With the dust settled and the Memphis Grizzlies management making a decision to not bring Dillon Brooks back, it’s time for Brooks to understand one major thing. He’s not at Oregon anymore, and he’s not going to be the man on any NBA team. His skill set is not made to dominate the ball and be a scorer. You have to get in where you fit in, in the NBA.
Brooks wants to play more with the ball in his hands, create off the dribble and score. The team he was on had a ball dominant point guard in Ja Morant, Desmond Bane is a proven scorer and can shoot and you have a big man in Jaren Jackson Jr. The Grizzlies have built their team around those players, so that makes Brooks the odd man out and the 4th option as a scorer.
Any team that Brooks goes on at this point, he will most likely be a 4th scoring option. Every team in the NBA has at least two players that coaches revolve their offense around. Brooks hasn’t looked at the landscape of the league and gotten a full understanding of how the association works.
Lets use a perfect example of how you “get in where you fit in.” JJ Redick is the prime example of this. At Duke, he was the man, the offense revolved around him, he scored 25 a game his whole college career, was the villain going into college arenas all over the country. When he got to the NBA, he knew he wasn’t going to be the man and the offense wasn’t going to revolve around him. But what he did know was, teams needed three point shooting and he accepted that role.
Redick wasn’t the greatest defender and he’s admitted that openly (so don’t think I’m bashing the man), but he went on to have a solid 15 years in the NBA. He played on the Orlando Magic, Los Angeles Clippers, Philadelphia 76ers and was a sharp shooter. Teams surely made sure they went out of their way to make sure he never got going from the three point line.
This is where Dillon Brooks has to realize, he can be a 3 and D player in the league for a long time to come. The only thing is, he has to improve his shooting, you can’t shoot 39 percent from the field and expect a big contract. He may get some opportunities to create his own shot from time to time but that won’t always be the case. Even the teams at the bottom of the barrel in the league have legitimate scorers on their team. Trevor Ariza is another example of him utilizing his ability to shoot the three and guard 1 through 4 on the court.
Moving forward into free agency, Dillon Brooks needs to realize that he may get a one year deal or two years to prove to a team that he can shoot and defend. This past season was a debacle no matter how you put it. Averaging 14 points is fine, shooting horribly is not and even his free throw percentage took a dip. Hopefully, his expectations won’t be that high or he won’t be in the NBA.
Time will tell what will happen with Dillon Brooks and his impending free agency, let’s just hope he accepts his fate and role in the NBA if he’s able to land on a team…
