As Raptors embark on uncertain path, Rockets provide template to follow

HOUSTON — Before almost every game, home or away, Houston Rockets forward Dillon Brooks gets out to the floor early, well before his allotted pre-game shooting time. 

He grabs a courtside seat and waits. Usually there’s a steady stream of friendly faces who want to come over and say hello. 

He’ll flip a chair down and motion to take a seat, like a good host. 

As Brooks was getting ready to match-up against his hometown Toronto Raptors, there was a lot of catching up to do.

Toronto Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic, who worked with Brooks for three seasons when they were both in Memphis, made time to come out for a catch-up. There was not one but two bone-crushing hugs, then a lengthy chat about mutual friends, family and the upcoming Olympic tournament. 

Then came Raptors swingman RJ Barrett who teamed up with Brooks last summer as they helped Canada earn a historic bronze medal at the FIBA Basketball World Cup. Another spine-compressing hug. 

There was some car talk with a familiar face (Brooks drives in a Rolls Royce Wraith on game days and has a Porsche Taycan for his day-to-day) and his thoughts on playing in Houston and playing for head coach Ime Udoka. 

“I love it,” Brooks says. “Ime is no BS. He’s laidback, but if he’s got a problem you know it.” 

See? Plenty of folks like Dillon Brooks, and there’s plenty to like. You just have to know him or get to know him. 

“He might be the nicest guy you ever met,” says Barrett who — in addition to their national team ties — has history with him as two of the most prominent athletes in the history of Mississauga. “That's a guy that you want on your team. When it comes to the game, he's serious and he plays really hard.”

Brooks had plenty of company in that department in what ended up being an absolute decimation of the suddenly rebuilding Raptors by the youthful but oh-so-promising Rockets. The 135-106 final score barely captured how over-matched the Raptors seemed, even with centre Jakob Poeltl in the lineup for the first time since Jan. 7 after missing 11 games with his ankle injury and point guard Immanuel Quickley making his return after missing three games with a thigh bruise. 

Though Quickley did look sharp with 25 points and six assists in his 29 minutes, neither impacted the final outcome. To be fair, no Raptor did, at least positively. Toronto was down by 14 after the first quarter, 19 at half and 30 at the start of the third quarter as they seemed overwhelmed by the Rockets' collection of size, speed and athleticism.

“Sometimes a bad shot is equivalent to a turnover, and they were able to get out in transition, score a lot of points and to score a lot in the paint,” said Rajakovic. “… They are an athletic team, they have multiple players who can do a really good job of touching the paint, you gotta be a team in order to stop that, you’ve got to have all five guys connected to stop that.”

Former Raptor Fred VanVleet was hired by the Rockets to organize all that talent from his point guard spot and seems to be doing a good job. VanVleet finished with 10 points and six assists in 24 minutes and looks like largely the same player he ever was in seven seasons with the Raptors, he just has to throw more alley-oops now. 

“It was weird,” VanVleet said of his first game against the Raptors, who barely resemble the team he left in free agency last summer. “It was more like playing against a new team, so it wasn’t really like playing against a former team. But it was cool to play against Scottie and see Thad [Young] and Chris [Boucher], Jakob. It was good to see them and some of the staff and people I’ve built close relationships with, so it was cool, but it wasn’t your typical reunion game.”

Barnes led the Raptors with 28 points, seven rebounds and four assists, but they mostly felt like empty calories in a game that was never close. The Raptors fell to 17-31 with the loss, their ninth in 12 games. Their six-game road trip continues in Oklahoma City on Sunday. Houston improved to 23-25 as they pursue a play-in spot in the highly competitive Western Conference.

The Rockets were led by Alperen Sengun, their crafty young centre, who finished with 24 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists. Cam Whitmore, the explosive 19-year-old who slid to 20th on draft night, bulled his way to 25 points off the bench. Gradey Dick, the Raptors 20-year-old who was taken 13th, had a tough night, finishing with three points on 1-of-8 shooting. 

While the Raptors' rebuild has barely started, the transformation of the Rockets is beginning to take shape. Veterans like Brooks and VanVleet are important reasons why. After three seasons in which Houston lost 75 per cent of their games, the outlines of a bright future are visible. It’s a strategy the Raptors should take note of as they embark on their own uncertain path through the basketball wilderness. 

