Move from top spot to assistant suits Cheeks fine

Theirs was never a typical relationship, Maurice Cheeks the accomplished starting point guard and Scott Brooks the scrapy rookie backup with no chance to make it in the NBA but did anyway. That was 1988 in Philadelphia.

This is 2010 in Oklahoma City. Brooks is the frontrunner for Coach of the Year in his first full season as a coach while guiding the Thunder to a 38-24 record -- with Cheeks as his unlikely assistant.

Only all of it was impossible to imagine at the start of last season. Not so much Brooks as a coach, because he was regarded as one of the brightest prospects. What is unlikely is that OKC would be this good this soon, with 21-year-old Kevin Durant exploding into stardom and the young roster in sixth place in the Western Conference with a vastly improved defense. And that it would be done with Cheeks at his side.

Cheeks was the 76ers coach a lifetime ago. His firing in December of 2008 was, likewise, no shock, not with a 9-14 record as a season of high expectations spiraled into great disappointment. But to jump right back in as an assistant only months later, rather than sit out 2009-10 to scout the next move? To go where just making the playoffs would have made the season a success, to where a first-year coach would have a learning curve? Hardly a high-rise pedestal that Cheeks could use as advertising for his next job.

Brooks had the very same thoughts. He called anyway.

"I didn't know what he would think," Brooks said. "I didn't know how he would feel because he's still pretty fresh from the situation in Philadelphia.

"But when I talked to him, I knew he was ready. It was good to hear that he was interested and excited about coming to Oklahoma City. He loves the game. Not a lot of head coaches -- I look at him as a head coach -- would do it right away. Three months after he was let go, he's back in it as an assistant. Our guys are benefitting from it."

Cheeks immediately had all the lines down.

"I'm just glad to be here."

"This game is about learning. You can always learn in a situation."

"Scotty does a great job with these guys and I just try to learn as much as I can."

Unless, just maybe, it wasn't reading from the script and the guy who had been a head coach for seven-plus seasons in the passionate basketball lands of Portland and Philadelphia was genuinely happy for the chance to be an aide in Oklahoma City. It does make sense in some level. Working with Brooks had an obvious appeal, and that made the opportunity different right there. Plus, getting off the roller coaster can be good -- the spotlight with the Blazers and 76ers, and maybe where he goes next, can burn, but there are no such worries on the Thunder bench with other experienced assistants Ron Adams, Rex Kalamian and Mark Bryant (the former veteran center/power forward) and newcomer Brian Keefe.

"No, it has not been strange," Cheeks said. "It's funny, I think. When you're not a head coach, you get to sit back and get to observe. The thing about being a former head coach, you can help the head coach out so much because you know all the things that he's going through, all the things that he's thinking, dealing with players, dealing with a lot of things. Being able to sit back and now have to think 24 hours a day about what's going on -- how you do this, how you do that -- has been very helpful for me and hopefully it's been very helpful for him."

Brooks uses the word "great" to describe the contribution, so, yeah, that covers helpful. Cheeks was a defensive star with the 76ers who came to the Thunder the season they jumped from 27th in shooting defense all the way to third as of Wednesday. Like Brooks, who went from undrafted and undersized to a 10-year NBA run, Cheeks is a former point guard working with a roster that has a heavy investment in one ball handler (2008 lottery pick Russell Westbrook), traded for another this season (rookie Eric Maynor) and used their 2009 lottery pick on combo guard James Harden.

Cheeks turned out to be an advertising genius. Taking an assistant's job, going to Oklahoma City, was the ideal positioning for the next head-coaching opportunity.

"I understand where I'm at," he said. "I appreciate where I'm at. I appreciate the organization, because this organization is great. And the fact that we have so many young players that are growing up quickly. They're rapidly growing. If I can offer some of the knowledge that I've had as a player, some of the knowledge that I've had as a head coach, to help them out, I'm very satisfied with that."

Scott Howard-Cooper has covered the NBA since 1988. You can e-mail him here.

The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA, its clubs or Turner Broadcasting.