Dillon Brooks has taken what can only be perceived as a jab at Ja Morant with his most recent public comments.
Here’s what he had to say to The Athletic’s Kelly Iko:
“When I spoke to Brooks in Las Vegas last week, one thing he noted was the impact the former Raptors point guard [Fred VanVleet] would have on his offensive efficiency, an area he’s fully aware he struggled with last season in Memphis.”
It’s one of the oldest tricks in the book, NBA players praising their new teammates or organisations in an attempt to fire shots at their old ones.
Brooks’ quote becomes all the more questionable when you consider his track record, and that VanVleet’s passing has always lagged behind his ability to find his own shot.
Then again, since when has Dillon Brooks valued speaking facts over ruffling feathers? Getting under people’s skin has been his favourite pastime for quite a while now.
He’s also bound to feel even more entitled to stir the pot after being ridiculed by endless memes suggesting he’d end up in China, only to sign a four-year, $80 million deal with the Houston Rockets earlier this month.
Summer League has long been the home of NBA overreactions, and that proud tradition was certainly alive and well at this year’s festivities.
All it took to halt the momentum of the Victor Wembanyama hype train was 21 minutes of impressive play from Scoot Henderson and two “not quite as convincing as you’d like” performances from the towering Frenchman.
Henderson put up 15 points, five rebounds and six assists in 21 minutes (albeit on 38.5 percent shooting) in his only Summer League outing for Portland, while Wembanyama averaged 18 points and 10 rebounds in 27 minutes per game over his two outings.
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But even that was enough for reports to surface doubting whether the Spurs had made the right decision with the first overall pick, a decision which was considered a total no-brainer as little as a week ago.
According to Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix, “sky-high” opinions of Henderson’s play have led to “a couple of team officials” wondering whether the Spurs “would regret passing on Henderson down the line.”
Here’s the entire excerpt from Mannix’s piece:
“Speaking of Portland, Scoot Henderson played just 21 minutes in the Blazers’ Summer League opener, but opinions of him among the NBA decision-makers that I talked with are sky high. In talking to execs about Henderson/Brandon Miller—two players whose careers will be forever intertwined—a couple of team officials wondered whether San Antonio would regret passing on Henderson down the line. High praise considering who the Spurs walked away with.”
All this serves as just another reminder that there are only three certainties in life: death, taxes, and Summer League overreactions.
