With the Phoenix Suns exceeding expectations a little more than halfway through the season, many have now started to give them their flowers for a successful season. Dealing with key injuries to guys like Jalen Green and, now, Devin Booker has had this team fighting top-tier teams while limited. Many guys on this roster have had to step up and shine in bigger roles, and one of those guys has been Dillon Brooks.
Brooks, who was a solid third option for the Memphis Grizzlies, was once said to be “under
no circumstances” would be brought back. A player who was mocked by fans after a bad playoff series with the Shanghai Sharks then went to Houston and changed his narrative around the league. He is once again trying to rebuild here in the Valley this season, where he has certainly won over the fanbase by storm.
With his infectious energy and the effort this team lacked for years, he has finally built a name for himself in shifting the culture in the Valley. He has done that so well that he has started to get praise from former NBA players, even one of the Valley’s best, Charles Barkley.
Now what Barkley says in this snippet is fact. Brooks has been the culture shifter here and the perfect puzzle piece to mesh everything. If you need him to go out and get you a game-winning stop, he will. If you need him to be the leading shot taker because four top scorers are out, he can do that. This man is the do-it-all box of fun the fanbase has been salivating for to have on the core, and he is finally here.
Not to mention that Brooks is having a solid year, stats-wise. He is averaging a career-high 20.5 points this season, on a team where he is given more opportunities. Even if he is not close to 40% from three-point land like last year, in a bigger role, he is still shooting just shy of 35%, which is still impressive given his growth as a player. All of that, with 3.5 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 1.1 steals, looks like a great resurgence season for the man.
The main question is, will that be enough? We already saw, with the fan voting, how low Devin Booker ranked on the scale compared to the other Western Conference stars. I know fan voting isn’t all of it, but it seems like an uphill battle, especially with how deep the conference is.
Brooks is an all-star for this team and is a key part of the engine that keeps it going. He deserves it, but so do so many players, and the spots are so limited. That being said, with how many other stars are in this conference, I think he will not get there. But what are your guys’ thoughts?
