Dillon Brooks on Mental Lapses: “Feel like it’s the same guys that are doing that”

He's definitely talking about Jabari and Jalen. Both of them constantly lose their guys. Sengun has always tried on defense but he is limited by his lateral movement and hops. Jabari's situation is mind-boggling because he seemed solid last year but this year he's caught absent minded sometimes both on offense and defense. Jalen has always been bad on defense because he has low bbiq, I'm not expecting any improvements from him on that end, he just needs make his shots.

 

This is fun, let me try it too.

I know one thing, if you put FVV on Mark Williams, Mark Williams would score 80.

 

It's a good video clip from the OP. A nice question and Dillon with a good response. Brooks gets a certain amount of flack for being a loose cannon, but I was impressed with the methodical way he responded. Without naming names, he not only uncorked an answer that made sense, he made pretty clear that during practice how to play in those situations is being stressed and directed that to the guys making those mistakes (in other words, pay attention!). That's veteran leadership. "We'll watch it on film, it's the same guys that are doing that. Slowly, we'll realize we can't give up those kind of momentum pushes. Those shots will change the game with good teams and we already know that, so we'll watch it on film and be better the next game."

This is so important to remember when we see our young players make mistakes. If we had had a head coach and staff like we have now last season, I think we would be seeing fewer mistakes, a higher level of play from not only really young guys, like Smith, but guys entering their 3rd season, like Green. Last season, and the season before were dysfunctional. Maybe they should be cut a little slack early on. Even players like Green, who was constantly playing with and being around KPJ.

 

Well you failed but you did try...

Check the height difference between FVV and Mark Williams and check the height differences between Paolo/Franz and Alp.

 

I think this is right. I have to admit, I’m genuinely shocked by how bad Jabari’s defense is relative to what we thought we were getting when we drafted him. He’s so slow to rotate, so soft, I don’t see any real defensive instincts…it’s shocking. But I agree we need to cut him some slack early. I believe Udoka will be a big help. If he’s still this bad by the all star break, then we really should start to worry about Jabari.

I keep coming back to the fact that at least bari is a hard worker and he finally has a good coach. So let’s see what happens. But damn it’s ugly right now.

 

I’m a huge believer in Jabari, I think he’s more gifted on defense than Alpi but he’s having a lot of mental glitches. At this point I would trust Alpi more if I needed a stop.

 

Bari tries, and has been trying. But he is MUCH worse at both defense and 3-point shooting than was promised.

Jalen didn't even try the first two seasons. He is trying now. He is very explosive on offense, and can go off for 40 any given night. But he is AWFUL on defense, and even if he tries, which he does now, he is completely lost.

It's hilarious/sad how the "I like Alpi but his defense" crowd never talked about Jalen's defense. It's so awful, I truly think he has been the worst defender in the entire league for the past two years.

I hope Ime can start teaching him the fundamentals and that he can eventually become a decent team defender, but my goodness, his defense is TERRRRRRRRRIBLE.

 

Wth do you have against Sengun's accent? And, for the record, he probably had his accent long before Silas! How dare you?!

But ... #FireSilas because he's apparently doing something something and when he did something it started something that is still going on and cursing the Rockets about something.

 

On a team relying on youngsters in key roles some lapses are to be expected.
That said, no ones lack of defensive awareness is more damaging than Sengun's. It almost always leads directly to baskets.
That's part of the reason his defensive rating is worse than Jabari's right now.

But again, it's early for a team full of youngsters with a brand new coaching staff and half the rotation new to the roster.
Patience is in order.

 

It's like what kpj stans was saying for KPJ, except it is true

 

I don’t see much of an issue for a 20 year old who’s continuing to add strength and body continues to mature naturally. He takes plenty of contact and plays through it these days especially compared to last year

 

I blame all the switching and you're not allowed to put a hand on.
Defenders should be allowed to use a hand on screens, only on screens. No pushing, just to navigate the screens. It would keep you more focus.

 

Again, you gotta cut these guys some slack after the piss poor coaching and “leadership” in place the last few years. Jabari is a more than capable defender. I agree about the mental lapses - I really think this is him adjusting to a much more challenging version of defense than what Silas taught. He’s not falling asleep - but he’s definitely thinking about where he needs to be, where his teammates are, what play they are running, who has the mismatch, who he has responsibility for, which coverage we are in on this play, and in the middle of that misses a box out or let’s a guy cut back door. He’s not reacting - he’s too busy thinking and that’s a direct result of Udoka giving him a lot more to focus on defensively. Before this year he never had been forced to have a serious team defense responsibility.

I think he will be fine but it’s going to take him a while for the changing defensive schemes and strategy pieces to become second nature to him. He is still I think a decent one on one defender in space except when a strong player has him down low but I’m confident he will add some muscle to that frame. The shooting is coming around and he has taken HUGE strides finding other ways to contribute offensively as a cutter, by running the floor, and by being more decisive with the ball.

…as for Alpi - dude has improved a ton on defense - it’s very noticeable and I’m encouraged by that. That said I agree with other posters that he is still generally not a very versatile defender and while Ime has challenged Sengun to play new defensive coverages this year- the responsibility he has as a defender is not on the same level of what Jabari has to do for this team. Jabari is just a better defender than Alpi and a large part of it is physical build.

 

Source?

 

I honestly thought Brooks was talking about Sengun in the video. lol. I'm saying that because the question Jackson asked about the free throw line boxout where LaMelo got the wide open 3 sounded like it was the play where Williams missed a FT and Gordon Hayward went over Brooks and Sengun untouched to tip the ball out to LaMelo at the 3 pt line. Either Brooks is saying he's one of the people that keeps making those mistakes or Sengun keeps making those mistakes or maybe it's a generic line to cover for all the screw ups that keep getting repeated by multiple players (I'm leaning toward the latter ... maybe).

I think Jabari has had his issues, too, though, but if y'all are going to puke on him after a season or two, life is going to be miserable. People like Jalen have never been asked to play defense. Even in high school, nobody thought Jalen was a good/plus defender - that was never what he was known for. Do I expect him to be better? Sure. Will he ever get there? I don't know. I just want him to be average-to-above averge and have an efficient 20+ ppg.

 

The NBA

https://www.nba.com/stats/team/1610612745/players-advanced?dir=D&sort=DEF_RATING

 

I said this after the spurs games. Jabari is still a kid. Hes still learning and develop. Ppl expecting him tk be as poised as Horry was for Houston

 

I think I've just accepted Jalen will be a sorry defender but its more acceptable since his prototype is elite offensive guard, if he can't be that then he becomes very replaceable.

Jabari is much worse on defense than promised but people take that and go "Worst defender on the team" and saying things like he's less switchable than Sengun which just...isn't true.

People get caught into these narratives about defense thats what had people believe Westbrook was a better defender than Harden and that was never true.

 

Their defensive rating is basically identical there.

Same if you look here:

https://www.nba.com/stats/players/defense?TeamID=1610612745

If you check basketball-reference, Sengun is far ahead:

https://www.basketball-reference.co...c=205977932.7.1698984782809&__hsfp=1890915051