Daily Digits is a new daily feature we’re doing at Bullets Forever this year where we take a look at stats about the Wizards. We’ll dive into the numbers, add some context, and discuss how they affect the product on the court.

Today’s stat is the number of times Scott Brooks has started a season 0-2, which is...

4

This isn’t the first time Scott Brooks has gotten off to a slow start in his coaching career, but his first three instances were a bit more understandable. His first 0-2 start came when he took over as head coach in Oklahoma City after P.J. Carlesimo got off to a 1-12 start. The Thunder lost their first four games under Brooks before they finally broke through with a win over the lowly Memphis Grizzlies.

Brooks didn’t deal with another 0-2 start until 2014, when Kevin Durant missed the start of the season and the team limped out of the gates in what wound up being Brooks’ last season with the Thunder. Although the Thunder missed the playoffs, Brooks was able to help Oklahoma City win 45 games that season, even though Durant missed 55 games, and Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka missed over 14.

It’s easy to forget now, but the team actually got off to a rough start in his first season in Washington. John Wall wasn’t fully himself after off-season knee surgery and the team struggled on their way to a 0-3 start and lost eight of their first ten games before everything clicked and they finished the season on a 47-25 run.

Now, Brooks has to hope Dwight Howard is the missing key who can turn the team around (although it looks like that won’t happen until at least Wednesday, if not later). Brooks has shown in the past he can get players up to speed fairly quickly, and he’ll need to do it in order to address the team’s glaring issues on the glass and in the paint right now. If he can do it, he can restore some hope after two deflating losses to start the season.