Wall: Wizards didn't sign Brooks to get Durant
The Washington Wizards handed out a monster contract to new head coach Scott Brooks this week, and given Brooks' existing relationship with Kevin Durant from his Oklahoma City Thunder tenure, Durant's impending free agency, and Washington's longstanding desire to bring him home, some have taken to squinting at the tea leaves.
Durant himself has dismissed the notion that Brooks' hiring had anything to do with him, and Wizards All-Star point guard John Wall did the same Friday.
"We signed Scotty Brooks to win an NBA championship," Wall told Jorge Castillo of the Washington Post. "We didn’t sign Scotty Brooks to say, 'OK, Scotty, go get him. You got to bring us Kevin Durant.' We got Scotty Brooks because we feel like he can help John Wall and make him a better player and make our team get to the next step.
"We didn't get Scotty Brooks just to get Kevin Durant. That's not what Scott is on board to do. And I hope everybody doesn't expect just because we got Scotty Brooks, he's automatically going to get K.D., he's going to automatically jump."
It behooves the Wizards to pour cold water on the speculation, because early indications are that Durant is not interested in playing in his native D.C. next season or beyond. Durant keeps a tight circle of friends and family and reportedly worries about that circle becoming cluttered with bygone hometown distractions.
Meanwhile, Brooks has a very strong track record as a head coach, having taken the Thunder to the Finals once, and to the conference finals two other times during his seven-year stint. He was named Coach of the Year in 2009-10. His .620 winning percentage ranks ninth in history among coaches who've been on the bench for at least five seasons. And his teams consistently ranked in or near the top five in both offense and defense.
In other words, the prospect of luring Durant may have played a part in the Wizards' decision, but there's no reason to think they paid for Brooks the recruiter rather than Brooks the coach.
"I just don't think it’s fair on (Durant) and I don’t think it’s fair on Scotty and our part as a team and an organization," Wall said. "If that was the case, that's not a real smart move and I know those guys didn't (hire Brooks) just for that. It's about us trying to focus and win, try to take the next step to give us a better team. One step is getting a new coach and now the next step is getting free agents that are going to help the team."