Scott Brooks is an underrated defensive head coach
At the helm for the Oklahoma City Thunder, Brooks’s teams never finished lower than 16th ranked in defensive rating. On top of that, his squads ended up in the top-10 in defense on three separate occasions.
Despite his levels of success on that end of the court, Brooks and the Thunder as a team were never known for their defense. Instead, it was the high-octane offenses led by Westbrook and Durant that captured the media’s attention.
Brooks commanded strong defenses despite having relatively weak personnel in terms of lockdown artists. Kendrick Perkins was passable as an interior enforcer, but he was never a Defensive Player of the Year candidate. Instead, Brooks used Serge Ibaka’s size and athleticism to make up for Perkins’s lack of explosiveness on the inside.
Westbrook has always been a force of nature, but his defensive attention is hit-or-miss. Kevin Durant hadn’t come into his own as a defender until he joined the Golden State Warriors and is best suited guarding small-ball fours.
The Portland Trail Blazers are similarly lacking in terms of shutdown defenders on the roster. Even though the Blazers won’t have loads of clampers to deploy in the lineup, the defensive ceiling on this team should be at least in the level of Brooks’s Thunder teams.
If the Blazers could finish near the top-10 in defensive rating next season, we’re looking at a team capable of winning it all.