Like every other current head coach in the NBA, Scott Brooks has definitely paid his dues. Oklahoma City Thunder head coach had stints as an assistant coach with the Denver Nuggets, Sacramento Kings and Seattle SuperSonics before first being named Oklahoma City's interim and eventually full-time head coach in 2008.
Since then, all the former Cal-Irvine Anteater standout has done is helped build the Thunder into a true contender not just in the Western Conference, but in the Association.
But if there was one experience that really helped shape him as an NBA head coach, it was the three seasons he spent in Denver — parts of two of which were as an assistant under current Nuggets coach George Karl, who was hired in Denver in Jan. 2005.
"I think George is one of the best coaches in the league. One of the things I learned with George is you make no excuses," Brooks said. "If you have guys hurt, it doesn't matter. You go out and do your best to try to win the game. If you have eight guys in practice, it doesn't matter. You try to figure out a way to have the best eight men practice."
And his former boss epitomized such a no-excuses approach in how he handled several off-court issues during his time in the Mile High City.
"He's a no-nonsense, no-excuse kind of guy and on top of all that, he had to fight through his son having health issues and himself having health issues and he fought through it. Not a lot of people can do what he did," Brooks said. "He had to deal with those two issues plus manage an NBA team. That gave me a lot of respect for that man."
So, on those occasions when OKC does face Denver, he admits it's pretty cool to see his former boss and also how much pride he takes in how he has evolved since becoming a head coach into a perennial NBA Coach of the Year candidate, an award he won in 2009.
"George is a competitor," Brooks said. "I learned a lot from him. He's taught me a lot about this league and how to be a coach in this league. I'm proud to work for him for those two years."
One reason why the Thunder head coach has built OKC into such a force in the Western Conference is the fact that for the most part, Brooks has been able to keep his young core intact. Having such stability in terms of personnel has also allowed the 46-year-old California native to develop a family-like atmosphere in the Oklahoma state capital.
"We're all like family from the top of the organization to the bottom. We're all close and he's the leader," Thunder guard James Harden said. "He's directing us. He's over us telling us what we can do. He's a major part of it."
Kevin Durant even went so far as to say that Brooks has helped create an atmosphere similar to the one he experienced during his two years of college ball at Texas.
"Words can't explain how lucky I am to come to an organization like this where it felt like more of a family than anything. It goes from the coaches all the way to the GMs to the equipment managers, everybody," Durant said. "It feels like I'm at Texas."
Brooks is definitely a player's coach, so much in fact that his top player even compares him to another pretty successful coach from the collegiate ranks, current University of Texas head coach Rick Barnes.
"Both of those guys are similar," Durant said. "Coach Barnes is a guy that allows his players to grow and progress but he's still a no-nonsense type of guy and that's the type of coach I love to play for. That's why I chose Texas. Coach Brooks is the same way. Once I got here, having P.J. [Carlesimo] for that year was a big change for me because that was a coach I wasn't really used to. But it helped me out. Then having Scott [Brooks] here, it was like I never left college. It was an easy transition for me. I was just blessed that we had such great guys here."
However, Brooks' credibility runs even deeper as most, if not all, members of the Thunder roster feels his message has even more meaning considering it wasn't all that long ago that he was in their position as an NBA player himself.
"He can relate to us because he's been through it, training camps, the trials, tribulations, he knows what it takes. He relates to us very well," Harden said. "Kind of laid back, if he feels like we're slacking, he'll get on us. These three years, we've grown up with each other. We became closer and he's a great coach."
Veteran big man Nick Collison offers his own take on why Brooks has been so successful thus far with the young Thunder.
"I think the best thing that he's done and always done is he's got a really good feel for really what's going on with the team. He's really got a good feel on what we need and kind of what's really going on," Collison said. "That's not always the case [with other coaches]. And another thing that's really nice about him is his ego's really not an issue at all. A lot of coaches make it about them and will be quick to kind of point fingers at players or throw guys under the bus if things don't go well because they don't want that heat on themselves. But he's not like that at all. With him, it's just 'What can we do to get better today?' There's nothing extra with him, which is really nice as a player."
For standout point guard Russell Westbrook, when asked to name Brooks' biggest strength, he didn't hesitate to cite a quality crucial to the success of any coach no matter the sport. "I'd probably say communication," he said. "He communicates to us about what we have to do and what we've done. I think that's a big thing."
Like his players, every day since he first became an NBA head coach over three seasons ago in Seattle, Brooks views every single day no matter whether it's in a meeting, a practice or a game as an opportunity to learn, not just so that he becomes a better coach but also so that his team can become even more successful.
It's a progression Durant has seen firsthand.
"He's matured. His basketball knowledge has gotten better. He knows how to be a head coach in this league and he knows what to do," he said. "He's growing every day with us and you can tell since his first day up until now that he's grown so much. I'm happy. I'm blessed that he's our coach."
Collison was also there for the beginning of the Brooks era during the Thunder's final season in Seattle and he too has noticed many changes in his head coach.
"I thought he was pretty solid from Day One. He had a good idea of how he wanted the team to play, what he wanted to focus on. He took over a team that I think was 1-12, so obviously had a lot of work to do," he said. "The biggest thing he wanted to change not necessarily the culture, but the mindset of how we played. We needed to concentrate on how to move the ball, get our spacing better and offensively, kind of teach us how to play a little better than what we had. Defensively, we had to get a lot better too."
But the ultimate testament to what a rock-solid head coach Brooks has become just might come from not only the top player on his roster, but also someone regarded as one of the top young superstars in the entire NBA.
"He brings the best out of me every single day. He doesn't put me on a pedestal or think I'm better than any of my other teammates," Durant said. "He holds me accountable just like he holds everybody else accountable and that's what I need for me to grow as a player. I'm excited I'm here, man. Like I said, all this is a dream come true."
