Scott Brooks has helped build the Oklahoma City Thunder into a true contender.
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.”

Full article by Steve Hunt: foxsportssouthwest.com- Time under Karl helped shape Brooks