collison. In their first season in Oklahoma City, their first round draft pick was Russell Westbrook and he contributed immediately.

However, the team still lost their games. There was still some stink on the team from their days in Seattle and that was finally purged with head coach P.J. Carlesimo was fired and assistant Scott Brooks took over as the Interim head coach. After starting out the year with a 3-29 record, Brooks turned them around and they won 20 of their next 50 games.

Brooks earned the title of head coach in 2009-10, and in his first season as head coach, led them back to the NBA playoffs for the first time since 2004-05 and only the third time since 1999-00. The Thunder drafted James Harden that season.

In 2010-11, the Thunder were even better, making it all the way to the NBA Western Conference Finals, where they fell to the Dallas Mavericks. Serge Ibaka, drafted two years before, finally arrived from Europe and started for the team while Durant and Westbrook became All-Stars.

In his first 2.5 years coaching the Thunder, Brooks is 127-106. In his two full seasons as a head coach, Brooks is 105-59 (64-percent), In 2011-12, he has the Thunder off to the best start in franchise history and it is time he was rewarded for his hard work. Brooks needs a contract extension now and he needs to be locked up as the Thunder head coach for as long as he wants to be here.

Author Shawn S. Lealos has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma (2000) and is an avid sports fan that has lived in Oklahoma for over 40 years. He used to religiously follow the Dallas Mavericks until Oklahoma City found a team to call their own.

Source: NewsOK.COM

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