'My Name is 'Dillon the Villain!' Brooks Ejected for 'Dirty' Groin Punch in Houston Rockets Debut
Dillon Brooks signed with the Houston Rockets this offseason to be a veteran leader for a young squad short on mentorship. Brooks, coach Ime Udoka, Fred VanVleet, and Jeff Green are expected to help expedite the youth movement in Houston.
In five minutes of play during the Rockets' 122-103 preseason victory over the Indiana Pacers Tuesday night. ... Brooks debuted, and offered zero points (he didn’t even get a shot off) and one assist. The reason for his early exit? He received a flagrant-two foul for punching Daniel Theis in his “man parts.”
“What’s my name? The name is ‘Dillon the Villain,’” Brooks said after the game. “I might have tapped him below the waist. But he got right back up. I don’t know. It’s weird that every time it happens to me, I get picked on. I guess it’s part of reputation.”
Rewatching the play, it looks like incidental contact ... sort of. Theis set a pick to allow Bennedict Mathurin a chance to get a shot off, but there’s no denying that Brooks swiped upwards into the groin area a little too vigorously. Was it malicious? No, probably not, but Brooks seemed to be unsurprised when he was ejected from the game.
A strong defender, Brooks made life difficult for Jae'Sean Tate last season.
Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-USA TODAY Sports
None of this is to say that Brooks' presence in Houston won’t be a huge positive for Jalen Green, Amen Thompson, and the other young players on the Rockets.
With so much young talent, it’s good to have an “enforcer” who is willing to do the dirty work. Usually, this entails pulling out of the paint to make room for a rebounder or being the first one to rush into a scuffle, but Brooks made his role felt by taking a shot at poor Theis’ sensitive area.
"For a flagrant-2 foul like that, you got to know if a person is doing it on purpose or intention," Brooks said. "That’s really going at who I am as a person. That ref, that just shows that he just doesn’t know who I am as a person. He’s just going off what’s been said."
One could argue that Brooks is showcasing his willingness to do anything to play excellent defense. Another outlook is that Theis was simply unlucky and caught a wayward blow.
One could take it further and suggest that Brooks is a dirty player. Physical, sure. Chippy? Absolutely. But "dirty''? The Houston Rockets are now going to be in that spotlight for that reason. Let the "Dillon the Villain'' debates begin.
