Scott Brooks spoke very highly of Kaleb Canales, who was promoted to interim head coach of the Blazers last week.

Canales and Brooks spent time getting to know each other at the summer camp of Tim Grgurich.

"He works out guys and develops players as well I've seen," Brooks said of Canales. "He's just a friendly spirit. He always wants to learn and get better. He's always in the gym, he's always the first coach in the gym, he's last to leave, he's picking everybody's brain. You knew that he would get an opportunity to keep moving up and he has. He's on his way to being a permanent head coach."

Canales joined the staff of the Blazers in 2004 as a video intern.

"Coach Brooks means a lot to me, sitting down at those camps," Canales said of Brooks. "He's always been so good. He takes out the time, talks to me, give me advice. Obviously the way he and Mr. (Thunder general manager Sam) Presti have led this organization is something to be proud of. I have a special relationship with Coach Brooks. I really admire how he's done it, how he's come up and obviously I can relate to a lot of that. He's done it the hard, old-fashioned way. His teams are so well-prepared and they play hard every single night."