Rockets deal for Dillon Brooks (4 yrs/$86 million + incentives)

Because the only way he can be overall a good player is if his team plays keep away from him on offense because he's essentially a black hole on that side of the ball....and if his team does that, he'll throw a tantrum. So basically, there's not a way to keep him from being a locker room problem AND have him be a quality player overall.

He already wouldn't be a starting caliber player if merit was the determining factor, 2 years from now, that'll be even more obvious and he'd never accept a bench role.

That's why getting stuck with him for 4 years was such a dumb decision.

 

BW: Brian Windhorst | TM: Tim MacMahon | TB: Tim Bontemps

(35:32) TB: How did Dillon Brooks get this extra money?

(36:14) BW: Dillon Brooks can give the middle finger to anybody at least until the start of the season. He got over on everybody. No matter what anyone wants to say, no matter what anyone who played against him or whatever and you can judge whatever he got,…Let me just say, the contracts the Rockets signed, Jeff Green, according to the paperwork, I find this stunning but this is what the paperwork from the NBA says: 2 years, $16M, $0 guaranteed. I almost think that’s a typo. The paperwork says $0 guaranteed. Jock Landale: 4 years, $32M, only the first year guaranteed. Fred VanVleet: 3 years, $129M, third year team option. We talked on this pod about Kevin Porter Jr. only getting one year guaranteed. The Rockets obviously have a strategy about the way they’re signing contracts. So when I heard 4 years, $80M, I wanted to see the numbers. Not only is that sucker fully guaranteed, it’s $86M. 4 years, $86M and built it descending. Holy mackerel Dillon Brooks, take that world! I don’t know who the Rockets were bidding against. Maybe there was someone out there? …

(39:13) TM: The thing you heard about Dillon Brooks during and after that playoff series against the Lakers was he cost himself money. He’s probably gonna have to settle for the MLE. That was the deal expected for Brooks and he blew that out of the water. I don’t know what other suitors he had. I don’t know if there was another cap space team that wanted him. Seems like a really high number.

 

You are still ignoring or not getting the point. Let me give you an analogy.

You pay $30,000 for a used car when you could pay just $10,000 to get it. It does not matter if the used car actually worth $30K or even better. It does not matter if the $20K doesn't make you broke. You are still very stupid by paying 3 times more than you should. And you could have 2 more $10K cars if you were not that stupid.

 

I’ve developed a little bit of a working theory on this. I am wondering if we paid Brooks but we were upfront with him about the reality that there is a point even as soon as this year that he is going to come off the bench. May be in the sense we had to pay him extra for that.

 

That analogy would work if the car could choose who it gets sold to. Its not a matter of want or even "smarts" when the players hold all the leverage in negotiations with shitty teams. The Rockets were mentioned in damn near every FA rumor. Harsh reality is that nobody will play here unless its going to be at gross overpays until the team offers something other than money to entice these guys who have all the options - and even then money may not be enough for some players.

 

Being a Morey disciple, I wonder if Stone sees Brooks as his Battier. At the time, no one really understood why Morey would trade someone with the talent and potential of Rudy Gay for Battier, who'd become a defensive specialist (an early 3D guy). Morey was working with a different set of parameters. Maybe Stone has some parameters we don't have? Or maybe I just hope he does ...

 

Again though the problem is that Brooks has averaged 15 shots per game the last three seasons combined. Battier, during his peak three seasons for minutes played, averaged 7.8 shots per game.

It's just so frustrating. It's not even that Brooks is untalented, he just has an ego problem. In today's NBA, he's worth that money if he can lower the shot attempts and increase the efficiency. All-defensive wings are very valuable if they can at least be a net-neutral on offense. But he's not a net-neutral. He's one of the biggest negatives on offense in the NBA

 

Do you believe his ego won't be checked by Ime? Many of the assumptions on this board about if our new guys will fall in line, will they share the ball, will they continue to be inneficient and some idiots predicting we will win less games than last year... all of these assumptions aren't factoring in the entirely new coaching staff and Udoka's disciplinary style

 

I hope it will, but I don't expect it will. It's hard to change a guy's personality, no matter how good a coach you've got. Especially when he already got his bag. If Brooks doesn't want to buy in and be coached there's not much you can do.

We'll see though. I hope all y'all counting on Udoka to fix this guy are right.

 

He had Boston looking like a different team. Jaylen Brown was more disciplined and Marcus Smart won a dpoy etc... I just think it's a lot of gloom and doom on this board. Did Brooks destroy Memphis or contribute to their winning the last few seasons? He has a history as a winning player. Take the best defender off any top team and add them to your roster; your team will benefit.

 

But the thing is why would you want those extra cars if it would interfere with the development of our young core . I’m honestly fine with it . He brings things to this team that has been missing since the rebuild

 

Well, like I said, I hope you're right. Just trying to keep my expectations in check.

 

Are all the years guaranteed?

 

100% guaranteed

 

You are assuming that he had other choices that the money was close enough for him to pick teams that he preferred.

From all accounts we have heard so far, there weren't any team seriously competing with the Rockets. Thus the analogy is that you COULD get him much cheaper.

I think you are rationalizing the bad deal because you like Brooks as a player and you want him here. That's fine with thinking him to be a good player.

 

The extra cars don't have to be players we have now. It can be future assets.

This is the same about getting rid of those young players by attaching draft assets. I understand that we need to consolidate developing players. But if they panicked and dumped them not just for nothing but giving up things, then that is very questionable.

You have to separate the two sides of things. One is the goals you want to achieve. The other is the cost you pay to achieve those goals. Just because you achieve the goals doesn't mean you are smart if you pay a price more than you should. It's actually quite similar to scoring efficiency for players. If you score 40 points each game by taking 35 shots, then being a 40-point scorer might be a bad thing.

 

Me hearing $80M and crying...
Me hearing $86M and sobbing hysterically