I was not surprised. Dillon's shooting is like that. Sometimes hot, sometimes cold. Come to think of it, that's pretty much true for everyone on this team.
I was playing around with the lineups tool on Cleaningtheglass, and I realized something: Dillon is the Alpi bodyguard. Some people claim we "hide" Alpi on defense. That's not true, but Dillon does help Alpi and the team on defense, by helping with the other team's toughest defensive assignment, even if it's a tall frontcourt player, like Wemby. And it makes a massive difference to how effective Alpi can be for the team. Alpi without Dillon: -1.7 on/off rating Alpi with Dillon: +19.4 on/off rating - and it gets even much crazier when you replace Jalen with Amen in that lineup - the Fred, Amen, Dillon, Bari, Alpi lineup has a +36.4 on/off rating. Of course, it gets EVEN crazier when you replace Bari with Tari: the Fred, Amen, Dillon, Tari, Alpi lineup has an insane +72.4 on/off rating. But you know why I think that Dillon very specifically has the task to be Alpi's bodyguard? Because Dillon has not played a single minute this season without Alpi on the floor. While Alpi has played minutes without Dillon, Dillon has not been on the court without Alpi, at all. They benefit from each other. Our best lineup is Fred, Amen, Dillon, Tari, Alpi.
With Dillon playing well, the Rockets have myriad wing stoppers....that Tate doesn't even have to play.
Ime does need to have a serious talk with Dillon in private. Inconsistency from veteran players in particular is unacceptable.
I think he was on a hot streak and there's an adjustment sometimes. Just needs to be safer with the ball and practice slightly better shot selection. We should definitely trade him before the deadline. I know it won't be obvious for a few months but Amen and Tari are going to have everyone asking why we're starting our 3rd best SF. We're going to look back and wish we traded him when he was shooting almost 40% from 3. Let's get a decent sweet-shooting backup SG/PF/C to help when Jabari/Jalen are off, add some gas to the offense. Would love to get Grayson Allen and a pick, Duncan Ferguson and a pick or Isaiah Stewart. Would help a lot with the playoff push.
We should definitely NOT trade Brooks. The one we should trade, when we can, is "Chapter 10: The trade".
Absolutely agree with the first 2 paragraphs. Not sure about your targets. We should have traded Brooks in the off-season. I understand why it's hard to go with the don't fix it if it ain't broken crowd, but it is inevitable that Brooks comes back to the norm which he is already doing and we are deep at his only position (Jabari can play SF as well).
Personally I wanted to see Eason and Thompson's progress before making a decision. With the benefit of 20ish games I think it's fairly obvious we wouldn't skip a beat replacing Brooks with Tari+Amen at SF and improving elsewhere. We can use some shooting above all else without disrupting things with the starters (especially Sengun/FVV actions). Expiring or valuable contracts only. I'm ok with any bench targets that upgrade shooting at backup SG, backup PF and backup C where we only give up Brooks. I think the net difference would be worth it, it makes everyone's job easier, it doesn't disrupt the current offense. I'd love to disrupt the current offense but I don't think the team is interested.
There is this thing called depth. Rockets should most definitely keep DB this year. Let's talk again over the summer.
DB actually checks the big men of the other team while the Terror Twins are roaming on the perimeter. He plays the PJ Tucker role this year.
I agree this is a very reasonable take, but I would prioritize the position coming in as SG, PF, C or combo players. I'm not against keeping Dillon if he would react well to coming off the bench and we make a move or two to bolster the outside shooting, especially at the SG position. I don't think any of this will happen this season. Green is next to untradeable until the off-season and Ime is just not a bench veterans kind of coach, but just like last year injuries or losses might force his hand.
Not opposed to that either, just feel like we'll end up under using at least one of the 3 guys so better capitalize on one. Brooks is very good but there are two major areas (real paths to points) where Tari and Amen are much better than him: transition and rebounding. Really think it's inevitable but I get it if you want to be patient with it.
I hope Udoka surprises us. It was always the plan for our core to supplant the veterans. Should be smooth. Brooks can be avery good bench player or trade chip. The team would benefit so much from better rebounding and transition/pace in the starting lineup - could become an exceptional transition team to counter our shooting deficiencies. I don't think the defense will decline much without Brooks (if at all).
