Scott Brooks Named NBA Coach of the Year

Originally Published: Apr 21, 2010 11:11 AM CDT

Corey DeMoss
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

OKLAHOMA CITY – The NBA officially announced Wednesday that Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Scott Brooks has been named the Red Auerbach Coach of the Year.

Brooks helped lead the Thunder to a 50-win season and a playoff appearance, a massive improvement over the team’s 23-59 performance last year. He orchestrated this improvement with one of the youngest teams in the NBA and one that did not add any big-name free agents during the offseason.

“It's an honor to receive the Red Auerbach Coach of the Year award,” Brooks said. “I truly believe this is an Oklahoma City Thunder team award ? Everybody in our organization is first class. It's absolutely first class.”

Brooks took over for P.J. Carlesimo last season, originally on an interim basis. He got off to a slow 1-13 start, but recovered to lead the team to a strong end to last season and an even better performance from start to finish this year.

Brooks commended his young players, saying they all work hard to improve and respond well to coaching.

“We realize we have a special group of guys here, but I really believe that took place over the summer,” Brooks said. “You just saw the amount of determination they had and we knew they’d come back better players ? It's a team that's coachable. A team that I enjoy being around every day."

The Wall Street Journal reported that the Thunder is the youngest team to ever make the playoffs, and OKC has played the defending champion Los Angeles tough through the first two games of the playoffs.

“People talk about our team being young,” Brooks said. “I talk about our team being good players and they challenge themselves.”