Lynn, you make a good point about Brooks. I’m with Rhode in that I think he deserves more credit than he usually gets. But somehow, I don’t think it worries him too much as long as he has Presti’s confidence. Phil Jackson won 11 titles in like 20 years or some such, and still has people saying he’s not that good a coach. I don’t think it bothers him either.

Not saying Brooks is going to be a Phil Jackson, but I think the approach they take isn’t dissimilar. Stay focused on what you’re doing, and don’t worry about the outside stuff. Brooks doesn’t seem to get rattled easily, and his team seems to reflect that attitude. We can probably credit Mo Cheeks for that as well, along with the rest of the coaching staff.

But like Rhode points out in the article, there are things that I think Brooks does as a coach that take place away from the court, and that most of us will never see. And that pay dividends when game time hits. And I think he’s getting better as a coach, just like his team is getting better as a team.

Winning cures a lot of ills, and if OKC keeps winning, the grumbling about Brooks among the discontented will quiet down. But it’ll probably never go away, even if he wins 11 titles. That’s just how things seem to work.

Especially when ESPN guys like Bill Simmons keep making suttle comments about the Thunder’s supposed coaching problems.

Brooks is in the tough position of not getting credit because he has good players. And he gets all the criticism when said players don’t execute.

What’s really not fair, is the Thunder could bring in some re-tread coach whose been fired two or three times, and those same fans and media would have more confidence in that coach.