What Dillon Brooks’ Return Means for the Memphis Grizzlies
The Memphis Grizzlies have had an up and down start to the season, but the consensus is this team has the pieces to take another step forward after last season’s playoff appearance. Dillon Brooks has become a crucial part of this young core, and without him, they have needed other guys to step up in his place. Memphis has received contributions from players such as DeAnthony Melton and Desmond Bane in his absence.
Bane’s development as an offensive player is the key reason the offense hasn’t taken a hit, but the defense hasn’t been the same despite some good on-ball defenders. The intensity hasn’t been there on that end of the floor, and hopefully, Brooks can change that. He is an excellent on-ball defender and has proved that in many big moments for this team during last season’s postseason run.
While defending is where he makes the most significant impact, Brooks certainly is a shot maker, and the Grizzlies offense will benefit from getting him back. Last season he averaged over 17 points per game on 42% shooting, including 34% from three-point range. While this team has guys who can make shots, they are limited outside of Ja Morant in terms of who can create for themselves.
We’ve seen Jaren Jackson Jr. and Desmond Bane be able to create good looks for themselves at times, but Dillon Brooks is someone who can do that consistently. He will settle for tough contested shots that will raise some eyebrows, but his ability to put the ball in the hole is very underrated in discussions around the league.
In last year’s playoffs, his two-way ability was on display as he averaged 25.8 points per game in the Grizzlies five-game series vs. the Utah Jazz. He did this on 52% shooting, including 40% from three-point range. And when you add in his defensive impact defending Donovan Mitchell that’s quite the post season debut.
His season debut on Wednesday night didn’t go exactly as planned as the Grizzlies lost to a struggling Hornets squad 118-108. Brooks was noticeably rusty at first, but overall he played about as well as anyone could’ve expected in his first game back from injury. He did come off the bench in this game, but fans shouldn’t expect that to be the case moving forward.
In this game, Brooks had 20 points, six assists, four rebounds, and two steals. That’s an impressive all-around game. The assists are noteworthy because he’s not known as an elite distributor, but if he can be a guy that can be relied on in that role when need be, that would be a big boost. His major contribution was his 4-7 three-point shooting which was a breath of fresh air as the rest of the team combined to shoot 5-31.
The Grizzlies have some decisions to make when it comes to the rotation moving forward. Dillon Brooks will be moving to the starting lineup very quickly, and they’ll have to decide whether they want to move DeAnthony Melton or Desmond Bane to the bench. Both players are not without their faults, and this team is flexible when it comes to minutes daily, but one would expect them to move Bane to the bench.
Either way, whoever slides out of the starting lineup will still play a similar amount of minutes. They’ll just be playing more with the second unit than they had before. At the bottom of the rotation, this will leave fewer minutes for guys like Tyus Jones, John Konchar, and Zaire Williams. Who gets the most minutes out of that group is likely to change on a game-by-game basis.
First game aside, the return of Dillon Brooks is a big one for this team. His impact was on full display despite the Grizzlies not being able to get the win. He makes this team better, and with him on the floor, this team can compete with anybody in the league.
-Chris Kern
Twitter: @ChrisKern11
