Is it me or has Dillon Brooks the last several games played with the basketball iq of a peanut? He absolutely takes the stupidest shots and makes the most obvious and needless fouls at the most inopportune times. Udoka sees it too as he called Brooks out in his postgame conference.
Once FVV went down, a switch flipped for him and his aggressiveness on offense. I think he feels he needs to be the vet leader on offense in Fred's absence. Unfortunately for everyone, he has awful decision-making on his shot selection. What we're seeing is a lot like Dillon has been over his entire career, Rocket fans may not understand with his outstanding start to the season that Brooks' career efficiency is comparable to that of Brewer, Wall, Westbrook etc, he's been simply historically inefficient for a starting player. Whats bumped his efficiency so dramatically in Houston was (a lucky) hot start from a groove he found on team Canada, being combined with a smarter shot selection being fed to him by FVV/Ime. The fouling is something he has always had, his current foul rate is dead on with his career averages. Hyper-aggressive defenders who lack the physical tools but make up for it with tenacity and physicality commonly have this problem, it's something you live with.
Regression to the mean. The Brooks we saw from the first part of the season was very unlikely to be sustainable in terms of shooting percentages.
Well, quite obviously he is known to be a hot head and hot heads are rarely efficient players who are smart and calm..... He has had a good season so far though.
Good expanation, something clicked in him with Team Canada and after Lebron got to him in the Playoffs..... and now something clicked within him again but something rather bad decision making. He is a brute and he does not have elite wing span.....
One ****ing rebound in 35 minutes. Everone who played tonight outrebounded him. He was awful. Inexcusable.
This is what he was for the Grizzlies all the time. I think he feels like he has to step up (with FVV out) and his game is not expandable. I say let him stick to his season averages and excellent shot selection. As far as fouling goes, the whole defensive net is bad so we're seeing a lot more leakage from the perimeter and resorting to desperation close-outs. This is the defender he's always been. He fouls guys on the more extreme side because it allows him to get away with lots of aggressive defense during the game. That's why he does it, Draymond, Beverley, etc. Been very happy with Brooks this season even as we go through this slightly challenging phase for him.
Tari Eason is the true glue guy, things went downhill when Brooks and Tari went down, and once Brooks came back we have not been able to turn it around. A lot of close games where we had a chance, if Tari was playing I think most of those close games would go our way.
The low IQ stuff is who he's always been. He's always fouled too much, gotten himself ejected doing dumb sh*t, taken terrible shots. It's why Memphis was so fed up with him in the first place. It's the bad you have to take with the good--he's an intense competitor and gets carried away in all aspects of the game. What disturbs me is the lack of effort he's shown on some possessions lately. I've noticed him getting blown by his man and giving weak shot contests multiple times in recent games. He's probably always going to be a dumb-as-a-rock barbarian, but we still need him to have his berserker rage. If he isn't going to be a fiery competitor, especially on defense, why is he even here? Not like he'll ever be elite at anything else.
I would have been more conspicuous if this team was really in the Playoff hunt instead of pretending because people would moan his antics.... but now it is more like an afterthought....toothless....fireless dragon.
I think people are overreacting. Yes, he didn’t play well last night, but he has a .68 TS% against the Raptors, .67 against the Pacers, .66 against the Lakers, etc. He’s still, in general, shooting well from 3. He’s just been forced to take more shots due to injuries.
Yes DB takes some awkward shots at times, but he's still hitting 39% on 5 3's per night. That's great and trending to be his best shooting season as his overall FG% (45%) and FT% (85%) are also above his norms. I agree with @ThatBoyNick he's trying to overcompensate for FVV's absence. Hopefully, we'll get FVV and Tari back after the All-Star break and can make a little run. This team's confidence level needs a boost and a win streak would be awesome.
The moment he dribbles his efficiency craters. This season when his shot diet was majority catch and shoot or layups he was a little above league average efficiency, which for him is great. When he gets away from that his efficiency is more like the Memphis days. Which he’s been doing a lot more of lately. And when he’s shooting poorly, turning it over a lot and fouling a lot his impact level also craters. 1st 28 games before injury : 59.4 TS% 56.6 EFG% Last 15 games since returning: 54.2 TS% 49.2 EFG%
