Dillon Brooks’ first season with the Houston Rockets surprised many. Sure, the statline wasn’t amazing, by any stretch. Brooks averaged 12.7 points, 3.4 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 42.8 percent from the field, 35.9 percent from long-range, 84.4 percent from the charity stripe, and 54.9 percent true shooting.

Again, not necessarily astonishing. Especially considering the contract that he was given ($86 million over four years).

But he wasn’t brought to the Rockets to be the leading scorer. And to the latter point, the Rockets had to use the cap space.

It’s also important to note exactly what the perception was of Brooks towards the end of his six-year tenure with the Memphis Grizzlies. Brooks was viewed as a selfish player who wanted to be the Grizzlies’ leading scorer and de-facto scoring threat.

Remember the verbiage from senior NBA insider Shams Charania when the team announced that Brooks wouldn’t be returning?

“The Memphis Grizzlies have informed pending unrestricted free agent Dillon Brooks that he will not be brought back under any circumstances.”

In many ways, Brooks was the scapegoat for a young, immature Memphis team that failed to live up to the expectations that were placed on them. However, there’s an entirely different view of Brooks now.

Just look at Yahoo Sports’ Ben Rohrbach, who ranked Brooks as a top-ten fifth option in the league.

The top-ten is below:

1. Derrick White
2. Isaiah Hartenstein
3. Trey Murphy III
4. Mike Conley Jr.
5. Dereck Lively II
6. Josh Hart
7. Chris Paul
8. Wendell Carter Jr.
9. Max Strus
10. Dillon Brooks

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