The Rockets have been collecting high lottery picks, and their potential is obvious. At halftime, Houston led 66-47 and 50 of their points were scored by five players aged 21 or younger, led by 21-year-old Sengun, who had 11 points, eight rebounds and five assists in 17 first-half minutes. 

But beginning last summer, Houston pivoted and put an emphasis on adding veterans and, in particular, veterans with what Udoka calls "edge" to advance their completive timeline and teach their young talent some good habits. 

It’s why signing VanVleet was their first priority in free agency, why they are convinced the $83 million they guaranteed the hard-nosed point guard was money well spent, and why their next priority was adding Brooks, who has never been shy about using his wide frame to his advantage or worried about winning any popularity contests.

After a tough season in Memphis last year where Brooks struggled shooting the ball and may have let his on and off-court antics get away from him, culminating in an ugly first-round exit at the hands of the Los Angeles Lakers, there were some eyebrows raised when the Rockets gave Brooks a four-year deal for $86 million to be, essentially, his cantankerous on-court self. 

“We targeted those veterans who have that edge and toughness to them,” said Udoka. “And for all the areas we struggled defensively and offensively last year, he checked a lot of boxes and the versatility with how I wanted to guard, he kind of embodies that. And on a night-to-night basis for him to have that edge and the stuff that rubs off on the rest of the team, it’s good to have some guys you don't have to worry about in that area. You know what you’re going to get.” 

Brooks is loving the opportunity and the responsibility. 

“I enjoy it because every day is the grind, seeing guys learn, get better and understand the game is kind of heart-warming for me, shows that I’m making a little difference and keeps me accountable every single day to keep my work ethic and leadership up,” he said.

“This is the rawest we can be, learning schemes, learning coverages on the fly, understanding what we want to do every single game is a process … but if we can get that, we’re a pretty good team.”

For all of the drama that surrounds Brooks and despite his unceremonious departure from Memphis, there aren’t many teams in the NBA that are serious about winning that wouldn’t love to have Brooks on their roster, or a reasonable facsimile. 

In a league where offence reigns, Brooks, who earned all-defence recognition for his work in Memphis last season, is one of the best in the NBA at reigning it in. 

In a league where being cool or chill or being liked by your peers can be a barrier to players going to their competitive edge, Brooks is fine with not being thought of as cool or chill or being liked. 

In a league where some of the most talented athletes in the world don’t always get the most out of their talent, Brooks has squeezed every last drop out of his. 

It’s all come with a cost though. By embracing a persona that’s sometimes got more in common with a story arc that might be crafted in the writer’s room at WWE, and by more than occasionally delivering the antics that match, Brooks has made himself the player the opposition — fans and competitors alike — love to hate. 

And plus his first name rhymes with villain, so that doesn’t help. 

But to know Brooks is to appreciate him and maybe even like him. 

A lot. 

“I love him now. I wasn’t a fan before, he knows that,” said VanVleet “I always had a tremendous respect for the way he competes on a nightly basis but being his teammate and just being his friend, getting to know him off the court, he’s a great dude and I love what he’s bringing to our team.”

There was no need for Brooks to ramp things up against the Raptors, who came in meekly and left mostly without incident. The exception being when Raptors guard Dennis Schroder — the closest thing the Raptors have to a fire starter — got into a wee tussle with VanVleet over a loose ball. VanVleet then levelled Schroder when the Raptors guard tried to set a screen on him. Brooks played peacemaker, stepping in between VanVleet and Schroder.

Sengun put a blanket on the whole thing when he beat Poeltl on a spin move and then stepped into an above-the-break three a moment later, just like all the rest of the 21-year-old six-foot-11 kids do. Another triple from 19-year-old Whitmore put the Rockets up 26 and the Raptors largely to sleep.

Brooks did pick up a technical foul after getting innocently tangled up with Poeltl under the basket early in the third quarter,  but it seemed like a questionable decision and perhaps a case where Brooks' reputation — it was his 11th of the season, and he could be facing a one-game suspension if he hits 16 — cost him. 

Otherwise, he was comfortable taking a back seat offensively as the Rockets' parade of young talent put up numbers. Brooks finished with six points, well below his season average of 13.9 points per game, which has been bolstered by his 38.9 per cent three-point shooting, which would project to a career-best mark. 

But the Rockets picked up their 23rd win of the season after winning 22 all of last season, which means Brooks is doing his job and doing it very well. 

The Rockets love him for that.