{"id":647611,"date":"2026-03-08T19:22:25","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T19:22:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/647611\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T19:22:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T19:22:25","slug":"remembering-why-rockets-fans-loved-dillon-brooks-lwos-basketball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/647611\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembering Why Rockets Fans Loved Dillon Brooks – LWOS Basketball"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Houston Rockets are third in the Western Conference, with a 39-23 record. They won their last game<\/a> versus the Portland Trail Blazers, behind a not-at-all inefficient<\/a> outing from Alperen Sengun<\/a>. Still, the team has hit a somewhat moribund point in the season. In a recent loss to the Golden State Warriors, they showed a particular lack of fight. It\u2019s left some Rockets fans pining for Houston\u2019s departed locker room leader, Canadian forward Dillon Brooks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dillon Brooks A Back-Breaking Loss For Rockets\u2019 Identity<\/p>\n

Brooks was in the news recently for an arrest on suspicion of DUI (marijuana). There was no trace of alcohol in his system, and he was released without charge. Besides that, he\u2019s been missing games for his new team due to a broken hand. However, Brooks has earned himself firm fan favorite status in Phoenix, just as he did in Houston<\/a>. It\u2019s not hard to figure out why.<\/p>\n

Dillon Brooks\u2019 Time With Rockets<\/p>\n

The Rockets added Brooks in the 2023 offseason alongside point guard Fred VanVleet<\/a> and coach Ime Udoka. The trio quickly implemented a full cultural overhaul for the previously tanking franchise. The Rockets had just gotten three top-four draft picks in a row. Technically, they added a fourth in the next draft as well, but Reed Sheppard<\/a> was selected third with a pick from the Brooklyn Nets. The Rockets\u2019 own 2024 pick was only twelfth (and went to the Oklahoma City Thunder to draft Nikola Topic<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The Rockets went 41-41 in that first year with Brooks, VanVleet, and Udoka. It was an improvement of 19 wins, the team having gone 22-60 in 2022-23. In the team\u2019s second year with Brooks, they went 52-30. They didn\u2019t just make the playoffs, but were the second seed in the Western Conference. Brooks started every game with Houston. His unwavering effort was showcased by his immunity to the frequent performance-related benchings handed out by Udoka to teammates.<\/p>\n

The Rockets wound up losing a slug-fest seven-game first-round series to the Golden State Warriors. The offense wasn\u2019t always pretty, but the team showed heart and incorrigible defensive tenacity. They were widely heralded as a team on the rise.<\/p>\n

Brooks Key To Historic Brokering<\/p>\n

Then, last off-season, the Rockets elected to rise with Brooks no longer on board. Brooks was included in the Rockets\u2019 package to acquire Kevin Durant<\/a>. The defensive tone-setter was sent to the Phoenix Suns along with teammate Jalen Green<\/a> as part of a historic seven-team deal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With Phoenix, Brooks is averaging a career-high 20.9 points per game. That goes along with 3.7 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.0 steals. He\u2019s shooting 44.0% from the field, 34.3% from three, and a career high 85.6% from the free-throw line. He\u2019s played in 50 of the Suns\u2019 61 games and helped them to their current 36-27 record, good for seventh in the West. The team has gone 3-3 since Brooks broke his hand and has been out of the lineup.<\/p>\n

Even with Durant, the Rockets certainly miss Brooks\u2019 shot-making from the perimeter. He averaged 38.0% on 5.7 three-pointers per game in his two seasons<\/a> in Houston. Most of all, though, the Rockets miss his competitive spirit. Brooks is the classic \u201clove them on your team, hate them on the opponents\u2019\u201d type of competitor. On top of that, he fit perfectly with Udoka\u2019s \u201cplug them in to do a little bit of everything\u201d basketball ideal.<\/p>\n

Of course, the man he was traded for is the greatest \u201cplug them in to do a little bit of everything\u201d player the NBA has ever seen. Durant is averaging 26.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.9 blocks per game. As usual, his efficiency is remarkable, shooting 50.9% from the field, 40.2% from three, and 88.9% from the free-throw line.<\/p>\n

Should The Rockets Have Made The Trade?
\n\"TheFeb 12, 2025; Houston, Texas, USA; Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant (35) dribbles against Houston Rockets forward Dillon Brooks (9) in the first quarter at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Shea-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Clearly, there can be no question that even age-37 Durant is a better basketball player. Of course, Durant\u2019s role as a primary ball handler and creator is more akin to Green\u2019s than Brooks. In theory, Brooks\u2019 departure also made more room in the rotation for the high-impact Tari Eason<\/a>. With all the Rockets\u2019 various injuries, including frequent ones to Eason himself, that hasn\u2019t really panned out. But the upgrade from Green to Durant is still theoretically worth the downgrade of Brooks to the likes of Josh Okogie<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Yet Houston\u2019s current win rate is ever-so-slightly lower than what they finished with last season (63.4% in 2024-25, 62.9% in 2025-26). Houston fans may miss him, but Houston\u2019s lack of apparent improvement can be attributed more to losing VanVleet via injury than to losing Brooks via trade. The idea among some fans that the Rockets should have pushed to include Jabari Smith Jr.<\/a> instead of Brooks is also flawed. Smith is having a quietly productive season for the Rockets, whilst being key to their jumbo ball identity<\/a>. In any case, his contract wouldn\u2019t have matched.<\/p>\n

The Nuance of Rockets Fans\u2019 Love For Dillon Brooks<\/p>\n

Still, there is something to be said for just how well Brooks suited Udoka\u2019s \u201cstyle\u201d of coaching. Udoka undoubtedly loves KD<\/a>, but in theory, the 37-year-old is supposed to be used sparingly during the regular season, not that Durant\u2019s 36.7 minutes per game really reflect that. More importantly, despite his immensely competitive nature, Durant doesn\u2019t project Udoka\u2019s culture on the court the way Brooks did. That\u2019s a killer for a coach who relies on culture so much more than Xs-and-Os. Ultimately, it\u2019s the expectations that will spell the end of Udoka\u2019s tenure in Houston, rather than any one personnel change. That won\u2019t stop Udoka and many fans from indulging in plenty of \u201cwhat ifs\u201d.<\/p>\n

Finally, there\u2019s the fan perspective. There is something fundamentally off-putting about rooting for a team where the clear best player is a mercenary everyone expects to be gone in a couple of years. Leaps from young prospects like Sengun, Sheppard, and Amen Thompson<\/a> have not yet materialised. To some extent, their development is even held back a little by Udoka\u2019s reliance on Durant iso-ball. Durant understandably interprets this apathy as underappreciation, and his departure becomes all the more likely. With the team\u2019s title window seemingly shuttered by injuries, it\u2019s a confusing time to be a Rockets fan. Things were simpler back when they were chillin\u2019 with Dillon the villain instead.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Houston Rockets are third in the Western Conference, with a 39-23 record. They won their last game…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":647612,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3794],"tags":[7,1195,292,194,4066,938,6,211],"class_list":{"0":"post-647611","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-rockets","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-dillon-brooks","10":"tag-houston","11":"tag-houston-rockets","12":"tag-houstonrockets","13":"tag-kevin-durant","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-rockets"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116195187513693759","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=647611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/647612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=647611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=647611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=647611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}