He will still have his naysayers. He probably will always have his naysayers. If there’s anyone who understands haters are going to hate, it is Dillon The Villain. He has seen the takedowns on X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram. “I just appreciate you,” Brooks declared to his detractors on Sunday. “Obviously, the hate doesn’t stop. It keeps going,” Brooks said. “But just having my country behind me, my head coach behind me, the general manager, all these guys behind me trying to have me succeed … Nothing with the politics, nothing with anything to do with how I feel about contracts or any of those things.” … After practices, Brooks has joined Oklahoma City Thunder swingman Luguentz Dort sniping from seven spots on the court, competing with his fellow Canadian stopper along the way. While the Americans often left Brooks open to double-team Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on Sunday, FIBA’s orange-and-white ball fluttered from his fingers without much doubt of finding its rightful home. “Just to try to take it to another level,” Brooks said of his mechanics. “It’s just being patient with it, and whatever just comes out of it. I never wanted to force shots or hunt it. That was one of my roles on this team, was shot selection. And I feel like I did a pretty good job in this World Cup.” “— You did a great job,” Jordi Fernandez, Canada’s head coach, interjected. Fernandez found something with Brooks this tournament, encouraging his original identity, while still attempting to keep the antagonizer from overflowing into angst. At one point during the bronze-medal matchup, while Brooks was sneering and snarling at Austin Reaves and then the crowd, Fernandez took Brooks by the wrists and offered some private counsel before a swooning stadium. “This is what it looks like when they let Dillon Brooks play,” Fernandez told reporters. And later on during their celebratory news conference, Fernandez, who is bound to man an NBA sideline in the near future, offered this proclamation about Brooks as well: “I’ll take this guy on my team everyday of the week from now until the end of my career. I’ve been through it with him from the morning, days and weeks and travel, wins and losses.” Perhaps Brooks is founding an equilibrium between his production and his performance. When asked about cosplaying as a villain, after rising to heroics against Team USA, Brooks likened his mentality to that of Kobe Bryant, how the Hall of Famer once crafted the “Black Mamba” for whenever he stepped onto any 94-foot slab of hardwood. “It’s just a persona. People love it. I’ve grown to love it myself,” Brooks said. It certainly helped provoke Luka Dončić into the first of two technicals that ultimately disqualified Slovenia’s superstar from their quaterfinals loss to Canada. “I guess that’s my persona, ‘The Villain,’” Brooks said. “It’s just on the court. But you know I’m a loving, caring guy, who loves my kids, loves my family, loves my teammates. I just love the world as well.” … This summer offered Brooks the chance to truly wear the sneakers of a veteran leader. That is why the Rockets offered him a gigantic, guaranteed contract, after all. While rumors of a reunion with James Harden persisted since Christmas, Houston wanted to target defensive-minded monsters under new head coach Ime Udoka once the offseason finally arrived. Then they awarded Brooks and former Raptors point guard Fred VanVleet a combined $216 million. Udoka and the rest of the Rockets’ leadership must have watched his World Cup with a hopeful grin. “Having that edge every single game and how I prepare for the game, how I was trying to be a leader out there for my teammates,” Brooks said. “I gotta bring this back to Houston.” If you doubt he can, you know that will further fuel Brooks to prove you wrong.
I keep hearing this line as if it's fact.... when it is merely just speculation. You seem upset Brooks did so great during FIBA so you are looking for ways to denigrate him as if getting paid only makes players emboldened to lean into their bad habits. Maybe we should see how Udoka and Brooks handles the season first? I wasn't happy with this deal, but it's simply not as egregious as a lot of folks make out in a rising cap environment.
lol i couldn't care less how he does in FIBA, that has no relevance to what he does in the nba. I also don't care what he does at the park or at his local ymca. Not relevant. Of course it's POSSIBLE he completely changes, just with no reason for it to happen there's no reason to expect it. I do think he sucks and the contract is horrific, so i'm of course going to be negative about it
It sure sounds like you could care less.... At any rate, he doesn't have to completely change to improve which is the error in your thinking.
i haven't watched a second of fiba.....it's not nba basketball so it's just not relevant to anything. We'll see what happens, of course i'd love to be wrong but i wouldn't count on someone at his age changing
If Brooks offensive explosion in this tournament isn't worrying you, you are not looking deep enough.
Overall, this tournament was more positive than negative for Brooks. It's always better if someone performed better than they usually do, at least mentally if nothing else. This is better than he's been for Canada in the past and that's a good sign. Good to hear he's working on shot mechanics and shot selection. I think one thing people don't realize is Brooks may intimidate some people, but he won't intimidate Udoka. Whatever he got away with in the past, it's just not going to happen as much here. Of course keep shooting if you're hot, but consistently bad shot selection won't fly for long especially with Tari + Tate very capable of soaking up minutes at the same position.
He cut back on his slashing, cut back on his midrange, shot more 3s and went fewer times to the line.
to be fair, his mechanics don't look any different lol. I'd still rather he keep his shot attempts down and focus on what he does best.
