And it was without any of those three guys. Their other best player was Siakam. Actually, that 2021-2022 Toronto team is an interesting comparison. Can FVV return to his production levels from that year? Can Sengun take the next step forward and become almost as good as Siakam? Can Brooks improve enough to be roughly comparable to Anunoby? Can Amen be as good as rookie Scottie Barnes? Green is already probably better than Gary Trent Jr, and I fully expect both Jabari and Tari to outperform Precious and Chris Boucher.
Go back and read the first post of this thread. You are just spouting hot take narratives at this point.
What about it? Dillon Brooks shooting 10 shots is still 6 shots too many. I'd rather have you, random clutchfans poster glimmertwins, out there on offense than Dillon Brooks. At least you understand your limitations. Yeah sure he took less shots when he was the 4th option. But he wasn't the 4th best offensive player, he was like the 10th. If he played one on one against Steven Adams, I wouldn't be sure he'd win. He certainly doesn't dribble any better.
I respect that you don't like his game - I don't love the offensive game either...but I think you are relying too much on all the hate he is getting these days. People love to hate on him and it's become somewhat cool to root against him but that is entirely narrative driven because he does a lot of things really well. You are DRASTICALLY underestimating both how good he is defensively(all NBA defense - one of the best wing defenders in a league where the best offensive players are generally wing players!) and that he is at least a passable offensive player when he is not trying to function as a playmaker. When he tries to "create" offensively, he is not good at that - but he is also on a team with relatively few guys who can create offensively outside of Morant and Bane(after they got rid of Melton). It's kind of like watching KPJ try to play PG - he's a decent player overall but I think the last two years have highlighted how he is just NOT a PG - it's the wrong role for him. My hope is Udoka sits Brooks down and says, "we brought you here and paid you a ton of money because we have a specific role for you here - and this is it...and it doesn't involve you creating off the dribble - you shoot or drive from someone else's pass and that's it offensively." All his offensive low lights are when he is trying to create being guarded by the other team's best defender and it created all the poor offensive numbers and that is just NOT his game. The way Memphis had to use him(given Morant injuries/playing with guns like an idiot) was a role out of team necessity that we hopefully won't need because FVV, Amen, Jalen, KPJ, and Sengun are ALL better at creating offense than Brooks.
I think he got off on people rooting against him and for Lerbon and then he did not back anything up and did not attend press conference. That was his lowlight of a big mouth. People who do not know his game think he is that super great defender and decent on shooting 3 while he is just a mediocre dude who shot too much. He just thrives off attention on court like a lot of guys on this message board and on social media. I totally agree that people should not even give a look his way but we all need to kill tons of time until there are professional games.
I am nowhere new to hating Brooks. In another thread I quoted myself from 2019 where I said he was one of the biggest ballhogs in the league. Casuals may be new to hating him but real fans have known him to be trash for a long time. I'm sorry that I can't stop hating players that I already hate cause they go to the team I follow. If DLo or Clarkson became Rockets I'd still call them trash. There was NO necessity for Brooks to be the creator in the absence of Morant or Bane because he was NOT even close to their next best creator. Jones or Andreson or even Zhaire Williams or freaking Roddy are far superior creators to Brooks. I would rather let Steven Adams or Xavier Tillman create from the post than Brooks. He's that bad offensively. Defense doesn't matter if it's basically a turnover whenever he touches the ball.
He'll help this young team, no doubt. Toughness and zero F's given mentality it was ppl like Jalen and Jabari need. And if his 3 ball is falling like it was in this clip (even if it was against bums)...money wells spent IMO
https://www.fiba.basketball/basketballworldcup/2023/player/Dillon-Brooks In the 8 games he played for Canada in fiba 2023 Brooks averaged 8.6 shots in 27 minutes a game. Detractors can blow that off as a small sample size of international play, if he hadn’t already demonstrated a similar tempering of shot selection last season on the Grizzlies when Ja/Bane/Jjj were all healthy and he averaged 10.4 shots a game over 28 games like I mentioned in the OP. Forget about his blistering FIBA efficiency for a second, which obviously won’t carry over to a 82 game NBA season. The shot attempts is what’s important and further demonstration that he was not a chucker by choice, but rather by necessity - injuries to the Grizzlies and encouragement from Taylor Jenkins to be aggressive. What’s more encouraging is that he has made shot selection an emphasis, which should improve his efficiency even if he doesn’t repeat his insane FIBA shooting. https://sports.yahoo.com/2023-fiba-...-on-the-court-speak-for-itself-170538810.html “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.
Your biggest mistake here is trying to use logic and recent evidence...this is clutchfans, not smartfans
For everyone hating on him or loving him...just remember one thing. He has yet to play a game for the Rockets.
I think you missed the whole point. This is premature ejaculation before the season. The season will tell us the reality of things, this is what might be.
I was going to wait for a bigger sample size before bumping this but I don't think it's necessary at this point. Dillon is averaging 9.0 shots a game on the Rockets. This compares to 8.6 shots he averaged in FIBA, and 10.4 shots he averaged on the Grizzlies last year in the 28 games when Ja/Bane/Jjj were all healthy. That's a big enough sample to conclude that Dillon was always capable of playing under control, was paid and brought here to play that way like I believed, and only had his reputation as a shot chucker because of injuries to his teammates and Taylor Jenkins encouraging him to "be aggressive". It was very obvious that Ime Udoka had other plans in using him besides having him iso, because Udoka is not insane. Some more stats to consider: Brooks usage is 17.2%, this is a career low. His % of shots assisted is 80% this year. This compares to 56.9% last year and 54.2% the year before. His % of 3s assisted is 100% this year. This compares to 79.7% last year and 82.6% the year before - this means the last two years 45% of his shots were self created, and 20% of his threes. Now it's 20% of his shots and 0% of his threes. Something to think about when wondering how much of his efficiency is sustainable. One more thing, the oft brought up quote of him saying he is not a 3 and D player, that he can do more. This was grossly misunderstood as him demanding even more shots. Under Udoka we have used Dillon in transition, on cuts to the basket, posted him up and hunted mismatches. He has also been an underrated passer/ball mover. He isn't just a 3 and D guy, and indeed he CAN do more, but it had nothing to do with taking more shots.
