NBA Rumors: Heat lowball Blazers, Lakers spoil Summer League, Brooks gets crazy

NBA Rumors: Dillon Brooks wildly compares Rockets’ young core to Grizzlies

Dillon Brooks has been spotted working out with his new Rockets teammates in Vegas. He’s naturally excited to embark on the next leg of his NBA journey, complete with $86 million and elevated responsibilities in the locker room. Brooks will be a foundational piece of the winning culture Ime Udoka hopes to build in Houston.

That said, Brooks’ excitement might be getting to his head a little bit. Talking to reporters after Rockets shootaround, the 27-year-old made a few questionable comparisons between his new teammates and some of his former teammates in Memphis.

“I feel like it’s exactly the same team from 3-4 years ago,” he told Locked on Rockets. “Jalen [Green] is like Ja Morant. Jabari [Smith Jr.] is like Jaren [Jackson Jr.]. Young guys that can expand their games to be the best in the league.”

The general sentiment here is fine: the Grizzlies were once a young team with a few high draft picks that made the leap from rebuilding to contention rather quickly. Maybe the Rockets can follow a similar path with new leadership and a few vets in the locker room.

But, comparing Jalen Green to Ja Morant and Jabari Smith to Jaren Jackson is simply setting the bar way too high. It’s almost unfair to Green and Smith; why force them to live up to those expectations?

There’s an argument to be made that Green as a prospect was on the same level as Morant as a prospect. The same could be said for Smith and Jackson. But, we’re a few years into Green’s career. Smith’s rookie season was deeply underwhelming. Both have a lot of talent — in fact, both will probably be very good players — but Morant and Jackson are All-Stars. One is a perennial top-10 MVP candidate. The other is the reigning DPOY.

Brooks should probably look for different points of comparison.