The Memphis Grizzlies have won four games in a row and seven out of their last 10. With Dillon Brooks being a big reason for the Grizzlies’ recent success in his last 10 games he’s scored 20.2 points to go along with 57.4 percent shooting from the field and in April and 63.2 percent from three.
Brooks came into the league as a 2nd round pick out of Oregon and has exceeded expectations with his play in the last two seasons.
Coming into the league, Brooks was known as a great college player. He was the top player on an Oregon team that made the Final Four and was the 2016-17 Pac-12 player of the year, earning a consensus All-American selection in the process.
Brooks came into a draft as a guy who plays hard with also being a confident shot-maker that can create his own. The concerns about him were that there were questions about his game translating to the NBA on offense and scouts were worried he didn’t have enough footspeed to guard the wing.
The Memphis Grizzlies were the only team that properly valued Dillon Brooks in the draft
Brooks had a solid rookie campaign, scoring 11 points per game but got injured in his 2nd season, limiting him to just 18 games. In the last two years, Brooks has averaged just over 16 points per game and about 41 percent from the field.
When Brooks plays well, the Grizzlies normally get the win. In wins, he scored 17.0 points per game along with 43.5 percent shooting compared to 15.6 points and 38.7 percent shooting in losses.
He has been extremely valuable to the Grizzlies when he is on the court.
Brooks is currently 2nd on the team in (+/-) and tied for 2nd in points per game. He has shown to be a quality NBA player in his career who, even when Jaren Jackson Jr. comes back, should continue to be productive.
Brooks is just the latest example of how Memphis has done a really good job in the last few years of evaluating young players. Not only DB, but Grayson Allen looks like he’s developing into a solid contributor.
De’Anthony Melton was also acquired after his rookie year like Allen and has been a really good pick-up. Killian Tillie, John Konchar, and Jontay Porter were good pickups as undrafted guys worth keeping an eye on. Desmond Bane, Xavier Tillman, and Brandon Clarke were players that should have been picked earlier and look like they could develop into strong players.
Over the last few years, the Grizzlies have done a really good job evaluating young talent. This has allowed them to, instead of being one of the worst teams in the league last year, be on the verge of the NBA Playoffs.
Even without Jackson Jr., the Grizzlies are on the cusp of an NBA Playoff appearance.