To be honest, the most surprising thing about the game was that his point total exceeded his shot attempt total. Loved all that Dillon brought when he was here, but he comes with some drawbacks and a pedigree of playoff failure
The truth is he hasn't been inefficient on the Rockets in either of his two seasons. People keep thinking about his Memphis days and him getting punked by LeBron in the playoffs, but on the Rockets that was not a problem. Yeah he is taking another step up this year with his usage and getting FTs, but its in line overall with his growth since leaving Memphis
He has improved a lot as a player. Gotta give him credit, not every player can keep growing into their late 20s/early 30s, but Dillon did not allow himself to plateau and get complacent. I suspect he works hard as hell off the court and is a great teammate despite his on-court reputation. Sadly he's probably played himself into an even bigger contract and priced himself out of returning to the Rockets after next season. As long as he doesn't play too dirty against us I'll always root for him when not playing against the Rockets. One of those trades where you're sad to see a player go even though the deal made sense overall.
He always had it in him, he just matured a little. Imagine if Whitmore could do that. He has more talent than Brooks even.
Except for his first two seasons in the league, his shot attempts was the lowest of his career in the two seasons in Houston. It's probably because Udoka asked him to be more disciplined with his shot selection. Memphis's biggest complaint about him was his inefficiency and asking to be more involved in the offense. Now he's shooting much more in Phoenix than any point in his career. Making all those crazy difficult shots is not sustainable. But I was surprised by the improvement of his handles.
I miss Dillon so much. It's so much more fun for him to be on your side than on the other side. Some nasty fouls!
I always thought part of the Memphis thing was narrative - Brooks was a scapegoat to distract from what was the early signs of a Ja Morant problem. Its not to say he wasn't inefficient in Memphis - but Brooks took the heat for Memphis melting down in the playoffs but it was Ja getting in trouble with gun related incidents 3 times that year that put the ball in Dillons hands in the first place. Someone had to step up and Dillon is a step up kind of guy...he just wasnt yet good enough to back up the talk with the walk. DB is one of my all time faves - love a good underdog story of a player who works hard and overcomes. Frankly that is why I love the Rockets - it always feels like we are the underdogs.
In his last season at Memphis his usage and shots came way down, but it ended up being his least efficient season of his career. And he was clearly bad enough that Memphis even let it be known they weren't trying to keep him. So I would attribute his improvement in efficiency more to just working on his game more than lower usage. Remember that offseason he was scoring amazingly well for the Canadian team at pretty high usage.
The problem with Dillon is that he still does not know how to control his emotions and he gets in stupid foul trouble that kills momentum for your team.
Just watched the Peacock postgame video of Ime and the coaches and all our guys going up to hug Dillon. You can see the love and smiles both ways. And what heart he put into that game, going right at us on play after play. I truly miss that guy.
Huh, really? There didn't seem to be much love during the game... I guess maybe that's just the heat of battle, but the heat of battle is when you really need a proper head on your shoulders, and I'm not sure Brooks will ever have that. So glad he's gone... despite how much he's lighting up the scoreboard for Phoenix this year.
He’s an ok regular season player but completely unplayable in the playoffs, so ultimately his loss is meaningless for the rockets. I couldn’t stand him so thrilled he’s gone, the games are so much more enjoyable.
