With JJ Redick having been declared the next head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, the past few days have been spent locking down his assistant coaching staff. Given that the former Orlando Magic player has had zero coaching experience to his name till now, renowned ESPN reporter Adrian Wojnarowski revealed that surrounding him with “an elite coaching staff” has been a priority for the franchise. And later, we were introduced to two people with a combined HC experience of 31 years – Nate McMillan and Scott Brooks.

Of these two, 58-year-old Brooks comes with two decades’ worth of coaching experience and 14 years of experience as a professional player. Furthermore, he has the honor of sharing his sole championship with a prominent NBA legend: Hakeem Olajuwon himself.

With this, let us take a look at this person who has devoted more than half of his life to the sport of basketball.

Who is Scott Brooks?

Early Life

The future NBA personality was born in the Bear Flag State aka California, from where he would later pursue his high school and college education. Before transferring to the San Joaquin Delta College during his sophomore year, Brooks played for a year on the basketball team of Texas Christian University. It was here that he had his first-ever encounter with Hakeem Olajuwon, as Brooks was given the responsibility of ‘fronting’ him.

The aspiring player’s rise to stardom came during his time at the University of California, Irvine, after he averaged 23.8 points during his senior season. His contribution would later allow his name to go into the UC Irvine Hall of Fame, with his jersey getting retired less than two decades later.

NBA Career

Brooks was drafted into the NBA in 1988 by the Philadelphia 76ers. The next 10 years would see him switching between 6 different teams, with the highlight of his career approaching with the Houston Rockets.

In the 1993-94 season, he averaged 5.2 points, 1.4 rebounds, and 2.0 assists in his role as the reserve point guard. While it doesn’t seem a lot, it did help the team get an offensive boost in his presence, especially to Hakeem Olajuwon, who was able to average 27.3 points, 11.9 rebounds and 3.6 assists in the regular season.

All thanks to their combined efforts, the Rockets literally skyrocketed to reach the Finals in 8 years. And this was a season when Michael Jordan was not present, leaving the Bulls with a few disadvantages. Scott played a major role during the regular season then and wasn’t a part of the rotation during the Finals. In spite of this, the Rockets could defeat the Knicks and win the finals 4-3.

Coaching Career

Brooks has many coaching endeavors attached to his name, including his stint with the Nuggets in 2003. Fast forward to half a decade later, where he became the Head Coach for the OKC Thunder. His tenure there was pretty successful overall, leading the team to playoffs for 5 years. Then, in 2009-10, OKC managed to secure 50 wins in the regular season alone, sending them to the 8th spot on the points chart. What Brooks did with the Thunder was incredible, getting him lauded as the “Coach of the Year” that season.

With many such achievements, he was later named as the Western Conference All-Star Coach for the All-Star Game in 2012. Then, in the very same year, he led the OKC again to their first Finals run in 15 years. His journey in Oklahoma ended in 2015, after getting fired to no longer being able to take the team ahead.

Brooks packed his bags for Washington then and stayed with the Wizards from 2016-21. Although not as memorable as his tenure with OKC, it indeed was another learning experience for him. Eventually, the franchise and Brooks decided to part ways. Since then, Brooks wasn’t hired anywhere as a coach, until the Lakers came to his rescue.

Scott Brooks believes Hakeem Olajuwon would have beaten the Chicago Bulls with Michael Jordan

The Chicago Bulls’ chances were really hurt when Michael Jordan wasn’t there with the team during the 1993-94 season. He had to retire to pursue a baseball career after his father was murdered. Scottie Pippen was present as a ray of hope, but then again, it wasn’t as good without MJ. The bumps on the way helped Hakeem Olajuwon win his first title. But this wasn’t what Brooks thought happened.

Decades later, Scott Brooks highlighted that MJ’s absence wasn’t the reason for Olajuwon’s win. In 2020, on the podcast show, Wizards Talk he said, “[The Bulls] had no answer for [Olajuwon]. It’s easy for me to say this now because it’s all hypothetical, but I don’t think they would have beat us in ’94.”

The assistant coach stated that Hakeem Olajuwon was “locked in” during the 1993-94 season. By praising his athleticism, Brooks further continued, “I’ve never seen a guy up close every fourth quarter. I don’t even think he missed a shot, let alone make a mistake. He had both ends just covered.”

This hypothetical scenario is one scenario in which NBA fans may never receive an answer. However, it still doesn’t change the fact that ‘The Dream’ earned his championship title, despite what situation gave him an advantage. No one probably knows this better than the individual who will now work alongside JJ Redick to take the Los Angeles Lakers to a championship level once again.

Before leaving, be sure to check out some insights that Shaquille O’Neal’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, shared about the Lakers legend’s infamous feud with the late Kobe Bryant.