On Friday night, for the first time, Dillon Brooks will take the FedExForum floor in a visiting team’s uniform. 

There’s only one thing for Grizzlies fans to do.

Boo this man!

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I’ve never before advocated booing an opposing player, much less a returning former Grizzly. It’s not that the notion offends my sensibilities, it’s just not my inclination. 

This time is different. 

But I do not suggest booing out of anger, spite or regret. I suggest booing out of appreciation. 

How do you honor the performance of a self-styled villain? By giving him the reaction he seeks. 

Memphis is still enough of a professional wrestling town to know: For the performer playing the heel, booing is a form of applause. It confirms a job well done. 

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If you’re really bent out of shape about Brooks, then sit on your hands. Silence, which suggests irrelevance, would be the cruelest cut. 

If you want to show your respect for Brooks’ previous six years of service to the franchise, then boo him. 

With a smile. 

Some luster lost

Brooks’ return to Memphis was a circled date, by Brooks and by Grizzlies fans, when the NBA schedule was released in August.

In truth, the return has lost some luster since then. 

Brooks’ first game back in Memphis is actually his third this season against the Grizzlies, and the second in three days. 

It will now come on the same day Ja Morant will speak publicly for the first time since his 25-game suspension, rendering Brooks’ return secondary news.

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And, with a 6-17 record and in danger of losing touch with the postseason race even before Morant’s return, the Grizzlies now have bigger things to worry about. 

Brooks’ return comes at what could be a season high-point for his new Houston Rockets team and a low point for his old squad.

It’s not just that the Rockets have already beaten the Grizzlies twice. It’s that those Rockets, at 12-9, are perhaps the conference’s biggest surprise, with a chance to vault over the play-in tournament straight into the playoffs proper. 

The Grizzlies, amid injuries, Morant’s absence and the collapsing play of the roster’s back half, have been the West’s biggest disappointment, already 6.5 games behind even play-in qualification.

These divergent fortunes are no great reason to relitigate Brooks’ exit. That was addressed in this space during the summer, even before Brooks signed with Houston. 

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Recent suggestions that the Grizzlies erred in not re-signing Brooks wrongly suppose that this was even an option once free agency arrived, that Brooks would have chosen the Grizzlies if they’d made the same contract offer. 

I doubt that’s the case. It would have meant beating an already league-shocking four-year contract worth up to $90 million, and perhaps by a lot.

Brooks’ exit from Memphis became a bigger NBA story than it might have been, in part due to his high-profile implosion in the playoffs against LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers and in part due to a report from The Athletic’s Shams Charania that the Grizzlies had decided not to bring back Brooks “under any circumstances.”

Those quoted words are Charania’s, not language attributed to a source, a distinction that’s been widely misunderstood. 

The Grizzlies, of course, weren’t operating “under any circumstances,” but under specific ones. Things had gone very poorly between Brooks and the team in the season’s final weeks, and both parties likely already knew that a big offer was coming from elsewhere. 

Couples tend to grow apart long before the divorce papers are signed. So it seemed to be with the Grizzlies and Brooks.

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What might have been

Brooks’ scoring average in Houston this season is his lowest since 2019, with his best shooting percentages ever, all while playing typically excellent defense. 

In short, everything the Grizzlies wanted Brooks to be. 

Brooks has operated as a clear fourth scoring option in Houston, behind guards Fred Van Vleet and Jalen Green and big man Alperin Senguin. 

In doing so, he’s gotten credit for accepting his spot in the pecking order, in a way he didn’t in Memphis, behind guards Morant and Desmond Bane and big man Jaren Jackson Jr.

There’s something to that.

In his final, post-playoffs Memphis media session, Brooks bristled at not having enough plays run for him.

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There was a night during Morant’s rookie season, when Brooks scored 28 points in a win over Minnesota, donned his trademark sunglasses in the post-game locker room and proclaimed himself part of the franchise’s new “big three” with Morant and Jackson. 

The next season, a different “DB” — Bane — showed up and soon took that mantle instead.

Maybe Brooks couldn’t have accepted being pushed down to fourth in the pecking order in Memphis, rather than arriving there as he has in Houston.

But here’s something else: Do you know how many of Houston’s 21 games this season Brooks has shared with all of Van Vleet, Green and Senguin? 

20.

By contrast, how many games last season, out of 82, did Brooks share the floor with all of Morant, Bane and Jackson?

26.

How about the season before, in 2021-2022? 

11.

So far this season, Brooks has played 95% of his games alongside all three of the Rockets’ top scorers.

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In his last two seasons with the Grizzlies, Brooks played only 23% of his games with all of the top three options.

When Brooks did play with the top three last season, he shot less and kept on defending. When the better options were absent, Brooks tried to fill the void. He shot more and missed much. 

Perhaps it might have still worked in Memphis, but the Grizzlies were never able to nail down this dynamic, and then Brooks’ play imploded in the playoffs

Dillon Brooks, this is your Grizzlies life

I was asked this week if the Grizzlies would produce a return video in Brooks’ honor. I don’t know, but if so, it could be a doozy.

It could feature bursts of relentless, in-your-jersey defense against elite scorers such as Stephen Curry and Donovon Mitchell. 

It could feature big moments, such as Brooks’ corner 3-point buzzer-beater to force overtime in a 29-point comeback win in San Antonio or his harassing defense and game-saving block in a win over Cleveland. 

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Or big playoff performances, such as 31 points in a Game 1 upset at Utah or 23 points in a series closeout win over Minnesota.

It might feature sartorial signatures such as the “King in the North” night back home in Toronto, where Brooks held court after a win in faux-fur and sunglasses. Or the night after a win against the Clippers where Brooks described his black knit cap with Mickey Mouse-style ears as “a little different. Like a runway piece.” Or the nights when Brooks strolled into the arena shirtless, in a black leather vest or brown overalls. 

It might feature moments that will live forever in Grizzlies’ lore, such as Brooks dismissing front-row fan Shannon Sharpe as a “regular pedestrian” or going cheek-to-cheek with the Warriors’ Draymond Green after a made basket.

But, right, ignoble moments are plenty if you wanted a warts-and-all accounting. 

Brooks’ suspension-drawing playoff foul on Gary Payton II. His tossed-from-the-game low blows on Mitchell and James. His bevy of missed shots in the team’s past two playoff series. His “poke the bear” playoff talk about James and then subsequent on-court humiliation at James’ hands. 

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Some things can’t be captured on video: Like a playoff post-game disappearing act after one of those Laker losses. 

But I say, in this moment, to focus on the good times, even if Brooks’ better fortunes in Houston so far this season might leave you sour.

As they say: Don’t player-hate; appreciate. Except in this rare case, the urges converge.

When Brooks takes the floor, give this returning Villain the appreciative ovation he’s earned.

Boo this man! 

It’ll sound like a cheer.