Not a few eyebrows were raised when Public Enemy Number One Dillon Brooks signed an $86-million contract in the offseason. It wasn’t simply that his annual take-home pay through 2027 amounted to $21.5 million, a whopping 84% increase relative to the last three years. It was that his disastrous playoff stint remained fresh in the minds of hoops habitues; in six games, he managed to alienate even Grizzlies fans for, in his words, “poking the bear” and posting negative advanced stats across the board.
Admittedly, the Rockets have been anything but welcoming for free agents given their Sad Sack situation. In the face of their poor performances in recent memory, more desirable targets have chosen to stay away. That said, they wound up betting against themselves in welcoming Brooks to the fold. In all likelihood, his tough-guy stance and utter refusal to back down to anybody appealed to the defensive predilections of newly installed head coach Ime Udoka. Perhaps they also figured he would solidify esprit de corps during their rebuilding phase.
In any case, the Rockets have made their bed. And, creditably or otherwise, Brooks didn’t take long to show how much of an impact he would be making. Four and a half minutes and change into his preseason debut, he saw fit to reenact his faux pas with LeBron James in the immediate past postseason; as with the all-time great, he punched the Pacers’ Daniel Theis in the privates, earning for him a flagrant 2 foul and automatic ejection. It was an obvious brain fart; even if it hadn’t been caught, his left uppercut served no discernible advantage to the cause of the red and white.
Significantly, Brooks argued in the aftermath that contact was incidental at best. “I might have tapped [Theis] below the waist. But, you know, he got right back up,” he said, as if the act wasn’t punishable in and of itself. “I don’t know. It’s weird that every time it happens to me, I get picked on.” There is, of course, a mountain of difference between getting picked on and getting called out. And what he excused as “just a part of the reputation” begs the question. He very well knows the reason he has one in the first place.
Make no mistake. Brooks is an enforcer, and he can provide much-needed toughness. On the other hand, he has likewise proven his capacity for thuggish behavior. Which is why his abbreviated inaugural may yet be the best thing to happen to the Rockets. It becomes the impetus for Udoka to rein him in, and fast. Else, they will find their bid for respect and respectability sabotaged by their prized acquisition.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and human resources management, corporate communications, and business development.
