The Phoenix Suns are getting exactly what they bargained for when they acquired Dillon Brooks: grit, toughness, exhaustive defense, some moderate to heavy-moderate trolling, sunglasses-on-indoors fits, and elite-level self-creation.
Wait, what?!
Okay, so it turns out the Suns are getting more than they could have expected from Brooks, one of the key players they landed as part of the Kevin Durant trade. Entering games on Wednesday, November 26, the 29-year-old ranks seventh in efficiency on self-created shots, according to BBall Index.
Just to put into context what this means, here are all the players who place ahead of him: Brandon Ingram (first), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (second), Donovan Mitchell (third), Nikola Jokic (fourth), Austin Reaves (fifth), and Luka Doncic (sixth).
This is categorically bananas. And it represents a stark change in Brooks’ game. But is it sustainable?
Dillon Brooks has never done this before
In case you’re wondering, Brooks has never come close to being an elite self-starter. His career-best ranking in self-created efficiency is 117th, which came back in 2021-22 as a member of the Memphis Grizzlies. Beyond that, he has never cracked the top 200.
All of which suggests that this is unsustainable. And, well, it’s definitely unsustainable. If Brooks finishes as one of the top-10 most efficient self-creators on the season, I’ll start wearing sunglasses indoors, too.
Still, we cannot just discard this as a fly-by-development. Brooks has worked a lot on his mid-range counters, as sort of an ancillary weapon. Look no further than last season with the Houston Rockets. Just 44.4 percent of his two-pointers came off assists. That was at the time a career low.
Not anymore.
Under 30 percent of Brooks’ made twos are coming off assists this year. A large share of these shots are turnaround jumpers. Or should we start calling them “Dillon Brooks’ patented turnaround jumpers?”
Whatever you want to name them, Brooks is draining 68.8 percent of his turnarounds. We are not talking about a small sample, either. Over 15 percent of all his field-goal attempts are coming as turnaround jumpers. Even though he showed some promise in this department last year, turnarounds accounted for around 8 percent of his shots. He has basically doubled that frequency.
The Suns need this version of Dillon Brooks
Bracing for regression is fair—encouraged, even. But the Suns remain plucky in large part because of the value Brooks is providing across the board: as a defender, as a culture-setter, and yes, as an on-ball scorer.
Sustaining this development as much as possible, for as long as possible, will be critical to Phoenix hanging in the Western Conference. Jalen Green’s absence has left an offensive vacuum that the Suns, on paper, are ill-equipped to fill. Brooks is currently filling it.
Among the 12 players on the roster averaging at least 10 minutes per game, Brooks and Devin Booker are the only ones generating more than half of their own shots. Too much self-creation can be a bad thing. Not enough of it can be detrimental.
The Suns should be teetering on the edge of the latter. Thanks to Brooks, on-off splits be absolutely damned, they’re not.