Pressure firmly on the Rockets after latest Kevin Durant trade revelation


It feels like a lifetime ago at this point, but there was a brief period in the NBA where fans looked at the Memphis Grizzlies the way they look at the OKC Thunder now. They were both a team of young upstarts with a megastar up front and unlimited promise. Of course, the main difference is that the Thunder actually delivered on that promise.

At this point, the Grizzlies are a shell of their former selves. The days of being ‘fine in the west’ are long gone, and even making the NBA Play-In seems like a miracle for this franchise. Getting swept in the first round by the Thunder on their way to their first championship was a borderline honor for the Grizzlies. These days, they look more like the Vancouver Grizzlies than the Memphis Grizzlies.

A lot has changed. Several key players were traded. They have been brutalized by injuries the last two seasons. Ja Morant’s off-court problems combined with on-court injuries have largely kept him out of action. And the recent head coach drama has not made things better. But the biggest mistake the franchise made was trading Dillon Brooks, an error the Houston Rockets just repeated.

The Rockets will miss Dillon Brooks

The young Canadian star tends to draw a great deal of attention and criticism. That’s by design on his part. He can be brash, arrogant, and antagonizing. Like Dennis Rodman, Charles Barkley, and Draymond Green before him, that’s the plan. The man can put a player off their game with his unwavering, kind of creepy stare and a couple of “accidental” nudges at the right time.

Because of his style of play, there is a long list of people in the NBA who outright hate Brooks. Apparently, that includes his new teammate on the Phoenix Suns, Devin Booker, who is reputed to be one of his biggest haters. That being said, the Suns have way too many shooting guards at this point, so another trade for Brooks in the near future seems likely.

At the same time, Dillon brings a level of confidence and swagger rarely seen in the modern NBA. He might not be the best, but he believes he’s the best, and that attitude is infectious in the locker room. The rest of his team believes because he believes, and that translates to success. That has been proven on both the Grizzlies and the Rockets.

The Rockets will regret trading Dillon Brooks

When Brooks was on the Grizzlies, they had confidence. Then, Brooks started with the Rockets and they suddenly had that same attitude. It’s hard to argue that both teams found surprising levels of success while he was with them and were in the early stages of becoming legit contenders. With Brooks on the team, there was the swagger needed to make it in a competitive NBA.

The Grizzlies traded Brooks to the Rockets, and all that swagger and confidence went with him. They are not the same team they were a couple of seasons ago. The fall was rapid and dramatic. It’s not hard to imagine that the Rockets trading Brooks to the Suns to get Kevin Durant will have the same impact on their franchise. It’s about culture building, and removing Brooks hurts that.

No one is suggesting that the Grizzlies’ failures over the last couple of seasons are only due to Brooks leaving or that the Rockets’ success was only due to Dillon’s presence. Win or lose, it’s a team sport. Still, these moves are evidence that these franchises don’t really understand his true value and what losing him can do to a locker room.



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