What Happened to Dillon Brooks Game?

He's a role player. He's always sucked some games. And role players may be lower end starters or high end backups. That's why they're role players and not stars. If he can bring it every game, he'd be OG Anonuby and would've gotten near max money if not max money.

 

I think most people who are complaining about Brooks are the same people (including me) who complained about his signing in the first place. His hot shooting earlier in the season and his tough mentality served the team well and we sort of got won over, a little. Some of us did cautioned that his shooting would not be sustainable and his over aggressive defensive style might result in boneheaded plays that would cost games.

But the main complaint at the signing was twofold:

1. The length of the contract would make him hard to trade if/when his usefulness ran out. It seems that his usefulness does taper out after his shooting has cooled down. And the team culture no longer need him because we already have turned around the culture. What we need is more talents on offense.

2. His presence would take away PT of young players. The players in mind back then was mostly Tari. With the emergence of Amen and Cam, and the improvement of Jock, Brooks' minutes should be reduced, especially when his shooting stinks to high heaven like last night. And if his role is indeed reduced, the contract looks even worse.

 

Some of them have gone the route of coming in terms with him playing and comforting themselves by saying Tari or some other youngin would take his spot eventually etc.....

That was eventually going to happen with Fred and Dillon, Fred will be gone and PGs are sought after around league more than slow and defensive players like Dillon.

If Dillon cannot get deeper into the Playoffs, his tenacity and toughness is sorely wasted in the long term.

 

I'm still not sure why you are talking about Dillon Brooks like he's a star. You don't talk about role players on how far they take you to the playoffs. That's not what role players do. If you believe Dillon Brooks unable to take this team deep into the playoffs is a failure, then I can tell you right now you are going to be depressed for a long time.

 

He was worth it, but now we have others that should eat into his playing time, I hope we trade him this offseason.

DD

 

I was more surprised when he wasn't being stupid early in the season. I miss 6 FGA Dillon, it was just a mirage. His contract isn't so bad though it's only one more guaranteed year and $20M isn't even that much any more. The next first round pick is going to make nearly that much and all those guys are projects. There are gonna be some nutty contracts given out this next off season cause it's basically all role players. Just wait till you see what Malik Monk is about to get.

 

I'm willing to overlook his play recently. It seems his decline coincides with his injury pretty clearly, so it is what it is. Hope he comes back better next year then we can sell high.

 

I wouldn't be too worried about his PT on the basis that Udoka actually does seem completely okay with benching Brooks. He has had 8 games below 30 minutes in March, and whilst some of them were ejection/blow outs, his total minutes have decreased month by month. From averaging 32.7 minutes in January, to 30.8 minutes in February, and now down to 29.4 minutes in March. This is also happening despite the fact that the Rockets are shorthanded, so Brooks is actively being benched in favor of guys like Jeff Green and Landale.

FVV seems to be the only guy on the team that is completely immune to benching, which I guess is fair enough since he was brought in with a max contract.

 

Seems to be an unpopular opinion, but DB is essential to this team in its current form.

His leash is still being reined in by Udoka, and he is plenty young enough that he has runway to improve.

In the modern era, his contract isn’t so bad. I’m happy he’s here.

 

I do not think it is unpopular, he still got value for sure..... but I am not sure where it lies long term.

For me it just does not make sense for a 28 year old to choose a rebuilding situation over a contending one, but I think after the LBJ situation teams just stayed away from him.

 

I read that and I was like wtf is my memory so bad I missed this Dillon Brooks or something? So looked it up and here's his FGA per game by month starting in October to March: 10, 10, 11, 12, 11, 9. So umm... yeah not exactly sure when you're talking about this hypothetical Dillon Brooks. If anything if you like Dillon Brooks not shooting, you should be happiest with him this past month.

 

Unfortunately it didn't even last a whole month. Look at it game by game. He shot 6 FGA 4 times from Nov 4 - Nov 17. Our boy Dillon decided that 2 weeks of smart offense was just way too much for him. For reference he only shot 6 or fewer twice since becoming a full rotation player in Memphis. I really thought he could keep himself from being a terrible offensive player for a sec but alas he is who he is.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/brookdi01/gamelog/2024

 

He has regressed significantly and his worst on the team by the majority of advanced metrics. Tari should take his starting spot next season assuming he comes back healthy.

 

Yeah but until March he was more efficient than both Jalen Green and FVV. So why shouldn't he be shooting if he was playing better than other guys? Isn't that how basketball is suppose to work?

 

Dillon has been good for what Ime was trying to bring to this young group

But man Dillon has to be one of the silliest elite defenders because he makes some NCAA level silly fouls, way more than all defense 1st/2nd team member should be

Cam Whitmore 19 yr old type rookie type defense ( Shaqtin-a-Fool) far too many times for a seasoned vet

But he does bring an edge that is very necessary for this young core right now today

 

Also Dillon let's guys blow by him too often to be a **** down defender.

He's a strong body that can guard wings well but don't switch him on speedy guards like Fox or Garland etc.

 

I'm honestly surprised to see so many people complaining about Brooks here. I don't love Brooks' minutes either, but the point is that he is here to bring a mentality to the team that was missing in years past. Much like Fred or even Uncle Jeff's signing - this is less about how much Brooks brings to the team today and more about how these guys can influence the young guys who need direction..and are frankly going to be much better than guys like Brooks/FVV/or Uncle Jeff. Brooks picks up silly fouls but he hustles, he tries, he gets under the other team's skin, he isn't scared to step into the moment - he brings that confidence that you never count me out. These are all things missing from the Silas era teams...so if you are a guy like Jabari or Tari - Brooks provides a blueprint for the things we want you to do as well - but better. It's a shame that Tari's season was cut short with injuries but that 'doing the little things' that Brooks does clumsily is exactly what you want Tari leaning into so that he eventually replaces Brooks in the starting lineup.

So sure I don't love Brooks minutes but as long as you see guys like Tari and Jabari picking up on some of the little things Dillon does - I'm okay with overpaying Brooks now so that we have supercharged version of Brooks later. This isn't about what we can do now to be a better team TODAY, it's about what we can do now to be a better team in the FUTURE.

 

Dude is hurting us the same way he hurt the Grizzlies. I can see why he got exiled. We need to find a true starting 3 or have Amen start there full time but that hurts our spacing.

 

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