The Houston Rockets had no problem parting with Dillon Brooks in the Kevin Durant trade with the Phoenix Suns, but betting that Dorian Finney-Smith could replicate his production backfired spectacularly.
Finney-Smith was a dud for Rockets as Brooks thrives
Yossi Gozlan had Kelly Iko of Yahoo! Sports on his Third Apron Podcast to talk all things Rockets recently, and Iko revealed the Rockets messed up in thinking that Finney-Smith could replicate some of what Brooks gave to that team prior to being dumped.
"I think they got the calculus wrong. When you look at Dillon Brooks departing in the Kevin Durant trade, and you're looking at the market which isn't as robust as you would have hoped... when you look at what Dorian was doing in Los Angeles and Brooklyn, he was an excellent shooter, excellent floor-spacer. He can guard bigs, he can guard guards... but the one thing they didn't account for was the recovery time (offseason ankle surgery)."
In other words, Iko is saying Finney-Smith had been doing a serviceable impression of Brooks at previous stops with the Lakers and Nets, but he never came close to that form when Houston needed it most once Brooks was no longer in town.
Even worse, they then had to attach three second-round picks to dump Finney-Smith to the Suns' favorite trade partner, the Charlotte Hornets.
Compare that to what was going on with Brooks in The Valley last season, as he averaged a career-high 20.2 points and finally found his home in the league. He was then rewarded with a new three-year, $73 million extension to stick around, although the slander against his name persists.
The Rockets were never going to be able to keep Brooks in the Durant trade, but much like when the Suns traded Mikal Bridges to land the future Hall of Famer themselves, they got rid of the very thing that made them who they were. Trying to replicate that with a year of plug-and-play Finney-Smith sounds like a good idea, or making the best of a tricky situation, but in hindsight, it was a disaster.
Brooks will continue to improve away from Houston
Now at the peak of his powers and with youngsters attempting to imitate him, it is clear this was the right move for Brooks at the perfect time. For Finney-Smith, he's going to struggle to dislodge a former Sun in Royce O'Neale in Charlotte, and at 33-years-old, his best days may now be behind him.
The NBA has even noticed the cult of personality Brooks has become, with the Suns on national TV nine times after New Year's Day. Those represent more opportunities for those who don't tune in to games in Phoenix to see how good a player he has become and how disrespectful trying to replace him (for one season at least) with Finney-Smith truly was.
The Rockets have somehow landed themselves in the same tough spot the Suns once did, and underestimating Dillon Brooks is a large part of the reason why.
Add us as a preferred source on Google