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

Personally I would be equally as bummed if we had just signed Lu Dort to a 4 year 85 million dollar free agent contract to be our starting SF.

 

Dort also got paid less and was 5 years younger, so he still had potential to grow and improve. Plus he’s a bit better

 

They dont need any younger players. They have enough that is why they sign veteran

 

The issue isn’t signing a veteran, the issue is signing a horrible player who’s a horrible fit to an obscene contract that will cost future resources to get rid of

 

He'll be a nice expiring eventually, but I have a hard time believing the front office even has a plan more than 3 years out.

 

I just feel like it was discussed in their contracts. Like look...we'll give you what you want. But you need to be secondary shooters on this team, play defense and be teachers on and off the court. Successful Rockets teams have always had that "enforcer" dude. Maxwell and Ariza to a certain degree. Bobby Sura was another one during the McGrady years. Dillon is at least that guy. I think the contracts will pay dividends in other ways.

 

You would be surprised at how many player do not follow suit .....it is still a players league even when the player is just an average talent.

And most of those hidden contract details might just be lip services.

All in good faith until it is not.

 

I mean he will just be dead money, he’s basically already dead money. If rockets tried to trade him today they’d likely have to attach multiple picks to do it

 

I remember plenty of people being blown away at Dort's contract when it was signed. But Dort has never been a locker room issue, is much younger, and was on a team with no contract crunch on the horizon. Dort will be much more moveable if he's still around when SGA/Giddey/J-Will/Chet get paid.*

*Although I don't actually expect all 4 to stay long-term and get paid. New CBA makes it basically impossible.

 

100% agreed. I see this a lot in Euro Football. It's happening right now with Brighton and their midfielder where they have a handshake deal and the team or player ends up flip flopping down the road when it's convenient. Part of me wondered if there was more to Brooks' contract than we know (kinda like KPjs contract) but so far haven't seen anything. Like a sort of incentive thing or a release clause or anything if he acts up.

We are all pretty much depending on Ime to get the guys in line and if Summer League is any indiciation, he seems like the right guy. That was the most organized I've seen the Rockets since the 2018 team.

 

When has Brooks ever been a “locker room issue”? By all accounts he was a leader for that team. Talking crap to lebron is no different than what Grant Williams did to Jimmy Butler and got his ass lit up and his team eliminated.

 

Exactly.

On May 15th, 2028: "Why did we pay Dillon B so much? He was practically out of the league."

 

It feels everyone talks about Brooks as a locker room cancer yet I never actually read real reports on that. So it was pretty nice to get confirmation when I listened to Zach Lowe recently and he basically laid out that Brooks was just fine in the locker room in the Grizzlies. And that both Bane and JJJ learned from his work ethic and intensity. Brooks does shoot way more than he should, and he said some really stupid stuff and generally may talk too much, but he's clearly not someone that his teammates hate based on reports. The guy has his flaws but no need to invent new ones just because fans didn't like him talking crap towards LeBron.

 

2043: Dillon Brooks is still on Rockets payroll, together with Matt Maloney.

 

Damn I wrote a longish post that disappeared. In any case, here's the short version: locker room issue was the wrong phrase. My bad. But he does put his teammates in a position to have to defend his actions - including the action of him running away from defending his own actions. That's what I meant, and I think y'all know what I was trying to say. Brooks thirsts for drama; Dort is a no-drama guy.

But the larger point I was making was that the Dort comparison was off-base, and I still think that's the case.

 

Regarding drama, Draymond is a guy who has been involved in a lot of drama…if you go back further to some of those types of guys you have guys like Artest and Rodman…Patrick Beverly is another guy who has had some drama…

Sometimes a little drama comes with guys like that. It’s part of what gives them their edge.

 

Just to put some positivity into the atmosphere on Brooks; It’s possible that he tried to assert himself more on offense and tried to do things to stand out more because he was pressing, trying to get paid.

Now that he’s got his money, he may calm down some and not press the issue as much.

Last year he shot worse overall than he has at any point in his career. Just three years ago he was shooting about 6 threes a game at a 36% clip.

He’s a decent free throw shooter with a career percentage of 80%. Usually free throw percentage is a good indicator of shooting ability.

And he’s only 27. It’s entirely possible he has a bounce back season shooting wise and he’s not as inefficient as he was this past season. Combine that with some leadership and all nba level defense from him and the contract doesn’t seem near as bad.

 

Brooks is a decent player but paying him this much money? I’m not feeling it.

 

This is an important point. To talk sh*t - louder than everyone in the NBA - and then duck the post game presser after you get owned is objectively bad character. It's the exact opposite of accountability. That's not to say a mistake defines a person; but it is certainly not the guy you want to go to war with if that mistake is consistently made.

Further they've been trying to fix his shot selection for years. That means he was flat out ignoring the coaching staff. That's a red flag too.

I've been optimistic about the possibility he can improve at these things, but we have to keep an eye on them while we support a Rocket.

 

I care a lot more about Brooks embarrassing himself all season long shooting the ball while demanding a larger role on offense than I do him embarrassing himself in the playoffs running his mouth at Lebron.

The Grizzlies weren't trying to trade him for 2 years because of him running his mouth at Lebron, they didn't say that under no circumstances would that scrub be allowed on their roster ever again due to him running his mouth at Lebron....they did those things due to Brooks' ego making him think he's a superstar on offense that deserves to be featured.

.....and Udoka was dumb enough to give the green light to go after that godawful player the Rockets are going to be stuck with for years.