Thunder: Scotty Brooks is not cocky

The Nuggets are trying to drum up some nasty things to say about the Thunder. That Thunder players are cocky. That Thunder players talk trash when the cameras aren’t recording them. That the Thunder’s choir boy image is bunk. That the Thunder is more swagger than substance.

Heck, I don’t know. Maybe some of it’s true. Maybe Kendrick Perkins has rubbed off more than we think on his new teammates. Maybe the Thunder is more biker bar than a Nuggets team that includes Kenyon Martin, J.R. Smith and the Birdman.

But maybe this is all mass choreograph by Denver coach George Karl, whose team Sunday opens a seven-game playoff series in Oklahoma City.

Russell Westbrook? Serge Ibaka? Perkins? I’ll give you cocky a little bit. Arrogant? Debatable.

But Scotty Brooks? Scotty Brooks is supposed to be cocky? That’s tomfoolery. That’s nonsensical.

Karl employed Brooks for three years, they are friends, yet Karl said Brooks is “pretty cocky.”

Confident? OK. Maybe. Um, you have to look hard to find the veneer of confidence. Scotty Brooks is more like your next-door neighbor. More like the usher at church. Really nice fellow who you wouldn’t mind seeing sprinkled with a little more personality.

Cocky? Scotty Brooks? Hey, we’ve spent three years with Scotty Brooks, begging him to be cocky. Begging him to say something the least bit interesting. Begging him to show the personality we know is in there, else how else could he compete with the likes of Karl and Phil Jackson and Stan Van Gundy?