NBA Free Agency is fast approaching, and for the New Orleans Pelicans, this round will be about building their team around their core of Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram, CJ McCollum and Trey Murphy III.
A potential avenue for doing this could be future former Memphis Grizzlies forward Dillon Brooks. After a difficult performance in the first round of the playoffs against the Los Angeles Lakers, it was reported that under no circumstances would he join the team next season.
With that in mind, is Brooks someone the Pelicans should consider pursuing?
For the sake of simplicity, we’ll leave the potential ramifications of this lawsuit out of our analysis and look at this from a strictly on-the-ground angle.
(Box: While we’re keeping cap considerations out of this, it’s likely that New Orleans would be able to put his salary on their books, as his value has dropped significantly since his poor playoff performance and his falling out with the Grizzlies).
Anyway, on paper, Brooks projects himself as a “3-and-D” forward who can hit three open (he shot 37.2% on three catch-and-shoot wide open in the regular season, by NBA.com) and keeps several positions effectively. He also has a reasonably developed off-dribble game, as 64.6% of his shot attempts this season have come after taking one or more dribbles (per NBA.com).
His specialty as a defender is at the point of attack, where he has made a name for himself harassing ball handlers and forcing them into a sub-optimal appearance.
So should New Orleans try to sign him?
From now on, I will say no. Brooks is a great player to have on defensive teams that lack creation on the ball. That’s why he was perfect for the Grizzlies before Desmond Bane became a reliable second option on offense.
Prior to that, Brooks could provide his usual tenacious defense while taking some of the creative burden off Ja Morant’s shoulders. However, now that Bane has become the player he is, Brooks’ self-creation reps do more harm than good, as he takes hits from the more efficient Bane. Last season, Brooks had a True Shooting of 49.4% (-8.7 below league average), while Bane was at 60.6% (+2.5 above league average). league).
The same phenomenon would probably play out with New Orleans. He’s a solid spacer but not good enough to address the Pelicans’ well-documented shooting issues (29th on 3-pointers last season). He’s a great defender, but his skills are redundant on a team with the likes of Herbert Jones, Naji Marshall and Dyson Daniels. And while he’s a useful ball-maker on poor offenses, you don’t want him to take touches from more gifted creators like Williamson, Ingram and McCollum.
So no, I wouldn’t chase Brooks in free agency if I was the Pelicans. However, I think a team with a good defense and a bad offense should definitely do it.
