On Wednesday, the NBA announced Scott Brooks as the NBA coach of the year. Brooks was responsible for the Oklahoma City Thunder’s turnaround this year, guiding the team to its first playoff berth since 2004-05.

When this season started it was unimaginable that Oklahoma City would be in the playoffs; the Thunder were not only coming off of a horrific season with a record of 3-29, they also had a rough start at the beginning of the year. No one thought that with their roster – the same as last year’s – they would be able to turn things around and end as the eighth seed of the Western Conference, giving them a spot on the playoffs.

For this transformation, Brooks received 71 of 123 first-place votes and 480 points, finishing ahead of Milwaukee's Coach Scott Skiles’ 26 first-place votes, 313 points, and Portland coach Nate McMillan’s 9 and 107. The selection was determined by 118 broadcasters from both the US and Canada.

Oklahoma City General Manager Sam Presti stated that he felt very proud and happy for Brooks. He also described Brooks as a very consistent person, hardly affected by adversity; on the contrary, Presti asserted, Brooks fights back until he gets what he is looking for.

Even though Brooks received the award and is very excited with it, he knows that he has to focus now on the playoffs, for which he is looking for another turnaround as the Thunder are losing the series against the Los Angeles Lakers 0-2. He is also very aware that they are playing against the best team in the country, and the Lakers are determined to defend their title as champions of the NBA.

"This is the first-time playoff experience for a lot of us, including myself, and you're playing against one of the best coaches of all sports, one of the best players ever and a team that has 1,000 [games of] playoff experience to ours," Brooks said. "But you learn from playing against the best players and the best teams, and we're going to keep fighting and figuring out ways to beat them."

Even though these are his first playoffs as a coach, Brooks is trying to teach his players that they don’t have to give up even if they are playing against such a renowned team.

When Brooks took over the coaching position from PJ Carlesimo in 2008, his job wasn’t easy. He modified a few player positions and since then the team has been improving. Kevin Durant, for example, was moved from shooting guard to a forward and this increased his productivity. Now Durant is the NBA's youngest scoring champion this season.

Brooks has been teaching the Thunder that every day they must practice harder, to improve as a team. Noticeable improvement awarded him a multi-year contract with the Thunder last year, even though they ended up with a 22-47 record. He took the position as an interim coach and was given the chance to make progress with the team; Sam Presti is very pleased with the results.

Much more impressive is the fact that Brooks did all this with the same group of players from last season, as well as rookies James Harden, Serge Ibaka and Eric Maynor.

Brooks started in the NBA as a player and spent 11 seasons playing with teams such as Philadelphia 76ers, Minnesota Timberwolves, Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks, New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers. He was also a member of Houston's 1994 NBA Championship team.

About the Author

Audrey Nolan has been a prominent writer on daily NBA games; sports news and the sportsbetting industry for many exceptional sport web sites. You may reprint this article in its full content, please note no modifications to it are accepted.