The Rockets can live without Jalen Green.
Dillon Brooks is a different story.
That’s the cleanest way to frame the debate after last season, because the case for missing Green just isn’t all that strong. The case for missing Brooks, though, is a lot more interesting.
On paper, Houston’s defense didn’t fall apart without him. In 2024-25, the Rockets posted a 110.3 Defensive Rating, good for fifth in the NBA.
Last season, that number was 112.1, which ranked sixth. That’s a real dip, but not a dramatic one, and it’s tough to pin it entirely on Brooks’ departure.
The lineup data doesn’t exactly hand you a smoking gun, either. According to CleaningTheGlass, each of Houston’s top-five lineups in 2024-25 included Brooks.
Four of those five also included Jalen Green, though the best one did not. And databalllr doesn’t offer much clarity either: the Rockets were +4.2 with Brooks on the floor and +7.6 with him off.
So if the numbers don’t scream “Brook was the difference,” what does?
A lot of it is the kind of stuff the box score never really catches. Brooks is the classic player whose value shows up in the assignment, not the stat line.
If you spend your nights chasing the opponent’s best scorer, your numbers can get dinged even when you’re doing the hardest job on the floor. If Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scores 40 on Brooks, he probably would’ve had 48 on somebody else.
That’s the tradeoff.
His absence also changes what Amen Thompson has to do. Thompson’s Defensive Box Plus/Minus fell from 2.6 in 2024-25 to 1.0 last season, and one obvious reason is that he had to spend more time on star scorers.
When he’s locked into those matchups, he’s not roaming the way he can when he’s operating as a free safety, jumping passing lanes and coming from the weak side for blocks. The hope is that Marcus Smart will take some of that burden in 2026-27.
Brooks also gave Houston something else: a usable, unexpected layer on offense. For years, the Rockets had wings who mostly lived in the corners, waiting for the ball to swing their way.
Brooks was different. He could actually create a bucket when things bogged down, and that mattered because he still fit as a strong three-and-D wing.
That “break in case of emergency” scoring ability made him more than just a stopper.
Then there’s the harder-to-define part, the stuff that never makes for neat analytics but still shapes a team. In 2024-25, Brooks, Ime Udoka, and Fred VanVleet formed a three-man identity.
VanVleet brought the low-risk, low-reward offense that only works if the defense is nastier and more committed than the other side. Brooks was the guy who helped make the “meaner” part real.
There is at least some reason to believe Smart can help replace that edge. But Brooks has also changed since his Houston days.
In his final season with the Rockets, he averaged 14.0 points while shooting 39.7% from three. Last year in Phoenix, he jumped to a career-high 20.2 points per game, but his three-point percentage dropped to 34.4%.
He just signed an extension with a $24.3 million Average Annual Value, which is probably too much money for Dillon Brooks.
If you’re talking about the version of Brooks Houston had - the old Dillon Brooks, straight from the go Dillon Brooks, etc. - then yes, that’s the one the Rockets miss. If you’re talking about the 20-a-night version, that’s a different conversation, and maybe not one Houston should be eager to bankroll when it comes to the future of its first-round picks in 2027 and 2029.
Still, from here, Brooks looks like the kind of player the Rockets could use again. And if Green is part of that equation too, fine. But the bigger loss might be the one Houston can’t quite measure.
In Other News...
Rockets Face A Delicate Amen Thompson Extension Decision
Amen Thompsons breakout season has put Houston in a familiar front-office bind: reward a young cornerstone early, but do it in a way that keeps enough room to build around him. The Rockets are expected to make a significant extension offer, one that reflects how much Thompson already matters on both ends of the floor after a season of strong defensive work and growing offensive impact.
The tricky part is the price point, because Houston is trying to balance immediate certainty with long-term flexibility while still treating Thompson as a player it does not want to move. His future value is obvious, but the one lingering question around the extension is the same one that shadows a lot of young perimeter stars in the league: how much faith can a team place in the shot continuing to develop? [Read more 🡒]
Marcus Smart Faces One Big Test In Houstons New-Look Defense
The Rockets makeover around Kevin Durant did not stop with the big swing for a star scorer. After dealing away Dillon Brooks and Jalen Green in the 2025 offseason, Houston also turned to Marcus Smart to help stabilize a defense that had lost some edge and depth. Ime Udoka has emphasized Smarts defensive versatility and toughness, traits that fit the profile of a former Defensive Player of the Year and a player whose value has long been measured beyond the box score.
Now Smarts role comes with a clear challenge as Houston heads into the 2026-27 season. The Rockets need him not just as another name on the roster, but as a piece who can help cover what changed when the group around Durant was reshaped, especially the flexibility and physicality the team had before the turnover. How much of that Smart can restore will be one of the more interesting subplots as Houston tries to make its new-look defense work. [Read more 🡒]