The Oklahoma City Thunder have locked up Russell Westbrook with a five-year, $80 million extension, which means that the team has $186 million going towards extensions to keep Westbrook and Kevin Durant in Thunder uniforms for the next few years. Since it seems that neither Durant nor Westbrook are going to be going anywhere any time soon, you have to wonder if there is anybody that could.
According to SB Nation's Bomani Jones, the team's head coach Scott Brooks could be on the hot seat in Oklahoma City.
Brooks is a good coach. Oklahoma City got too successful too soon for that not to be the case. Is he a coach that can take a team to a championship? That seems more debatable than whether a team could win one with Russell Westbrook running the offense.
Whose job is it to mold Westbrook into the point guard the Thunder needs him to be? Who's supposed to provide the framework necessary to make both Durant and guys like Thabo Sefalosha in position to take and make good shots? Who is supposed to make Durant understand that he sometimes has to take shots, not just shoot them? Since when has such a talented scorer been allowed to tolerate a lesser player wanting shots more than him?
Jones draws this conclusion by comparing Brooks' situation in Oklahoma City to Mike Brown's situation in Cleveland. Jones points out that both Brooks and Brown were young, they both coached young superstars and both coaches were able to get their teams to win.
And...Brown was fired after winning 147 games and three playoff series in his last two seasons with the Cavs, and being run over by a ball-dominating superstar he couldn't control. Those are the breaks.
And they sound awfully familiar.
Jones believes that Brooks' ability to keep his job could depend on his ability to win a championship in the coming seasons. While nothing is certain, it's definitely something to keep in mind.
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