Memphis Grizzlies roundtable: What’s the ceiling of Dillon Brooks?

Sam Young

Editor’s note: Please hold your pitchforks and knives.

I like what I’ve seen from Brooks so far this season. I just don’t know how much better he will become. Brooks is a solid player but doesn’t excel in any facet of the game. I see him  as another Sam Young. He looks better as a rookie, and despite some improvement, he’ll never live up to the hype he created early in his career.

People forget how promising Young was as a rookie. He averaged over seven points a gAme despite only one start and averaging around 16 minutes a game. He started 46 games his second season, and averaged 20 minutes a night, but that didn’t result in greater production. He slowly slid out of the league.

Brooks has had a greater opportunity early on than Young so his numbers appear better, but are they? Dillon is averaging 27 minutes a night but only averages 8.6 points a game. In other words, Brooks is producing 1.3 more points a night while playing 10 more minutes.

Brook’s shooting percentages are excellent (54.1% true shooting percentage) but Brooks, like Young, isn’t a shot creator. He’s doesn’t take shots he can’t make, but he needs to be open to get quality attempts. He is an aggressive driver of the ball, but his lack of speed and height make finishing at the rim difficult. He looks good on a bad team but would be a deep bench player on a good team.

In my opinion, Brooks’ ceiling is not much higher than what we have seen so far. At most, he could average 10 points a game, but I can’t envision contributing that much consistently on a playoff contending team. Like Sam Young, Brooks will have fans asking why he doesn’t do more, but it’s quite possible we are seeing all he has now. Not everyone improves after 23 years of age. —Chip Crain @Chipc3